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1, 32, 1. THE MINOR DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS. 377
VI. THE UKKHEPANIYA-KAMMA for not renouncing
a sinful doctrine.
32.
1. Now at that time the Blessed Buddha was staying at Savatthi, in the Getavana, the grove of Anathapindika. And at that time a certain Bhikkhu by name Arittha, who had formerly been a vulture tormentor', had fallen into a sinful belief of this kind; (that is to say), In this wise do I understand the Dhamma preached by the Blessed One, that to him who practises those things which have been declared by the Blessed One to be impediments 2,
? In his commentary on the Pâkittiya, quoted by Oldenberg in his note on this passage, Buddhaghosa explains this expression to mean' born in a family of vulture slayers. This does not help us much, vulture slaying as a regular occupation being somewhat incomprehensible, and not referred to elsewhere. Whatever its meaning, the occupation referred to is perhaps the origin of, or should at least be compared with, the statement of Ktesias (circa B. C. 400) in his 'Indika' (ed. C. Müller, Fragment xiii), that the Indians used not dogs but vultures, which they trained for that purpose, in hunting hares and foxes. Lassen in his 'Indische Alterthumskunde,' II, 638, 639, thinks this statement not incredible, very fairly comparing the use of falcons in Europe in the Middle Ages. It is not impossible that the correct rendering here should be vulture-catcher,' or vulture-trainer;' but we prefer to be literal.
? The only one of such things (Dhamma) known to us elsewhere in the Vinaya Pitaka itself is deliberate falsehood. This is stated in Mahavagga II, 3, 3 to be an impediment, which is explained by the Old Commentator, at Mahavagga II, 3, 7, to mean an impediment to the attainment of the Ghånas, and other things of similar nature.
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| SR No. | 007676 |
| Book Title | Text of Confucianism Part 02 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | James Legge |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1882 |
| Total Pages | 2405 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 43 MB |