Ud 7.5

Aparalakuṇḍakabhaddiyasutta

Evaṁ me sutaṁ— ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā sāvatthiyaṁ viharati jetavane anāthapiṇḍikassa ārāme. Tena kho pana samayena āyasmā lakuṇḍakabhaddiyo sambahulānaṁ bhikkhūnaṁ piṭṭhito piṭṭhito yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami.

Another Discourse with Bhaddiya the Dwarf

So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Then Venerable Bhaddiya the Dwarf, closely following several mendicants, approached the Buddha.

Addasā kho bhagavā āyasmantaṁ lakuṇḍakabhaddiyaṁ dūratova sambahulānaṁ bhikkhūnaṁ piṭṭhito piṭṭhito āgacchantaṁ dubbaṇṇaṁ duddasikaṁ okoṭimakaṁ yebhuyyena bhikkhūnaṁ paribhūtarūpaṁ. Disvāna bhikkhū āmantesi:

The Buddha saw Venerable Bhaddiya coming off in the distance—ugly, unsightly, deformed, and despised by most of the mendicants. The Buddha addressed the mendicants:

“Passatha no tumhe, bhikkhave, etaṁ bhikkhuṁ dūratova sambahulānaṁ bhikkhūnaṁ piṭṭhito piṭṭhito āgacchantaṁ dubbaṇṇaṁ duddasikaṁ okoṭimakaṁ yebhuyyena bhikkhūnaṁ paribhūtarūpan”ti? “Evaṁ, bhante”ti.

“Mendicants, do you see this monk coming—ugly, unsightly, deformed, and despised by most of the mendicants?” “Yes, sir.”

“Eso, bhikkhave, bhikkhu mahiddhiko mahānubhāvo. Na ca sā samāpatti sulabharūpā yā tena bhikkhunā asamāpannapubbā. Yassa catthāya kulaputtā sammadeva agārasmā anagāriyaṁ pabbajanti, tadanuttaraṁ—brahmacariyapariyosānaṁ diṭṭheva dhamme sayaṁ abhiññā sacchikatvā upasampajja viharatī”ti.

“That mendicant is very mighty and powerful. It’s not easy to find an attainment that he has not already attained. And he has realized the supreme culmination of the spiritual path in this very life. He lives having achieved with his own insight the goal for which gentlemen rightly go forth from the lay life to homelessness.”

Atha kho bhagavā etamatthaṁ viditvā tāyaṁ velāyaṁ imaṁ udānaṁ udānesi:

Then, understanding this matter, on that occasion the Buddha expressed this heartfelt sentiment:

“Nelaṅgo setapacchādo, ekāro vattatī ratho; Anīghaṁ passa āyantaṁ, chinnasotaṁ abandhanan”ti.

“With faultless parts and white canopy, the one-spoked chariot rolls on. See it come, untroubled, with stream cut, unbound.”