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VI, 35, 8.
Keniya the ascetic, with his own hand, offered to the company of the Bhikkhus with the Buddha at their head, and satisfied them with the sweet food, both hard and soft. And when the Blessed One had finished his meal and had washed his hands and his bowl, he (Keniya) took his seat on one side.
8. And when he was so seated the Blessed One pronounced the benediction on Keniya the ascetic in these verses:
134
MAHAVAGGA.
'Of the offerings1 the fire sacrifice is the chief, of sacred verses the chief is the Sâvitthi2;
'Among men the king is chief, and of waters the ocean,
'Of constellations the moon is chief, and of heatgivers the sun,
'But of them, the conquering ones, who long after good, the Samgha, verily, is chief.'
And when the Blessed One had, in these verses, pronounced the benediction3 on Keniya the ascetic, he rose from his seat, and departed thence1.
36.
1. Now when the Blessed One had stayed at Apana as long as he thought fit, he went on, on his pilgrimage, to Kusinârâ, with a great company
1 Yañña. Compare above, I, 22, 4, and our note there (p. 138). This is of course the well-known verse Rig-veda III, 62, 10. The argumentum ad hominem here is a fresh confirmation of the view already expressed above in our note on I, 15, 1, that by the Gatilas are to be understood the orthodox Brahman ascetics.
3 Compare the Book of the Great Decease I, 31, and Gâtaka I, 119.
+
§§ 7, 8 recur in the Sela Sutta (Sutta Nipâta, III, 7, 21, 22), where they stand in a much more appropriate context.
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| SR No. | 007684 |
| Book Title | Vinaya Texts |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | T W Rhys Davids, Hermann Oldenberg |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1881 |
| Total Pages | 2523 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 47 MB |