mn.61 Majjhima Nikāya (Middle Discourses)

Discourse on an Exhortation to Rāhula at Ambalaṭṭhikā

Setting

Thus have I heard: at one time the Lord was staying near Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove at the squirrels’ feeding place. At that time the venerable Rāhula was staying at Ambalaṭṭhikā. Then the Lord, emerging from solitary meditation towards evening, approached Ambalaṭṭhikā and the venerable Rāhula. Then the venerable Rāhula saw the Lord coming in the distance; seeing him, he made ready a seat and water for (washing) the feet. The Lord sat down on the seat made ready; as he was sitting down he bathed his feet. And the venerable Rāhula, having greeted the Lord, sat down at a respectful distance.

Intentional Lies

Then the Lord, having put a little quantity of water that was left over into a water-vessel, addressed the venerable Rāhula, saying: “Do you, Rāhula, see this little quantity of water that is left over and that is put into the water-vessel?” “Yes, revered sir.” “Even so, Rāhula, little is the recluseship of those who have no shame at intentional lying.”

Then the Lord, having thrown away that little quantity of water, addressed the venerable Rāhula, saying: “Do you, Rāhula, see this little quantity of water that has been thrown away?” “Yes, revered sir.” “Even so, Rāhula, thrown away is the recluseship of those who have no shame at intentional lying.”

Then the Lord, having overturned that water-vessel, addressed the venerable Rāhula, saying: “Do you, Rāhula, see this water-vessel that has been overturned?” “Yes, revered sir.” Even so, Rāhula, overturned is the recluseship of those who have no shame at intentional lying.”

Then the Lord, having turned upright that water-vessel, addressed the venerable Rāhula, saying: “Do you, Rāhula, see this water-vessel that is empty, void?” “Yes, revered sir.” “Even so, Rāhula, void and empty is the recluseship of those who have no shame at intentional lying.

Rāhula, it is like a king's bull-elephant whose tusks are as long as a plough-pole, massive, finely bred, whose home is the battle-field, and who, when going forth to battle, uses his forelegs, uses his hind legs, uses the forepart of his body, uses the hind part of his body, uses his head, uses his ears, uses his tusks and uses his tail, protecting only his trunk. Thereupon it occurs to the mahout: ‘This king's bull-elephant whose tusks are as long as a plough-pole massive, finely bred, whose home is the battle-field, and who, when going forth to battle, uses his forelegs, uses his hind legs, uses the forepart of his body, uses the hind part of his body, uses his head, uses his ears, uses his tusks and uses his tail, protects only his trunk. This king's bull-elephant has not thrown away his life.’ But when, Rāhula, the king's bull-elephant whose tusks are as long as a plough-pole massive, finely bred, whose home is the battle-field, and who, when going forth to battle, uses his forelegs, uses his hind legs, uses the forepart of his body, uses the hind part of his body, uses his head, uses his ears, uses his tusks and uses his tail, and uses his trunk, it thereupon occurs to the mahout: ‘This king's bull-elephant whose tusks are as long as a plough-pole massive, finely bred, whose home is the battle-field, and who, when going forth to battle, uses his forelegs, uses his hind legs, uses the forepart of his body, uses the hind part of his body, uses his head, uses his ears, uses his tusks and uses his tail, and uses his trunk. This king's bull-elephant has thrown away his life, there is nothing to be done now for the king's bull-elephant.’ Even so, Rāhula, of anyone for whom there is no shame at intentional lying, of him I say that there is no evil he cannot do. Wherefore, for you, Rāhula, ‘I will not speak a lie, even for fun’, this is how you must train yourself, Rāhula.

Reflection before Action

“What do you think about this, Rāhula? What is the purpose of a mirror?” “Its purpose is reflection, revered sir.” “Even so, Rāhula, a deed is to be done with the body (only) after repeated reflection; a deed is to be done with speech (only) after repeated reflection a deed is to be done with the mind (only) after repeated reflection.

Intending Bodily Deeds

If you, Rāhula, are desirous of doing a deed with the body, you should reflect on that deed of your body, thus: ‘That deed which I am desirous of doing with the body is a deed of my body that might conduce to the harm of self and that might conduce to the harm of others and that might conduce to the harm of both; this deed of body is unskilled, its yield is anguish, its result is anguish.’ If you, Rāhula, reflecting thus, should find: ‘That deed which I am desirous of doing with the body is a deed of my body that might conduce to the harm of self and that might conduce to the harm of others and that might conduce to the harm of both; this deed of body is unskilled, its yield is anguish, its result is anguish.’, a deed of body like this, Rāhula, is certainly not to be done by you. But if you, Rāhula, while reflecting thus, should find: ‘That deed which I am desirous of doing with the body is a deed of my body that would conduce neither to the harm of self nor to the harm of others nor to the harm of both; this deed of body is skilled, its yield is happy, its result is happy’, a deed of body like this, Rāhula, may be done by you.

Doing Bodily Deeds

While you, Rāhula, are doing this deed with the body, you should reflect thus on this self-same deed of body: ‘Is this deed that I am doing with the body a deed of my body that is conducing to the harm of self and to the harm of others and to the harm of both? Is this deed of body unskilled, its yield anguish, its result anguish?’ If you, Rāhula, while reflecting thus should find: ‘This deed that I am doing with the body is a deed of my body that is conducing to the harm of self and to the harm of others and to the harm of both; this deed of body is unskilled, its yield is anguish, its result is anguish’, you, Rāhula, should avoid a deed of body like this. But if you, Rāhula, while reflecting thus, should find: ‘This deed that I am doing with the body is a deed of my body that is not conducing to the harm of self nor to the harm of others nor to the harm of both; this deed of body is skilled, its yield is happy, its result is happy’, you, Rāhula, could repeat a deed of body like this.

Having Done Bodily Deeds

And when you, Rāhula, have done a deed with the body you should reflect on this self-same deed of body thus: ‘Was this deed that I did with the body a deed of my body that conduced to the harm of self and to the harm of others and to the harm of both? Was this an unskilled deed of body, its yield anguish, its result anguish? If you, Rāhula, while reflecting thus, should find: ‘This deed that I did with the body was a deed of my body that conduced to the harm of self and to the harm of others and to the harm of both; this deed of body was unskilled, its yield anguish, its result anguish’, such a deed of your body, Rāhula, should be confessed, disclosed, declared to the Teacher or to intelligent Brahma-farers so that, confessed, disclosed and declared, it would induce restraint in the future. But if you, Rāhula, while reflecting thus, should find: ‘This deed that I did with the body was a deed of my body that conduced neither to the harm of self nor to the harm of others nor to the harm of both; it was a skilled deed of body, its yield happy, its result happy’, because of it you, Rāhula, may abide in zest and rapture training yourself day and night in states that are skilled.

Intending Verbal Deeds

If you, Rāhula, are desirous of doing a deed with the speech, you should reflect on that deed of your speech, thus: ‘That deed which I am desirous of doing with the speech is a deed of my speech that might conduce to the harm of self and that might conduce to the harm of others and that might conduce to the harm of both; this deed of speech is unskilled, its yield is anguish, its result is anguish.’ If you, Rāhula, reflecting thus, should find: ‘That deed which I am desirous of doing with the speech is a deed of my speech that might conduce to the harm of self and that might conduce to the harm of others and that might conduce to the harm of both; this deed of speech is unskilled, its yield is anguish, its result is anguish.’, a deed of speech like this, Rāhula, is certainly not to be done by you. But if you, Rāhula, while reflecting thus, should find: ‘That deed which I am desirous of doing with the speech is a deed of my speech that would conduce neither to the harm of self nor to the harm of others nor to the harm of both; this deed of speech is skilled, its yield is happy, its result is happy’, a deed of speech like this, Rāhula, may be done by you.

Doing Verbal Deeds

While you, Rāhula, are doing this deed with the speech, you should reflect thus on this self-same deed of speech: ‘Is this deed that I am doing with the speech a deed of my speech that is conducing to the harm of self and to the harm of others and to the harm of both? Is this deed of speech unskilled, its yield anguish, its result anguish?’ If you, Rāhula, while reflecting thus should find: ‘This deed that I am doing with the speech is a deed of my speech that is conducing to the harm of self and to the harm of others and to the harm of both; this deed of speech is unskilled, its yield is anguish, its result is anguish’, you, Rāhula, should avoid a deed of speech like this. But if you, Rāhula, while reflecting thus, should find: ‘This deed that I am doing with the speech is a deed of my speech that is not conducing to the harm of self nor to the harm of others nor to the harm of both; this deed of speech is skilled, its yield is happy, its result is happy’, you, Rāhula, could repeat a deed of speech like this.

Having Done Verbal Deeds

And when you, Rāhula, have done a deed with the speech you should reflect on this self-same deed of speech thus: ‘Was this deed that I did with the speech a deed of my speech that conduced to the harm of self and to the harm of others and to the harm of both? Was this an unskilled deed of speech, its yield anguish, its result anguish? If you, Rāhula, while reflecting thus, should find: ‘This deed that I did with the speech was a deed of my speech that conduced to the harm of self and to the harm of others and to the harm of both; this deed of speech was unskilled, its yield anguish, its result anguish’, such a deed of your speech, Rāhula, should be confessed, disclosed, declared to the Teacher or to intelligent Brahma-farers so that, confessed, disclosed and declared, it would induce restraint in the future. But if you, Rāhula, while reflecting thus, should find: ‘This deed that I did with the speech was a deed of my speech that conduced neither to the harm of self nor to the harm of others nor to the harm of both; it was a skilled deed of speech, its yield happy, its result happy’, because of it you, Rāhula, may abide in zest and rapture training yourself day and night in states that are skilled.

Intending Mental Deeds

If you, Rāhula, are desirous of doing a deed with the mind, you should reflect on that deed of your mind, thus: ‘That deed which I am desirous of doing with the mind is a deed of my mind that might conduce to the harm of self and that might conduce to the harm of others and that might conduce to the harm of both; this deed of mind is unskilled, its yield is anguish, its result is anguish.’ If you, Rāhula, reflecting thus, should find: ‘That deed which I am desirous of doing with the mind is a deed of my mind that might conduce to the harm of self and that might conduce to the harm of others and that might conduce to the harm of both; this deed of mind is unskilled, its yield is anguish, its result is anguish.’, a deed of mind like this, Rāhula, is certainly not to be done by you. But if you, Rāhula, while reflecting thus, should find: ‘That deed which I am desirous of doing with the mind is a deed of my mind that would conduce neither to the harm of self nor to the harm of others nor to the harm of both; this deed of mind is skilled, its yield is happy, its result is happy’, a deed of mind like this, Rāhula, may be done by you.

Doing Mental Deeds

While you, Rāhula, are doing this deed with the mind, you should reflect thus on this self-same deed of mind: ‘Is this deed that I am doing with the mind a deed of my mind that is conducing to the harm of self and to the harm of others and to the harm of both? Is this deed of mind unskilled, its yield anguish, its result anguish?’ If you, Rāhula, while reflecting thus should find: ‘This deed that I am doing with the mind is a deed of my mind that is conducing to the harm of self and to the harm of others and to the harm of both; this deed of mind is unskilled, its yield is anguish, its result is anguish’, you, Rāhula, should avoid a deed of mind like this. But if you, Rāhula, while reflecting thus, should find: ‘This deed that I am doing with the mind is a deed of my mind that is not conducing to the harm of self nor to the harm of others nor to the harm of both; this deed of mind is skilled, its yield is happy, its result is happy’, you, Rāhula, could repeat a deed of mind like this.

Having Done Mental Deeds

And when you, Rāhula, have done a deed with the mind you should reflect on this self-same deed of mind thus: ‘Was this deed that I did with the mind a deed of my mind that conduced to the harm of self and to the harm of others and to the harm of both? Was this an unskilled deed of mind, its yield anguish, its result anguish? If you, Rāhula, while reflecting thus, should find: ‘This deed that I did with the mind was a deed of my mind that conduced to the harm of self and to the harm of others and to the harm of both; this deed of mind was unskilled, its yield anguish, its result anguish’, then, Rāhula, you should be horrified, repelled, and disgusted by that deed. Being horrified, repelled, and disgusted you should restrain yourself in the future. But if you, Rāhula, while reflecting thus, should find: ‘This deed that I did with the mind was a deed of my mind that conduced neither to the harm of self nor to the harm of others nor to the harm of both; it was a skilled deed of mind, its yield happy, its result happy’, because of it you, Rāhula, may abide in zest and rapture training yourself day and night in states that are skilled.

Purification only by Reflection

All those recluses and brahmans, Rāhula, who in the long past purified a deed of body, purified a deed of speech, purified a deed of mind, did so (only) after repeated reflection. And all those recluses and brahmans, Rāhula, who in the distant future will purify a deed of body, will purify a deed of speech, will purify a deed of mind, will do so (only) after repeated reflection. And all those recluses and brahmans, Rāhula, who in the present are purifying a deed of body, are purifying a deed of speech, are purifying a deed of mind, are doing so (only) after repeated reflection.

Wherefore, Rāhula, thinking: ‘We will purify a deed of body after repeated reflection, we will purify a deed of speech after repeated reflection, we will purify a deed of mind after repeated reflection’, this is how you must train yourself, Rāhula.”

Thus spoke the Lord. Delighted, the venerable Rāhula rejoiced in what the Lord had said.

Discourse on an Exhortation to Rāhula at Ambalaṭṭhikā: The First

- Translator: I.B. Horner

- Editor: Brother Joe Smith

Advice to Rāhula at Ambalaṭṭhika

So I have heard.
At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground.
Now at that time Venerable Rāhula was staying at Ambalaṭṭhikā.
Then in the late afternoon, the Buddha came out of retreat and went to Ambalaṭṭhika to see Venerable Rāhula.
Rāhula saw the Buddha coming off in the distance.
He spread out a seat and placed water for washing the feet.
The Buddha sat on the seat spread out,
and washed his feet.
Rāhula bowed to the Buddha and sat down to one side.
Then the Buddha, leaving a little water in the pot, addressed Rāhula,
“Rāhula, do you see this little bit of water left in the pot?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s how little of the ascetic’s nature is left in those who are not ashamed to tell a deliberate lie.”
Then the Buddha, tossing away what little water was left in the pot, said to Rāhula,
“Do you see this little bit of water that was tossed away?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s how the ascetic’s nature is tossed away in those who are not ashamed to tell a deliberate lie.”
Then the Buddha, turning the pot upside down, said to Rāhula,
“Do you see how this pot is turned upside down?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s how the ascetic’s nature is turned upside down in those who are not ashamed to tell a deliberate lie.”
Then the Buddha, turning the pot right side up, said to Rāhula,
“Do you see how this pot is vacant and hollow?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s how vacant and hollow the ascetic’s nature is in those who are not ashamed to tell a deliberate lie.
Suppose there was a royal bull elephant with tusks like chariot-poles, able to draw a heavy load, pedigree and battle-hardened. In battle it uses its fore-feet and hind-feet, its fore-quarters and hind-quarters, its head, ears, tusks, and tail, but it still protects its trunk.
So its rider thinks:
‘This royal bull elephant still protects its trunk.
It has not yet given its life.’
But when that royal bull elephant … in battle uses its fore-feet and hind-feet, its fore-quarters and hind-quarters, its head, ears, tusks, and tail, and its trunk, its rider thinks:
‘This royal bull elephant … in battle uses its fore-feet and hind-feet, its fore-quarters and hind-quarters, its head, ears, tusks, and tail, and its trunk.
It has given its life.
Now there is nothing that royal bull elephant would not do.’
In the same way, when someone is not ashamed to tell a deliberate lie, there is no bad deed they would not do, I say.
So you should train like this: ‘I will not tell a lie, even for a joke.’

What do you think, Rāhula?
What is the purpose of a mirror?”
“It’s for checking your reflection, sir.”
“In the same way, deeds of body, speech, and mind should be done only after repeated checking.
When you want to act with the body, you should check on that same deed:
‘Does this act with the body that I want to do lead to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both?
Is it unskillful, with suffering as its outcome and result?’
If, while checking in this way, you know:
‘This act with the body that I want to do leads to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both.
It’s unskillful, with suffering as its outcome and result.’ To the best of your ability, Rāhula, you should not do such a deed.
But if, while checking in this way, you know:
‘This act with the body that I want to do doesn’t lead to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both.
It’s skillful, with happiness as its outcome and result.’ Then, Rāhula, you should do such a deed.
While you are acting with the body, you should check on that same act:
‘Does this act with the body that I am doing lead to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both?
Is it unskillful, with suffering as its outcome and result?’
If, while checking in this way, you know:
‘This act with the body that I am doing leads to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both.
It’s unskillful, with suffering as its outcome and result.’ Then, Rāhula, you should desist from such a deed.
But if, while checking in this way, you know:
‘This act with the body that I am doing doesn’t lead to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both.
It’s skillful, with happiness as its outcome and result.’ Then, Rāhula, you should continue doing such a deed.
After you have acted with the body, you should check on that same act:
‘Does this act with the body that I have done lead to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both?
Is it unskillful, with suffering as its outcome and result?’
If, while checking in this way, you know:
‘This act with the body that I have done leads to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both.
It’s unskillful, with suffering as its outcome and result.’ Then, Rāhula, you should confess, reveal, and clarify such a deed to the Teacher or a sensible spiritual companion.
And having revealed it you should restrain yourself in future.
But if, while checking in this way, you know:
‘This act with the body that I have done doesn’t lead to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both.
It’s skillful, with happiness as its outcome and result.’ Then, Rāhula, you should live in rapture and joy because of this, training day and night in skillful qualities.
When you want to act with speech, you should check on that same deed:
‘Does this act of speech that I want to do lead to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both? …’ …

If, while checking in this way, you know:
‘This act of speech that I have done leads to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both.
It’s unskillful, with suffering as its outcome and result.’ Then, Rāhula, you should confess, reveal, and clarify such a deed to the Teacher or a sensible spiritual companion.
And having revealed it you should restrain yourself in future.
But if, while checking in this way, you know:
‘This act of speech that I have done doesn’t lead to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both.
It’s skillful, with happiness as its outcome and result.’ Then, Rāhula, you should live in rapture and joy because of this, training day and night in skillful qualities.
When you want to act with the mind, you should check on that same deed:
‘Does this act of mind that I want to do lead to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both? …’ …

If, while checking in this way, you know:
‘This act of mind that I have done leads to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both.
It’s unskillful, with suffering as its outcome and result.’ Then, Rāhula, you should be horrified, repelled, and disgusted by that deed.
And being repelled, you should restrain yourself in future.
But if, while checking in this way, you know:
‘This act with the mind that I have done doesn’t lead to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both.
It’s skillful, with happiness as its outcome and result.’ Then, Rāhula, you should live in rapture and joy because of this, training day and night in skillful qualities.
All the ascetics and brahmins of the past, future, and present who purify their physical, verbal, and mental actions do so after repeatedly checking.

So Rāhula, you should train yourself like this: ‘I will purify my physical, verbal, and mental actions after repeatedly checking.’”

That is what the Buddha said.
Satisfied, Venerable Rāhula was happy with what the Buddha said.