8.11 The Story about the Elder Sappadāsa
Sappadāsattheravatthu

“One might live for a hundred years,” this Dhamma teaching was given by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to the Elder Sappadāsa. {2.256}

At Sāvatthī, we are told, the son of a respectable family, after hearing the Teacher teach the Dhamma, was given the going forth and took his higher ordination. Becoming discontented after a time, he thought to himself: “The life of a lay disciple is not suited to a youth of station like me; but even death would be preferable to being one gone forth.” So he went about considering ways of killing himself.

Now one day, very early in the morning, the bhikkhus went to the monastery after breakfast, and seeing a snake in the hall where the fire was kept, put it into a jar, closed the jar, and carried it out of the monastery. The discontented bhikkhu, after eating his breakfast, drew near, and seeing the bhikkhus, asked them: “What’s that you’ve got, friends?” – “A snake, brother.” – “What are you going to do with it?” – “Throw it away.” The bhikkhu thought to himself: “I will commit suicide by letting the snake bite me.” So he said to the bhikkhus: “Let me take it; I’ll throw it away.”

He took the jar from their hands, sat down in a certain place, and tried to make the snake bite him. But the snake refused to bite [29.248] him. Then he put his hand into the jar, waved it this way and that, opened the snake’s mouth and stuck his finger in, but the snake still refused to bite him. So he said to himself: “It’s not a poisonous snake, but a house-snake,” threw it away, and returned to the monastery.

The bhikkhus asked him: “Did you throw the snake away, brother?” – “Friends, that was not a poisonous snake; it was only a house-snake.” – “Friend, that was a poisonous snake, all the same; {2.257} it spread its hood wide, hissed at us, and gave us much trouble to catch. Why do you talk thus?” – “Friends, I tried to make it bite me, and even stuck my finger into its mouth, but I couldn’t make it bite.” When the bhikkhus heard this, they were silent.

Now the discontented bhikkhu acted as barber of the monastery; and one day he went to the monastery with two or three razors, and laying one razor on the floor, cut the hair of the bhikkhus with the other. When he removed the razor from the floor, the thought occurred to him: “I will cut my throat with this razor and so put myself out of the way.” So he went to a certain tree, leaned his neck against a branch, and applied the blade of the razor to his windpipe. Remaining in this position, he reflected upon his conduct from the time of his higher ordination, and perceived that his conduct was flawless, even as the spotless disk of the moon or a cluster of transparent jewels. As he surveyed his conduct, a thrill of joy suffused his whole body. Suppressing the feeling of joy and developing spiritual insight, he attained Arahatship together with the analytic knowledges. Then he took his razor and entered the monastery enclosure.

The bhikkhus asked him: “Where did you go, brother?” – “Friends, I went out thinking to myself: ‘I will cut my windpipe with this razor and so put myself out of the way.’” {2.258} – “How did you escape death?” – “I can no longer carry a knife. For I said to myself: ‘With this razor will I sever my windpipe.’ But instead of so doing, I severed the pollutants with the razor of knowledge.” The bhikkhus said to themselves: “This bhikkhu speaks falsely, says what is untrue,” and reported the matter to the Fortunate One.

The Fortunate One listened to their words and replied: “Bhikkhus, those that have rid themselves of the pollutants are incapable of taking their own life.” – “Venerable Sir, you speak of this bhikkhu as one who has rid himself of the pollutants. But how comes it that this bhikkhu, possessed of the supporting conditions for the attainment of Arahatship, became discontented? How came he to possess those faculties? Why did that snake not bite him?” – “Bhikkhus, the simple fact is that that snake was his slave in [29.249] his third previous existence, and therefore did not dare to bite the body of his own master.” Thus briefly did the Teacher explain this cause to them. Thereafter that bhikkhu was known as Sappadāsa (Snake Enslaver).

11a Story of the Past: Discontented and Covetous

In the dispensation of the Buddha Kassapa, we are told, a certain youth of respectable family, having heard the Teacher teach the Dhamma, was moved to go forth. Some time after he had taken his higher ordination, discontent arose within him, and he spoke of it to a certain fellow bhikkhu. The latter spoke to him repeatedly of the disadvantages connected with the life of a householder. The bhikkhu listened to his words, and became satisfied once more with the spiritual life.

One day he was seated on the bank of a pool cleansing his ascetic utensils of spots they had taken on in the days of his discontent, and his fellow bhikkhu was seated beside him. He said to his fellow bhikkhu: “Friend, it was my intention on leaving the Saṅgha to give these utensils to you.” {2.259} His fellow bhikkhu thought: “What difference does it make to me whether this bhikkhu remains in the Saṅgha or leaves it? Now I shall get his utensils away from him.” From that time on, his fellow bhikkhu would say to him: “How now, friend! What is the use of our living, we who go from house to house with a begging bowl in our hands seeking alms and are forbidden to talk and converse with son and wife?” This and much else did his fellow bhikkhu say to him, dwelling on the advantages of the life of a householder. From listening to the talk of his fellow bhikkhu, he became discontented again. Then the thought occurred to him: “At first, when I told this bhikkhu that I was discontented, he spoke of the disadvantages of the life of a householder; now, however, he dwells repeatedly on its advantages; I wonder what can be the reason.” The reason flashed through his mind: “It is because he covets these monastic utensils of mine.”

“Thus it was that because a certain bhikkhu became discontented in the dispensation of the Buddha Kassapa, he became discontented in the present time; and because he meditated then for twenty thousand years, he obtained at the present time the supporting conditions for the attainment of Arahatship.” The bhikkhus, after hearing the Fortunate One explain this matter, asked him a further question: [29.250] “Venerable Sir, this bhikkhu says that he attained Arahatship even as he stood with the blade of his razor pressed against his windpipe. Is it possible to gain the path of Arahatship in so short a period of time?” – “Yes, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu who strives with all his might may gain the path of Arahatship in raising his foot, in setting his foot on the ground, or even before his foot touches the ground. {2.260} For it is better for a man who strives with all his might to live but a single instant than for an idle man to live a hundred years.” So saying, he joined the connection, and teaching the Dhamma, he pronounced the following verse:

112. Yo ca vassasataṁ jīve, kusīto hīnavīriyo,
ekāhaṁ jīvitaṁ seyyo, viriyam-ārabhato daḷhaṁ.

One might live for a hundred years,
indolent, with less energy,
but one day is better, for one
with energy set up and firm.

At the end of the teaching many reached the fruition of Stream-entry and so on.