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Rishibhashit : A Study
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this spiritual cultivation. In the fourth chapter, Kasi Bhardwaj, of Suttanipat we find its details. There, Buddha himself is presented as a farmer. He says, "Faith is seed, penance is rain, knowledge is yoke, humility is the stud of yoke, memory is my plough. I am disciplined about food and speech. I un-weed the truth. The endeavour towards nirvana are the oxen drawing my plough. They perpetually move in the direction leading to the place where there is no pathos. Such cultivation gives nectar as fruit. Doing such cultivation man becomes free of all sorrows."
Sanyutta Nikaya also provides almost same description. The description about spiritual cultivation conveys that in society at some point their was an aversion towards sramans seeking alms. These sramans were told that instead of begging alms they should indulge in cultivation. In reply to such suggestion the sramans presented the details of spiritual cultivation.
Besides Rishibhashit, details about Ping are found in Buddhist252 tradition as well. In Anguttar Nikaya of Buddhist tradition there is a mention of a Brahman named Pingiyani, who lived in Vaishali and was a follower of Buddha. Sanyutta Nikaya also mentions a Pingi Bhikshuk who attained Arhathood. Suttanipat also mentions Maharshi Pingi. In the Parayan Vagga of Suttanipat, initially Maharshi Pingi is said to be a disciple of Bavari. Maharshi Pingi is one of the sixteen disciples of Bavari. He has been addressed with adjectives like-Lok Vishrut (famous), Dhyani (mendicant), having refined past life Karma, Gani (leader). In the Pingi Manavak Puccha Sutta of Parayan Vagga the dialogue between Buddha and Pingi has been narrated. Here Pingi describes his old age to Buddha and says that he is delapidated, weak, bad complexioned; his eyes and ears are not fully functioning. Stating thus he seeks discourse from Buddha so that he may be rid of life and death and does not, in process, beget death with attachment.
Buddha preaches Pingi to be alert and end desires. These details from Suttanipat clearly indicate that Ping was contemporary of Buddha but senior to him in age. The information about his being a disciple of Buddha, availabie in Suttanipat, is for the purpose of glorifying Buddha's field of influence. As such the description available in Suttanipat, cannot be accepted verbatim. Prof. C.M. Upasak253 has conveyed the possibility of Pingi or Pingiyani of Pali literature being a different person and not the Ping of Rishibhashit. According to him, Ping of Rishibhashit was an ancient Rishi who started the tradition of Pingi or Pingiyani monks.
I have no objection agreeing to the inference drawn by Prof. Upasak. It is a possibility that some Pingiyani of the tradition of Ping
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