SNP 2.2 Putrefaction

Reference Translation by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0).

“The good eat properly obtained

millet, wild grains, broomcorn,

greens, tubers, and squashes.

They don’t lie to get what they want.

But when you eat delicious food,

nicely cooked and prepared, and offered by others,

enjoying a dish of fine rice,

Kassapa, you eat putrefaction.

‘Putrefaction is not appropriate for me’—

so you said, O brahmin only by kin.

Yet here you are enjoying a dish of fine rice,

well prepared with the flesh of fowl.

I’m asking you this, Kassapa:

what do you take to be putrefaction?”

“Killing creatures, mutilation, murder, abduction;

stealing, lying, cheating and fraud,

learning crooked spells, adultery:

this is putrefaction, not eating meat.

People here with unbridled sensuality,

greedy for tastes, mixed up in impurity,

nihilists, immoral, intractable:

this is putrefaction, not eating meat.

Tough, callous calumniators,

pitiless and arrogant betrayers of friends,

misers who never give anything:

this is putrefaction, not eating meat.

Anger, vanity, obstinacy, contrariness,

deceit, jealousy, boastfulness,

haughtiness, intimacy with the wicked:

this is putrefaction, not eating meat.

The ill-behaved, debt-evaders, informants,

business cheats and con-artists,

vile men committing sin:

this is putrefaction, not eating meat.

People here who can’t stop harming living creatures,

taking from others, intent on hurting,

immoral, cruel, harsh, lacking regard for others:

this is putrefaction, not eating meat.

Greedy, hostile, aggressive to others,

and addicted to evil—those beings pass into darkness,

falling headlong into hell:

this is putrefaction, not eating meat.

Not fish or flesh or fasting,

nudity or baldness, or dreadlocks or dirt,

not rough hides or serving the sacred flame,

or the many endless mortifications in the world,

not hymns or oblations, sacrifices or seasonal observances,

will cleanse a mortal not free of doubt.

Guarding the streams of sense impressions, wander with faculties conquered,

standing on the teaching, delighting in sincerity and tenderness.

The wise have slipped their chains and given up all suffering;

they don’t cling to the seen and the heard.”

The Buddha explained this matter to him again and again,

until the master of hymns understood it.

It was illustrated with colorful verses

by the sage free of putrefaction, unattached, hard to trace.

Having heard the fine words of the Buddha,

that are free of putrefaction, casting aside all suffering;

humbled, he bowed to the Realized One,

and right away begged to go forth.

​

“Sāmākaciṅgūlakacīnakāni ca,

Pattapphalaṁ mūlaphalaṁ gavipphalaṁ;

Dhammena laddhaṁ satamasnamānā,

Na kāmakāmā alikaṁ bhaṇanti.

Yadasnamāno sukataṁ suniṭṭhitaṁ,

Parehi dinnaṁ payataṁ paṇītaṁ;

Sālīnamannaṁ paribhuñjamāno,

So bhuñjasī kassapa āmagandhaṁ.

Na āmagandho mama kappatīti,

Icceva tvaṁ bhāsasi brahmabandhu;

Sālīnamannaṁ paribhuñjamāno,

Sakuntamaṁsehi susaṅkhatehi;

Pucchāmi taṁ kassapa etamatthaṁ,

Kathaṁpakāro tava āmagandho”.

“Pāṇātipāto vadhachedabandhanaṁ,

Theyyaṁ musāvādo nikativañcanāni ca;

Ajjhenakuttaṁ paradārasevanā,

Esāmagandho na hi maṁsabhojanaṁ.

Ye idha kāmesu asaññatā janā,

Rasesu giddhā asucibhāvamassitā;

Natthikadiṭṭhī visamā durannayā,

Esāmagandho na hi maṁsabhojanaṁ.

Ye lūkhasā dāruṇā piṭṭhimaṁsikā,

Mittadduno nikkaruṇātimānino;

Adānasīlā na ca denti kassaci,

Esāmagandho na hi maṁsabhojanaṁ.

Kodho mado thambho paccupaṭṭhāpanā,

Māyā usūyā bhassasamussayo ca;

Mānātimāno ca asabbhi santhavo,

Esāmagandho na hi maṁsabhojanaṁ.

Ye pāpasīlā iṇaghātasūcakā,

Vohārakūṭā idha pāṭirūpikā;

Narādhamā yedha karonti kibbisaṁ,

Esāmagandho na hi maṁsabhojanaṁ.

Ye idha pāṇesu asaññatā janā,

Paresamādāya vihesamuyyutā;

Dussīlaluddā pharusā anādarā,

Esāmagandho na hi maṁsabhojanaṁ.

Etesu giddhā viruddhātipātino,

Niccuyyutā pecca tamaṁ vajanti ye;

Patanti sattā nirayaṁ avaṁsirā,

Esāmagandho na hi maṁsabhojanaṁ.

Na macchamaṁsānamanāsakattaṁ,

Na naggiyaṁ na muṇḍiyaṁ jaṭājallaṁ;

Kharājināni nāggihuttassupasevanā,

Ye vāpi loke amarā bahū tapā;

Mantāhutī yaññamutūpasevanā,

Sodhenti maccaṁ avitiṇṇakaṅkhaṁ.

Sotesu gutto viditindriyo care,

Dhamme ṭhito ajjavamaddave rato;

Saṅgātigo sabbadukkhappahīno,

Na lippati diṭṭhasutesu dhīro”.

Iccetamatthaṁ bhagavā punappunaṁ,

Akkhāsi naṁ vedayi mantapāragū;

Citrāhi gāthāhi munī pakāsayi,

Nirāmagandho asito durannayo.

Sutvāna buddhassa subhāsitaṁ padaṁ,

Nirāmagandhaṁ sabbadukkhappanūdanaṁ;

Nīcamano vandi tathāgatassa,

Tattheva pabbajjamarocayitthāti.

Āmagandhasuttaṁ dutiyaṁ.