The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [319]
15. When this was said, the wanderer Vekhanassa was angry and displeased, and he reviled, disparaged, and censured the Blessed One, saying: “The recluse Gotama will be worsted.” He then said to the Blessed One: “So then there are some recluses and brahmins here who, without knowing the past and without seeing the future, yet claim: ‘Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming to any state of being.’ What they say turns out to be ridiculous; it turns out to be mere words, empty and hollow.”
16. “If any recluses and brahmins [44], without knowing the past and without seeing the future, yet claim: ‘Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming to any state of being,’ they can be reasonably confuted. Rather, let the past be, Kaccāna, and let the future be. Let a wise man come, one who is honest and sincere, a man of rectitude. I instruct him, I teach him the Dhamma in such a way that by practising as instructed he will soon know and see for himself: ‘Thus, indeed, there rightly comes to be liberation from the bond, that is, from the bond of ignorance.’ Suppose, Kaccāna, there were a young tender infant lying prone, bound by stout bonds [at the four limbs] with the fifth at the neck; and later on, as a result of his growth and the maturing of his faculties, those bonds loosened, then he would know ‘I am free’ and there would be no more bondage. So too, let a wise man come…‘Thus, indeed, there rightly comes to be liberation from the bond, that is, from the bond of ignorance.’”
17. When this was said, the wanderer Vekhanassa said to the Blessed One: “Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent, Master Gotama! Master Gotama has made the Dhamma clear...(as Sutta 74, §19)...for those with eyesight to see forms. I go to Master Gotama for refuge and to the Dhamma and to the Sangha of bhikkhus. From today let the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for refuge for life.”
4
The Division on Kings (Rājavagga)
Ghaṭīkāra Sutta
Ghaṭīkāra the Potter
[45] 1. THUS HAVE I HEARD. On one occasion the Blessed One was wandering among the Kosalans together with a large Sangha of bhikkhus.
2. Then the Blessed One left the main road and, at a certain place, he smiled. It occurred to the venerable Ānanda: “What is the reason, what is the cause, for the Blessed One’s smile? Tathāgatas do not smile for no reason.” So he arranged his upper robe on one shoulder, and extending his hands in reverential salutation towards the Blessed One, asked him: “Venerable sir, what is the reason, what is the cause, for the Blessed One’s smile? Tathāgatas do not smile for no reason.”
3. “Once, Ānanda, in this place there was a prosperous and busy market town called Vebhalinga, with many inhabitants and crowded with people. Now the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened, lived near the market town Vebhalinga. It was here, in fact, that the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened, had his monastery; it was here, in fact, that the Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened, sat and advised the Sangha of bhikkhus.”
4. Then the venerable Ānanda folded his patchwork cloak in four, and spreading it out, said to the Blessed One: “Then, venerable sir, let the Blessed One be seated. Thus this place will have been used by two Accomplished Ones, Fully Enlightened Ones.”
The Blessed One sat down on the seat that had been made ready and addressed the venerable Ānanda thus:
5. “Once, Ānanda, in this place there