The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [311]
3. Now on that occasion the wanderer Uggāhamāna was seated with a large assembly of wanderers who were making an uproar, loudly and noisily talking many kinds of pointless talk, such as talk of kings...(as Sutta 76, §4)...whether things are so or are not so.
The wanderer Uggāhamāna Samaṇamaṇḍikāputta saw the carpenter Pañcakanga coming in the distance. Seeing him, he quieted his own assembly thus: “Sirs, be quiet; sirs make no noise. Here comes the carpenter Pañcakanga, a disciple of the recluse Gotama, one of the recluse Gotama’s white-clothed lay disciples staying at Sāvatthī. These venerable ones like quiet; they are disciplined in quiet; they commend quiet. Perhaps if he finds our assembly a quiet one, he will think to join us.” Then the wanderers became silent.
4. The carpenter Pañcakanga went to the wanderer Uggāhamāna and exchanged greetings with him. [24] When this courteous and amiable talk was finished, he sat down at one side. The wanderer Uggāhamāna then said to him:
5. “Carpenter, when a man possesses four qualities, I describe him as accomplished in what is wholesome, perfected in what is wholesome, an ascetic invincible attained to the supreme attainment. What are the four? Here he does no evil bodily actions, he utters no evil speech, he has no evil intentions, and he does not make his living by any evil livelihood. When a man possesses these four qualities, I describe him as accomplished in what is wholesome, perfected in what is wholesome, an ascetic invincible attained to the supreme attainment.”
6. Then the carpenter Pañcakanga neither approved nor disapproved of the wanderer Uggāhamāna’s words. Without doing either he rose from his seat and went away, thinking: “I shall learn the meaning of this statement in the presence of the Blessed One.”
7. Then he went to the Blessed One, and after paying homage to him, he sat down at one side and reported to the Blessed One his entire conversation with the wanderer Uggāhamāna. Thereupon the Blessed One said:
8. “If that were so, carpenter, then a young tender infant lying prone is accomplished in what is wholesome, perfected in what is wholesome, an ascetic invincible attained to the supreme attainment, according to the wanderer Uggāhamāna’s statement. For a young tender infant lying prone does not even have the notion ‘body,’ so how should he do an evil bodily action beyond mere wriggling? A young tender infant lying prone does not even have the notion ‘speech,’ so how should he utter evil speech beyond mere whining? A young tender infant lying prone does not even have the notion ‘intention,’ so how should he have evil intentions beyond mere sulking? A young tender infant lying prone does not even have the notion ‘livelihood,’ so how [25] should he make his living by evil livelihood beyond being suckled at his mother’s breast? If that were so, carpenter, then a young tender infant lying prone is accomplished in what is wholesome…according to the wanderer Uggāhamāna’s statement.
“When a man possesses four qualities, carpenter, I describe him, not as accomplished in what is wholesome or perfected in what is wholesome or an ascetic invincible attained to the supreme attainment, but as one who stands in the same category as the young tender infant lying prone. What are the four? Here he does no evil bodily actions, he utters no evil speech, he has no evil intentions, and he does not make his living by any evil livelihood. When a man possesses these four qualities, I describe him, not as accomplished…but as one who stands in the same category as the young tender infant lying prone.
9. “When a man possesses ten qualities, carpenter, I describe him as accomplished in what is wholesome, perfected in what is wholesome, an ascetic invincible attained to the supreme attainment. [But first of all] I say, it must be understood thus:772 ‘These are unwholesome habits,’ and thus: ‘Unwholesome habits originate