18.11 The Story about the Elder Ujjhānasaññī
Ujjhānasaññittheravatthu
Dhp 253
Burlingame: The Fault-Finding Monk
Elder Ujjhānasaññī was always finding fault with the others, so the bhikkhus asked the Buddha about it; he remarked that one who is scrupulous is doing well, but one who enjoys finding fault, makes no progress, and he taught them with a verse.
Keywords: Discipline, Blame
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“One who looks for another’s faults,” this Dhamma teaching was given by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to an elder named Ujjhānasaññī (Fault-Finder).
It seems that this elder used to go about finding fault with the bhikkhus, saying: “Thus does this bhikkhu put on his undergarment, thus does he put on his upper garment.” The bhikkhus reported the matter to the Teacher, saying: “Venerable Sir, Elder So-and-so is doing so and so.”
The Teacher replied: “Bhikkhus, he who attends strictly to whatever comes under the head of duty and admonishes others to do likewise, the same is not a fault-finder. But he who is minded to find fault, who seeks to find flaws in others, and who goes about talking accordingly, such a man will never attain a single one of the distinctions such as the absorptions; only the pollutants increase within him.” So saying, he pronounced the following verse:
253. Paravajjānupassissa niccaṁ ujjhānasaññino,
āsavā tassa vaḍḍhanti, ārā so āsavakkhayā.
One who looks for another’s faults,
who is an abject complainer,
for him the pollutants increase,
he is far from their destruction.
At the end of the teaching many reached the fruition of Stream-entry and so on.