The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [258]
“Surely, Bhaddāli, a transgression overcame you, in that like a fool, confused and blundering, when a training precept was being made known by me, when the Sangha of bhikkhus was undertaking the training, you declared your refusal to comply.
11. “What do you think, Bhaddāli? Suppose a bhikkhu here were one liberated-in-both-ways,664 and I told him: ‘Come, bhikkhu, be a plank for me across the mud.’ Would he walk across himself,665 or would he dispose his body otherwise, or would he say ‘No’?”
“No, venerable sir.”
“What do you think, Bhaddāli? Suppose a bhikkhu here were one liberated-by-wisdom…a body-witness…one attained-toview…one liberated-by-faith…a Dhamma-follower…a faith-follower, and I told him: ‘Come, bhikkhu, be a plank for me across the mud.’ Would he walk across himself, or would he dispose his body otherwise, or would he say ‘No’?”
“No, venerable sir.”
12. “What do you think, Bhaddāli? Were you on that occasion one liberated-in-both-ways or [440] one liberated-by-wisdom or a body-witness or one attained-to-view or one liberated-by-faith or a Dhamma-follower or a faith-follower?”
“No, venerable sir.”
“Bhaddāli, on that occasion were you not empty, hollow, and mistaken?”
13. “Yes, venerable sir. Venerable sir, a transgression overcame me, in that like a fool, confused and blundering, when a training precept was being made known by the Blessed One, when the Sangha of bhikkhus was undertaking the training, I declared my refusal to comply. Venerable sir, may the Blessed One forgive my transgression seen as such for the sake of restraint in the future.”
“Surely, Bhaddāli, a transgression overcame you, in that like a fool, confused and blundering, when a training precept was being made known by me, when the Sangha of bhikkhus was undertaking the training, you declared your refusal to comply. But since you see your transgression as such and make amends in accordance with the Dhamma, we forgive you; for it is growth in the Noble One’s Discipline when one sees one’s transgression as such and makes amends in accordance with the Dhamma by undertaking restraint for the future.
14. “Here, Bhaddāli, some bhikkhu does not fulfil the training in the Teacher’s Dispensation. He considers thus: ‘Suppose I were to resort to a secluded resting place: the forest, the root of a tree, a mountain, a ravine, a hillside cave, a charnel ground, a jungle thicket, an open space, a heap of straw—perhaps I might realise a superhuman state, a distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones.’ He resorts to some such secluded resting place. While he lives thus withdrawn, the Teacher censures him, wise companions in the holy life who have made investigation censure him, gods censure him, and he censures himself. Being censured in this way by the Teacher, by wise companions in the holy life, by gods, and by himself, he realises no superhuman state, no distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones. Why is that? That is how it is with one who does not fulfil the training in the Teacher’s Dispensation.
15. “Here, Bhaddāli, some bhikkhu does fulfil the training in the Teacher’s Dispensation. He considers thus: ‘Suppose I were to resort to a secluded resting place: the forest, the root of a tree, a mountain, a ravine, a hillside cave, a charnel ground, a jungle thicket, [441] an open space, a heap of straw—perhaps I might realise a superhuman state, a distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones.’ He resorts to some such secluded resting place. While he lives thus withdrawn, the Teacher does not censure him, wise companions in the holy life who have made investigation do not censure him, gods do not censure him, and he does not censure himself. Being uncensured