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- Samyutta Nikaya IX.9
- Vajjiputta Sutta
- The Vajjian Princeling
- For free distribution only, as a gift of Dhamma
On one occasion a certain monk, a Vajjian princeling, was dwelling
near Vesali in a forest thicket. And on that occasion an all-night
festival was being held in Vesali. The monk -- lamenting as he heard the resounding din of
wind music, string music, & gongs coming from Vesali, on that occasion recited this
verse:
I live in the wilderness
all alone
like a log cast away in the forest.
On a night like this,
who could there be
more miserable
than me?
Then the devata inhabiting the forest thicket, feeling sympathy for the monk, desiring
his benefit, desiring to bring him to his senses, approached him and addressed him with
this verse:
As you live in the wilderness all alone
like a log cast away in the forest,
many are those who envy you,
as hell-beings do,
those headed for heaven.
The monk, chastened by the devata, came to his senses.
See also: SN IX.1; SN
IX.14.