14.7 The Story about the Question Asked by Elder Ānanda
Ānandattherapucchitapañhavatthu

Dhp 193

CST4: Ānandattherapañhavatthu

Burlingame: Whence Come Men of Noble Birth?

Elder Ānanda reflected that the Buddha had taught them about the provenance of well-bred elephants and steeds, but not of well-bred people, so he asked about it, and the Buddha explained the matter with a verse.

Keywords: Noble People, Good Birth

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“A person of good breed is rare,” this Dhamma teaching was given by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to a question asked by the Elder Ānanda.

One day as the elder sat in his day-quarters, he thought to himself: {3.248} “The Teacher has told us whence come well-bred elephants, horses, and bullocks. ‘Noble elephants,’ he said, ‘are bred from the stock of Chaddanta or of Uposatha; BG: See Ja 479. noble chargers from the stock of Valāhaka, king of horses; and noble bullocks are raised in the Deccan.’ But men of noble birth – now where do they come from?”

He went to the Teacher, saluted him, and asked him about the matter. The Teacher said: “Ānanda, men of noble birth are not born in all places. But in the Middle Country, three hundred leagues long in a straight line and nine hundred in a circuit – there they are born. But when they are born, it is not in any family whatsoever that they are born, but only in a family here and there of some Noble or Brahmin.” So saying, he pronounced the following verse:

193. Dullabho purisājañño, na so sabbattha jāyati,
yattha so jāyate dhīro, taṁ kulaṁ sukham-edhati.

A person of good breed is rare,
that one is not born in all places,
wherever that wise one is born,
that family gains happiness.

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

 

last updated: August 2024