19.8 The Story about the Sectarians

Dhp 268-269

Burlingame: It Is Not Silence That Makes the Sage

The Buddha gave an allowance for the monastics to give thanks after the meal they had received; the sectarians complained that the monastics talk too much, while they keep silence; the Buddha explained who is a true seer with some verses.

Keywords: Sectarians, Thanksgiving, Wisdom

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“Not through silence,” this Dhamma teaching was given by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to the sectarians.

It seems that whenever the sectarians took a meal in a given place, {3.394} they would say to their hosts: “May you be safe, may you be happy, may your years increase. In such and such a place there is mud, in such and such a place there are thorns; to such a place you should not go.” After this manner would they express their thanks and good wishes, and only after having so done, would they depart.

But in the first period after Awakening, before the saying of thanksgivings had been enjoined, the bhikkhus would depart from the refectory with never a word of [30.146] thanksgiving to their hosts. At this the people were offended and said: “We hear words of thanksgiving and good wishes from the sectarians, but the venerable ones depart in utter silence.” The bhikkhus reported this matter to the Teacher.

The Teacher said: “Bhikkhus, henceforth in refectories and other such places render thanks according to your good pleasure and speak pleasantly to your hosts as you sit beside them.” Thus did the Teacher enjoin upon them the saying of thanksgivings, and they did according to his command. When the people heard the words of thanksgiving, they put forth the greater efforts, invited the bhikkhus to take meals in their houses, and went about bestowing abundant offerings upon them.

Then were the sectarians offended and said: “We are sages and keep silence, but the disciples of the ascetic Gotama deliver lengthy discourses in refectories and other such places.”

When the Teacher heard their remarks, he said: “Bhikkhus, I do not call a man a sage merely because he keeps silence. AJ: in Pāḷi there is a relation between the words mona, silence, and muni, a sage, or wise person. For there are some men who say nothing because of ignorance, others because of lack of confidence, while still others are so niggardly that they seek to prevent others from learning anything of importance which they themselves know. Therefore I say that a man is not called a sage merely because he keeps silence; rather is he called a sage because of suppression of wickedness.” So saying, he pronounced the following verses:

268. Na monena munī hoti mūḷharūpo aviddasu,
yo ca tulaṁ va paggayha, varam-ādāya paṇḍito.

Not through silence is a poor fool
considered to be a sage,
the wise one, like one holding the
balance, takes up what is noble.

269. Pāpāni parivajjeti sa munī tena so muni;
yo munāti ubho loke muni tena pavuccati.

The seer who rejects wicked deeds
through that is considered a sage;
whoever understands both worlds
because of that is called a seer.