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Vinaya Pitaka
Mahavagga
I. Mahākhandhako

Mv I 34

PTS: Mv I 47 | CS: vin.mv.01.34

Dāsavatthu

The Case of the Slave[1]

Ven. Khematto Bhikkhu

2017

Alternate translations/layout: 'line by line' Pāḷi - English

- Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhassa -

(Mv.I.47.1) [109] Now at that time a certain slave ran away and went forth among the monks. His masters, on seeing him, said, “That’s our slave. Let’s take him away.”

Some said, “Don’t say that, masters. It has been allowed by King Seniya Bimbisāra of Magadha that for one gone forth among the Sakyan-son contemplatives, nobody can do anything to him, (as he thinks,) ‘The Dhamma is well-expounded. May they live the holy life for the right ending of stress.’”

People criticized and complained and spread it about,

“These Sakyan-son contemplatives are unrestrained by fear[1] — nobody can do anything to them.

“How can they give the Going-forth to a slave?”

They reported the matter to the Blessed One.

“Monks, a slave should not be given the Going-forth. Whoever should give it: an offense of wrong doing.”

Notes

1.: See also BMCII: Chap. 14: Undesirable.
2.: Commentary: “Unrestrained by fear”: Here, “restrained by fear” means, “They cease out of fear.” But, because they have been granted safety, “They aren’t restrained by fear,” thus “unrestrained by fear.” It should be understood that in this case there is a ‘va-making’.[3]
3.: This is a grammatical term, usually referring to the insertion of a ‘v’ in a compound, for example, ‘bhū’ + ‘ādayo’ > ‘bhūvādayo’. Howerever, here is seems to refer to the replacement of ‘p’ by ‘v’, which is common. So ‘abhayūvara’ is a variant of ‘abhayūpara’ = ‘a’ + ‘bhaya’ + ‘uparata’ from ‘uparamati’: ceases from motion or action, stops, is quiet, gives up, abstains. [From Cone: A Dictionary of Pāli.]

See also: BMCII: Chap. 14: Undesirable.

Provenance:

2017 Ven. Khematto Bhikkhu

Edition: 2017-09-29.

Transcribed from a file generously provided by the translator via dhammatalks.org and edited to ZzE-style by sj.

2017

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How to cite this document (one suggested style): 'Mv I.34: Dāsavatthu: The Case of the Slave', by Ven. Khematto Bhikkhu. Zugang zur Einsicht, 4. November 2017, http://www.zugangzureinsicht.org/html/tipitaka/vin/mv/mv01/mv.01.34.khem_en.html retreived on:

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