Tipitaka » Sutta Pitaka » Khuddaka Nikaya »
Udana » Context of this sutta
- Udana VIII.8
- Visakha Sutta
- To Visakha
- For free distribution only, as a gift of Dhamma
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Savatthi
at the Eastern Monastery, the palace of Migara's mother. Now at
that time a dear and beloved grandson of Visakha, Migara's mother, had died. So Visakha, Migara's mother -- her clothes wet, her hair wet -- went to
the Blessed One in the middle of the day and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to
one side. As she was sitting there the Blessed One said to her: "Why have you come
here, Visakha -- your clothes wet, your hair wet -- in the middle of the day?"
When this was said, she said to the Blessed One, "My dear and beloved grandson has
died. This is why I have come here -- my clothes wet, my hair wet -- in the middle of the
day."
"Visakha, would you like to have as many children and grandchildren as there are
people in Savatthi?"
"Yes, lord, I would like to have as many children and grandchildren as there are
people in Savatthi."
"But how many people in Savatthi die in the course of a day?"
"Sometimes ten people die in Savatthi in the course of a day, sometimes nine...
eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... Sometimes one person dies in
Savatthi in the course of a day. Savatthi is never free from people dying."
"So what do you think, Visakha: Would you ever be free from wet clothes and wet
hair?"
"No, lord. Enough of my having as many children and grandchildren as there are
people in Savatthi."
"Visakha, those who have a hundred dear ones have a hundred sufferings. Those who
have ninety dear ones have ninety sufferings. Those who have eighty... seventy... sixty...
fifty... forty... thirty... twenty... ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five...
four... three... two... Those who have one dear one have one suffering. For those with no
dear ones, there are no sufferings. They are free from sorrow, free from stain, free from
lamentation, I tell you."
Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion
exclaimed:
The sorrows, lamentations,
the many kinds of suffering in the world,
exist dependent on something dear.
They don't exist
when there's nothing dear.
And thus blissful & sorrowless
are those for whom nothing
in the world is dear anywhere.
So one who aspires
to be stainless & sorrowless
shouldn't make anything
in the world dear
anywhere.