26.32 The Story about the Elder Sundarasamudda
Sundarasamuddattheravatthu

“Whoever, giving up desires,” this Dhamma teaching was given by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to Elder Sundarasamudda (Ocean of Beauty). [30.309]

At Sāvatthī, we are told, in a great household possessing 400 million of treasure, was reborn a certain youth of station named Sundarasamudda Kumāra. {4.195} One day after breakfast, seeing a great company of people with perfumes and garlands in their hands, going to Jetavana to hear the Dhamma, he asked: “Where are you going?” – “To the Teacher to hear the Dhamma,” they replied. “I will go too,” he said, and accompanying them, sat down in the outer circle of the assembly. The Teacher, knowing the thoughts of his heart, taught the Dhamma in orderly sequence. Sundarasamudda thought: “It is impossible to live the life of a householder and at the same time live the spiritual life, whereof a polished shell is the image and likeness.”

The Teacher’s discourse made him eager to go forth. Therefore, as the assembly departed, he asked the Teacher to give him the going forth. The Teacher said: “The Realised Ones admit no one to the Saṅgha who has not first obtained permission of his mother and father.” So Sundarasamudda went home, and like the youth Raṭṭhapāla and others, by dint of great effort, prevailed upon his mother and father to give him permission to go forth. Having obtained their permission, he went forth in the presence of the Teacher. Subsequently he took his higher ordination. Then he thought to himself: “What is the use of my living here?” So departing from Jetavana, he went to Rājagaha and spent his time going his rounds for alms.

Now one day there was a festival at Sāvatthī, and on that day Sundarasamudda’s mother and father saw their son’s playfellows diverting themselves amid great splendor and magnificence. Thereupon they began to weep and lament, saying: “This is past our son’s getting now.” At that moment a certain courtesan came to the house, and seeing his mother as she sat weeping, asked her: “Mother, why do you weep?” – “I keep thinking of my son; that is why I weep.” – “But, mother, where is he?” – “He has gone forth amongst the bhikkhus.” – “Would it not be proper to make him return to the world?” – “Yes, indeed; but he doesn’t wish to do that. He has left Sāvatthī and has gone to Rājagaha.” – “Suppose I were to succeed in making him return to the world; what would you do for me?” {4.196} – “We would make you the mistress of all the wealth of this household.” – “Very well, give me my expenses.” And taking the amount of her expenses, she surrounded herself with a large retinue and went to Rājagaha.

Taking note of the street in which the elder was accustomed to [30.310] make his rounds for alms, she obtained a house in this street and took up her abode therein. And early in the morning she prepared choice food, and when the elder entered the street to make his rounds for alms, she gave him alms. After a few days had passed, she said to him: “Venerable Sir, sit down right here and eat your meal.” So saying, she offered to take his bowl, and the elder yielded his bowl willingly. Then she served him with choice food, and having so done, said to him: “Venerable Sir, right here is the most delightful spot to which you could come on your rounds for alms.” For a few days she enticed him to sit on the veranda, and there provided him with choice food.

Next she won the favor of some small boys by treating them with cakes, and said to them: “See here, boys; when the elder comes to the house, you come too. And when you come, kick up the dust. And even if I tell you to stop, pay no attention to what I say.” So on the following day, while the elder was eating his meal, the boys came to the house and kicked up the dust. And when the mistress of the house told them to stop, they paid no attention to what she said. On the next day she said to the elder: “Venerable Sir, these boys keep coming here and kicking up the dust, and even when I tell them to stop, pay no attention to what I say; sit inside the house.” For a few days she seated him inside of the house and there provided him with choice food. Then she treated the boys again and said to them: “Boys, while the elder is eating his meal, make a loud noise. And even if I tell you to stop, pay no attention to what I say.” The boys did as they were told.

On the following day she said to the elder: “Venerable Sir, the noise in this place is unbearable. In spite of all I do to stop them, these boys pay no attention to what I say; sit on the upper floor of the mansion.” The elder gave his consent. She then climbed to the top of the mansion, making the elder precede her, and closing the doors after her. Now the elder had taken upon himself the strict obligation to receive alms only by making an unbroken round from door to door. But in spite of this fact, so firmly bound was he by the bonds of the craving of taste that he complied with her suggestion and climbed to the topmost floor of the seven-storied mansion. The woman provided the elder with a seat. [30.311] {4.197}

How Women Accost Men BG: This paragraph is taken bodily from Jātaka, v. 433²⁸-434⁰⁸. See the note above.

In forty ways, friend Puṇṇamukha, does a woman accost a man: She yawns, she bows down, she makes amorous gestures, she pretends to be abashed, she rubs the nails of one hand or foot with the nails of the other hand or foot, she places one foot on the other foot, she scratches on the ground with a stick. She causes her boy to leap up, she causes her boy to leap down, she dallies with her boy and makes him dally with her, she kisses him and makes him kiss her, she eats food and makes him eat food, she gives and begs for gifts, she imitates whatever he does. She talks in a loud tone, she talks in a low tone; she talks as in public, she talks as in private. While dancing, singing, playing musical instruments, weeping, making amorous gestures, adorning herself, she laughs and looks. She sways her hips, she jiggles her waist-gear, uncovers her thigh, covers her thigh, displays her breast, displays her arm-pit, and displays her navel. She covers her eyes, lifts her eyebrows, scratches her lips, and dangles her tongue. She takes off her clothes, puts on her clothes, takes off her head-cover, and puts on her head-cover.

Thus did that woman employ all the devices of a woman, all the graces of a woman. And standing before the elder, she recited the following verse:

Dyed with haenna are her feet,
the courtesan wears slippers,
you are young, and you are mine,
I am young, and I am yours.
Let us both go forth when old,
and supported by a staff.

Thought the elder: “Alas, I have committed a grievous wrong! I did not consider what I was doing.” And he was deeply moved. At that moment the Teacher, although seated within the Jetavana, forty-five leagues distant, {4.198} saw the whole affair and smiled. Elder Ānanda asked him: “Venerable Sir, what is the cause, what is the occasion of your smiling?” – “Ānanda, in the city of Rājagaha, on the topmost floor of a seven-storied palace, there is a battle on between the bhikkhu Sundarasamudda and a courtesan.” – “Who is going to win, venerable Sir, and who is going to lose?” The Teacher replied: “Ānanda, Sundarasamudda is going to win, and the courtesan is going to lose.” Having thus proclaimed that the elder would win the victory, the Teacher, remaining seated where he was, sent forth a radiant image of himself and said: “Bhikkhu, renounce both sensual desires and be without expectation.” So saying, he pronounced the following verse: [30.312]

415. Yodha kāme pahatvāna anāgāro paribbaje,
kāmabhavaparikkhīṇaṁ, tam-ahaṁ brūmi brāhmaṇaṁ.

Whoever, giving up desires,
would wander homeless in the world,
destroying desires, existence,
that one I say is a Brahmin. AJ: Burlingame included a translation of the word commentary to the verse here, against his normal practice. I have removed it in anticipation of providing a full translation of this part of the commentary.

At the end of the teaching the elder attained Arahatship, rose into the air by psychic power, passing through the circular peak of the house; and returning once more to Sāvatthī, praised the body of the Teacher and worshipped the Teacher.

The bhikkhus discussed the incident in the Dhamma Hall, saying: “Friends, all because of tastes perceptible by the tongue the Elder Sundarasamudda was well-nigh lost, but the Teacher was his support.”

The Teacher, hearing their words, said: “Bhikkhus, this is not the first time I have supported this bhikkhu, bound by the bonds of the craving of taste; the same thing happened in a previous state of existence also.” In compliance with a request of the bhikkhus that he make the matter clear, the Teacher told them a {4.199}

Story of the Past: The Birth Story about the Wind-Deer Ja 14. AJ: the commentary only quoted the verse, here I include the full story.

In the past when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares he had a gardener named Sañjaya. Now there came into the king’s pleasure gardens a Wind-Deer, which fled away at the sight of Sañjaya, but the latter let it go without terrifying the timid creature. After several visits the antelope used to roam about in the pleasure gardens. Now the gardener was in the habit of gathering flowers and fruits and taking them day by day to the king. The king said to him one day: “Have you noticed anything strange, friend gardener, in the pleasure gardens?” – “Only, sir, that a Wind-Deer has come about the grounds.” – “Could you catch it, do you think?” – “Oh, yes; if I had a little honey, I’d bring it right into your majesty’s palace.”

The king ordered the honey to be given to the man and he went off with it to the pleasure gardens, where he first anointed with the honey the grass at the spots frequented by the deer, and then hid himself. When the deer came and tasted the honied grass it was so snared by the lust of taste that it would go nowhere else but only to the pleasure gardens. Marking the success of his snare, the gardener began gradually to show himself. The appearance of the man made the deer take to flight for the first day or two, but growing familiar with the sight of him, it gathered confidence and gradually came to eat grass from the man’s hand.

He, noting that the creature’s confidence had been won, first strewed the path as thick as a carpet with broken boughs; then tying a gourd full of honey on his shoulder and sticking a bunch of grass in his waist-cloth, he kept dropping wisps of the honied grass in front of the deer till at last he got it right inside the palace. No sooner was the deer inside than they shut the door. At sight of men the deer, in fear and trembling for its life, dashed to and fro about the hall; and the king coming down from his chamber above, and seeing the trembling creature, said: “So timid is the Wind-Deer that for a whole week it will not revisit a spot where it has so much as seen a man; and if it has once been frightened anywhere, it never goes back there again all its life long. Yet, ensnared by the lust of taste, this wild thing from the jungle has actually come to a place like this. Truly, my friends, there is nothing viler in the world than this craving for taste.” And he put his teaching into this verse:

It seems that there is nothing worse than tastes,
amongst those in homes, or acquaintances.
The wind-deer, who depended on his home,
was brought under Sañjaya’s control by taste.

Having related in detail this Birth Story about the Wind-Deer, found in the First Book, the Teacher identified the persons of the Birth Story as follows: “At that time Sundarasamudda was the antelope; the king’s minister who by reciting this verse obtained the release of the antelope, was I myself.”