21.4 The Story about the Elder Lakuṇṭaka Bhaddiya
Lakuṇṭakabhaddiyattheravatthu
Dhp 294-295
Burlingame: The Monk Who Had Killed His Mother and Father
When Elder Lakuṇṭaka Bhaddiya was passing by, the Buddha spoke a cryptic saying to the effect that this bhikkhu had killed both mother and father; the bhikkhus were astonished, but the Buddha was speaking metaphorically.
Keywords: Killing, Similes
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“Destroying mother and father,” this Dhamma teaching was given by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to Elder Lakuṇṭaka Bhaddiya.
For once upon a day several visiting bhikkhus drew near to the Teacher as he sat in his day-quarters, saluted him, and sat down respectfully on one side. At that moment Elder Lakuṇṭaka Bhaddiya passed by not far from the Fortunate One.
The Teacher, knowing the disposition of mind of those bhikkhus, looked at the elder and said to the bhikkhus: “Look, bhikkhus! There is a bhikkhu who has killed mother and father and free from pain he goes!” – “What is this the Teacher says?” exclaimed those bhikkhus, looking each other in the face, while doubt sprang up within them. And they said to the Teacher: “Venerable Sir, what say you?” Then the Teacher taught the Dhamma to them by pronouncing the following verse:
294. Mātaraṁ pitaraṁ hantvā, rājāno dve ca khattiye,
raṭṭhaṁ sānucaraṁ hantvā, anīgho yāti brāhmaṇo.
Destroying mother and father,
and two noble kings, destroying
a kingdom and its followers,
the Brahmin proceeds untroubled. AJ: the commentarial interpretation of this verse is: Destroying craving and conceit, and the two: eternalism and annhilationism, destroying passionate delight in the twelve sense spheres, one without pollutants proceeds untroubled.
At the end of the teaching those bhikkhus were established in Arahatship.
The story relating to the second verse is like the preceding. At that time also the Teacher spoke with reference to Elder Lakuṇṭaka. Teaching the Dhamma to those bhikkhus, the Teacher pronounced the following verse:
295. Mātaraṁ pitaraṁ hantvā, rājāno dve ca sotthiye,
veyyagghapañcamaṁ hantvā, anīgho yāti brāhmaṇo.
Destroying mother and father,
and two prosp’rous kings, destroying
a vicious tiger as the fifth,
the Brahmin proceeds untroubled. AJ: commentarial interpretation: Destroying craving and conceit, and the two: eternalism and annhilationism, destroying the five hindrances having doubt as fifth, one without pollutants proceeds untroubled.