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Tidipa

Doṇasutta (The Discourse to Doṇa)

· 21 min read

15A4/1.4.6, the sixth discourse of the Aṅguttara Nikāya's Cakkavagga: the brahmin Doṇa follows the wheel-marked footprints to the Bhagavā and asks whether he could be a god, a gandhabba, a yakkha or a human being; the Bhagavā answers that the defilements that would make him any of these are destroyed, and that he is a Buddha.

Original text: 15A4/1.4.6 Doṇasutta 247–253 in the World Tipitaka Edition

Summary

Section titled “Summary”

On the road between Ukkaṭṭhā and Setabyā the brahmin Doṇa sees wheel marks in the Bhagavā’s footprints, follows them to where he sits at the foot of a tree, and asks whether he could be a god, a gandhabba, a yakkha or a human being. The Bhagavā denies each: the defilements through which he might have become any of these are destroyed, and like a lotus risen above the water he dwells unsullied by the world; he is to be remembered as a Buddha.

Diagram

Section titled “Diagram”
flowchart TB
    F["Doṇa sees wheel marks in the footprints"] --> S["follows them to the Bhagavā at the foot of a tree"]
    S --> Q["a god? a gandhabba? a yakkha? a human being?"]
    Q --> N["no to each"]
    N --> W["then who could you be?"]
    W --> A["the defilements that would make me any of these are destroyed"]
    A --> L["the lotus risen above the water, unsullied"]
    L --> B["remember me as a Buddha"]

Text

Section titled “Text”

(36.)

247. At one time the Bhagavā was travelling along the main road between Ukkaṭṭhā and Setabyā. The brahmin Doṇa, too, was travelling along the main road between Ukkaṭṭhā and Setabyā. The brahmin Doṇa saw in the Bhagavā’s footprints wheels, thousand-spoked, with rims, with hubs, complete in every aspect; having seen them, this thought occurred to him: “It is wonderful indeed, Bho! It is amazing indeed, Bho! These will surely not be the footprints of a human being.” Then the Bhagavā, stepping off the road, sat down at the foot of a certain tree, folding his legs crosswise, setting his body erect, and establishing awareness in front of him. Then the brahmin Doṇa, following the Bhagavā’s footprints, saw the Bhagavā seated at the foot of a certain tree — pleasing, inspiring confidence, with calm faculties, with a calm mind, having attained the utmost self-mastery and peace, tamed, guarded, with restrained faculties, a nāga (great man). Having seen him, he approached the Bhagavā; having approached, he said this to the Bhagavā:

248. “Could you be a god, sir?” “No indeed, Brāhmaṇa, I will not be a god.” “Could you be a gandhabba (demigod), sir?” “No indeed, Brāhmaṇa, I will not be a gandhabba.” “Could you be a yakkha (spirit), sir?” “No indeed, Brāhmaṇa, I will not be a yakkha.” “Could you be a human being, sir?” “No indeed, Brāhmaṇa, I will not be a human being.”

249. “When asked, ‘Could you be a god, sir?’ you say, ‘No indeed, Brāhmaṇa, I will not be a god.’ When asked, ‘Could you be a gandhabba, sir?’ you say, ‘No indeed, Brāhmaṇa, I will not be a gandhabba.’ When asked, ‘Could you be a yakkha, sir?’ you say, ‘No indeed, Brāhmaṇa, I will not be a yakkha.’ When asked, ‘Could you be a human being, sir?’ you say, ‘No indeed, Brāhmaṇa, I will not be a human being.’ Then who, now, could you be, sir?”

250. “Those defilements, Brāhmaṇa, through not having abandoned which I might become a god — those defilements of mine are given up, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated, and not subject to future arising. Those defilements, Brāhmaṇa, through not having abandoned which I might become a gandhabba… might become a yakkha… might become a human being — those defilements of mine are given up, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated, and not subject to future arising. Just as, Brāhmaṇa, a blue water lily or a pink lotus or a white lotus, born in the water, grown in the water, stands having risen above the water, unsullied by the water; even so, Brāhmaṇa, born in the world, grown in the world, having mastered the world, I dwell unsullied by the world. Remember me, Brāhmaṇa, as a Buddha.

251. That by which there would be reappearance as a god,
Or a gandhabba flying through the sky;
That by which I might go to the state of a yakkha,
And return to the human state;
Those defilements of mine are destroyed,
Demolished, rendered useless.

252. As a lovely white lotus
Is not soiled by the water,
I am not soiled by the world;
Therefore, Brāhmaṇa, I am a Buddha.”

253. The sixth [discourse of the chapter].

Commentary

Section titled “Commentary”
  • The four questions turn on the future bhavissati, which the DPD reads as “could be”; the answers and the prose of 250 keep the plain future, “I will not be a god”: a denial of further becoming, not of a present nature.
  • Renderings: bhavaṃ “you, sir”; nāga with the DPD’s “great man”; gandhabba and yakkha with the DPD’s glosses; āsava “defilement” and its destruction formula as on https://buddhavacana.github.io/sutta/saccaka/; devūpapatti “reappearance as a god” after the sites’ “reappear” for upapajjati.
  • pādesu (247.3) is “footprints” with the narrative, where the DPD’s pāda is “foot”; padāni is pada “footprint”.
  • The lotus simile is the Brahmāyācana’s, Khandhaka 1.5 and https://buddhavacana.github.io/sutta/pasarasi/.
  • The speech runs from 250 through the verses; the prose closes with a ti glossed “thus” and no closing mark.
  • Gods, gandhabbā and yakkhā are the brahmin’s categories, used only to deny — for the author’s rational reading.

Parallels

Section titled “Parallels”

The Chinese parallel is the 101st sūtra of the Saṃyukta Āgama (雜阿含經 fascicle 4, CBETA T02, no. 99, pp. 28a–b), read here in CBETA’s text. The two versions share the frame and the sequence: a brahmin on the road sees the thousand-spoked wheel marks in the Buddha’s footprints, follows them to the Buddha seated under a tree, and asks what kind of being he is; the Buddha denies each kind and answers that the defilements that would make him any of them are destroyed, with the simile of the lotus unsoiled by the water and the closing claim to be a Buddha, in verse. The differences, checked in CBETA’s text:

  • Setting. The Chinese has the Buddha wandering in Kosala and already seated under a tree between the villages 迦帝 and 墮鳩羅, “entered on the day’s abiding” (一樹下坐，入晝正受, p. 28a), when the brahmin passes; the Pāḷi has both on the road between Ukkaṭṭhā and Setabyā, and the Bhagavā steps off the road and sits down only after Doṇa has seen the footprints (247.6).
  • The brahmin. The Chinese names him by clan, 豆磨種姓婆羅門 (p. 28a), and gives his thought as “I have never seen such footprints among humans; I shall follow the tracks to find the man” (我未曾見人間有如是足跡，今當隨跡以求其人), where the Pāḷi’s Doṇa exclaims that these cannot be a human being’s footprints (247.5).
  • The Buddha’s appearance. The Chinese adds “a majestic form surpassing the world” and “radiant like a golden mountain” (嚴容絕世 … 光相巍巍，猶若金山, p. 28a) to the calm faculties, quiet mind and supreme taming the two share; it has no counterpart to the Pāḷi’s nāga.
  • The questions. The Chinese asks in two rounds — “Are you a god?” and then “a nāga, yakṣa, gandharva, asura, garuḍa, kiṃnara, mahoraga, human or non-human?” (為龍、夜叉、乾闥婆、阿修羅、迦樓羅、緊那羅、摩睺羅伽、人、非人等, p. 28b) — and the Buddha denies the whole list at once; the Pāḷi has four questions, god, gandhabba, yakkha, human being, each asked and answered, and Doṇa’s recapitulation of the four (249).
  • The answer. The Chinese passes straight from the brahmin’s “then what are you?” to the verses; the Pāḷi gives the answer first in prose — the defilements not abandoned, the lotus simile, “remember me as a Buddha” (250) — and then in two verses.
  • The verses. The Chinese verse lists the beings as “all born from the defilements” (悉由煩惱生) and the “defilement-outflows” as “all abandoned, broken, worn away” (如是煩惱漏，一切我已捨，已破已磨滅, p. 28b), keeps the white lotus (芬陀利) unsoiled by water and the Buddha unattached to the world, and then adds lines without a Pāḷi counterpart — discerning through the aeons that all is suffering without a moment’s pleasure, that all constructed things (有為行) arise and cease, stainless and unshaken, the swords and thorns pulled out, birth and death utterly removed — before “therefore I am called Buddha” (故名為佛陀), which answers the Pāḷi’s “therefore I am a Buddha” (252).
  • Ending. The Chinese brahmin “rejoiced and went on his way” (歡喜隨喜，從路而去, p. 28b); the Pāḷi closes with the verse and the chapter count.

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