{"id":"sn47.20","title":"The Finest Lady in the Land","languageCodes":["en","pi"],"languageNotes":{"en":"Bhikkhu Sujato · CC0","pi":"Mahāsaṅgīti edition · SuttaCentral"},"chapters":[{"id":"sn47.20","title":"The Finest Lady in the Land","units":[{"id":"sn47.20:0","sourceIds":["sn47.20:0.1","sn47.20:0.2","sn47.20:0.3"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"Saṁyutta Nikāya 47.20\n2. Nālandavagga\nJanapadakalyāṇīsutta","en":"Linked Discourses 47.20\n2. At Nāḷandā\nThe Finest Lady in the Land"}},{"id":"sn47.20:1","sourceIds":["sn47.20:1.1","sn47.20:1.2","sn47.20:1.3","sn47.20:1.4","sn47.20:1.5","sn47.20:1.6"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"Evaṁ me sutaṁ—\nekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā sumbhesu viharati sedakaṁ nāma sumbhānaṁ nigamo.\nTatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi:\n“bhikkhavo”ti.\n“Bhadante”ti te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṁ.\nBhagavā etadavoca:","en":"So I have heard.\nAt one time the Buddha was staying in the land of the Sumbhas, near the town of the Sumbhas named Sedaka.\nThere the Buddha addressed the mendicants,\n“Mendicants!”\n“Venerable sir,” they replied.\nThe Buddha said this:"}},{"id":"sn47.20:2","sourceIds":["sn47.20:2.1","sn47.20:2.2","sn47.20:2.3","sn47.20:2.4","sn47.20:2.5","sn47.20:2.6","sn47.20:2.7","sn47.20:2.8","sn47.20:2.9","sn47.20:2.10","sn47.20:2.11"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"“Seyyathāpi, bhikkhave, ‘janapadakalyāṇī, janapadakalyāṇī’ti kho, bhikkhave, mahājanakāyo sannipateyya.\n‘Sā kho panassa janapadakalyāṇī paramapāsāvinī nacce, paramapāsāvinī gīte.\nJanapadakalyāṇī naccati gāyatī’ti kho, bhikkhave, bhiyyoso mattāya mahājanakāyo sannipateyya.\nAtha puriso āgaccheyya jīvitukāmo amaritukāmo sukhakāmo dukkhappaṭikūlo.\nTamenaṁ evaṁ vadeyya:\n‘ayaṁ te, ambho purisa, samatittiko telapatto antarena ca mahāsamajjaṁ antarena ca janapadakalyāṇiyā pariharitabbo.\nPuriso ca te ukkhittāsiko piṭṭhito piṭṭhito anubandhissati.\nYattheva naṁ thokampi chaḍḍessati tattheva te siro pātessatī’ti.\nTaṁ kiṁ maññatha, bhikkhave,\napi nu so puriso amuṁ telapattaṁ amanasikaritvā bahiddhā pamādaṁ āhareyyā”ti?\n“No hetaṁ, bhante”.","en":"“Mendicants, suppose that on hearing, ‘The finest lady in the land! The finest lady in the land!’ a large crowd would gather.\nAnd the finest lady in the land would dance and sing in a most thrilling way.\nOn hearing, ‘The finest lady in the land is dancing and singing! The finest lady in the land is dancing and singing!’ an even larger crowd would gather.\nThen a person would come along who wants to live and doesn’t want to die, who wants to be happy and recoils from pain.\nThey’d say to him,\n‘My man, this is a bowl full to the brim with oil. You must carry it in between this large crowd and the finest lady in the land.\nAnd a man with a drawn sword will follow right behind you.\nWherever you spill even a drop, he’ll chop off your head right there.’\nWhat do you think, mendicants?\nWould that person lose focus on that bowl, and negligently get distracted outside?”\n“No, sir.”"}},{"id":"sn47.20:3","sourceIds":["sn47.20:3.1","sn47.20:3.2","sn47.20:3.3","sn47.20:3.4","sn47.20:3.5","sn47.20:3.6","sn47.20:3.7","sn47.20:3.8"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"“Upamā kho myāyaṁ, bhikkhave, katā atthassa viññāpanāya.\nAyaṁ cevettha attho—\nsamatittiko telapattoti kho, bhikkhave, kāyagatāya etaṁ satiyā adhivacanaṁ.\nTasmātiha, bhikkhave, evaṁ sikkhitabbaṁ:\n‘kāyagatā sati no bhāvitā bhavissati bahulīkatā yānīkatā vatthukatā anuṭṭhitā paricitā susamāraddhā’ti.\nEvañhi kho, bhikkhave, sikkhitabban”ti.\nDasamaṁ.\nNālandavaggo dutiyo.","en":"“I’ve made up this simile to make a point.\nAnd this is what it means.\n‘A bowl of oil filled to the brim’ is a term for mindfulness of the body.\nSo you should train like this:\n‘We will develop mindfulness of the body. We’ll cultivate it, make it our vehicle and our basis, keep it up, consolidate it, and properly implement it.’\nThat’s how you should train.”"}},{"id":"sn47.20:4","sourceIds":["sn47.20:4.0","sn47.20:4.1","sn47.20:4.2","sn47.20:4.3","sn47.20:4.4"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"Tassuddānaṁ\nMahāpuriso nālandaṁ,\nCundo celañca bāhiyo;\nUttiyo ariyo brahmā,\nSedakaṁ janapadena cāti."}}]}],"sourceRevision":"afdafa92450cfe7573b280da50382888323666d2","sourceUrl":"https://suttacentral.net/sn47.20/en/sujato","licence":"CC0 1.0","licenceUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/","editionNote":"Full supplied source file; inherited abbreviations are preserved. Not a reconstructed expansion of every repetition. No Malay or Mandarin translation is implied."}