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Tidipa

2. Bhinnanigaṇṭhavatthu (The Breakup of the Jains)

· 15 min read

After Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta's death his followers quarrel; āyasmā Sāriputta tells the bhikkhū that the Bhagavā's well-proclaimed Dhamma should be recited by all in harmony, and asks what it is. The Saṅgītisutta (8D/10), translated from the Dīgha Nikāya.

Original text: 8D/10 Bhinnanigaṇṭhavatthu 779–781 in the World Tipitaka Edition

Summary

Section titled “Summary”

Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta has just died at Pāvā, and his followers have split into quarrelling factions, their lay disciples disgusted. Āyasmā Sāriputta tells the bhikkhū that this is what happens in a Dhamma and Discipline that is ill proclaimed, while the Bhagavā’s Dhamma is well proclaimed, and that all should recite it in harmony, not quarrel, so that the optimal life may last long. He asks what that Dhamma is, and the lists that follow are his answer.

Diagram

Section titled “Diagram”
flowchart TB
    A["Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta dies at Pāvā"] --> B["The Nigaṇṭhas split into two factions"]
    B --> C["Mutual refutation with sharp words"]
    B --> D["Lay disciples turn away"]
    C --> E["Sāriputta: so it goes in an ill-proclaimed Dhamma and Discipline"]
    D --> E
    E --> F["Our Dhamma is well proclaimed"]
    F --> G["All should recite it in harmony, not quarrel"]
    G --> H["So that the optimal life may last long"]
    H --> I["And what is that Dhamma?"]
    I --> J["The lists: Ones to Tens"]

Text

Section titled “Text”

(301.)

779. Now at that time, Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta had recently passed away in Pāvā. Because of his death, the Nigaṇṭhas were divided, split into two factions, had become quarrelsome, engaged in disputes, fallen into arguments, stabbing one another with sharp words, saying: “You don’t understand this Dhamma and Discipline; I understand this Dhamma and Discipline. How will you understand this Dhamma and Discipline? You are practising wrongly; I am practising rightly. Mine is coherent, yours is incoherent. You said last what should have been said first, and first what should have been said last. What you have rehearsed is overturned. Your thesis is refuted. You are defeated. Go and rescue your thesis, or disentangle yourself if you can.” It seemed indeed as if murder itself was occurring among the Nigaṇṭhas, Nāṭaputta’s followers. Even those lay disciples of Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta who wore white clothes were disgusted with, indifferent to, and turned away from the Nigaṇṭhas, Nāṭaputta’s followers, just as it happens in a Dhamma and Discipline that is ill proclaimed, ill expounded, not leading to liberation, not conducive to peace, not proclaimed by a sammāsambuddha (perfectly awakened one), with a broken pillar (foundation), and without a refuge.

(302.)

780. Then āyasmā Sāriputta addressed the bhikkhū: “Āvuso, Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta has recently passed away in Pāvā. Because of his death, the Nigaṇṭhas are divided, split into two factions, have become quarrelsome, engaged in disputes, fallen into arguments, stabbing one another with sharp words, saying: ‘You don’t understand this Dhamma and Discipline; I understand this Dhamma and Discipline. How will you understand this Dhamma and Discipline? You are practising wrongly; I am practising rightly. Mine is coherent, yours is incoherent. You said last what should have been said first, and first what should have been said last. What you have rehearsed is overturned. Your thesis is refuted. You are defeated. Go and rescue your thesis, or disentangle yourself if you can.’ It seems indeed as if murder itself is occurring among the Nigaṇṭhas, Nāṭaputta’s followers. Even those lay disciples of Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta who wear white clothes are disgusted with, indifferent to, and turned away from the Nigaṇṭhas, Nāṭaputta’s followers, just as it happens in a Dhamma and Discipline that is ill proclaimed, ill expounded, not leading to liberation, not conducive to peace, not proclaimed by a perfectly awakened one, with a broken pillar (foundation), and without a refuge. This is indeed what happens, Āvuso, in a Dhamma and Discipline that is ill proclaimed, ill expounded, not leading to liberation, not conducive to peace, and not proclaimed by a perfectly awakened one. But this Dhamma, Āvuso, is well proclaimed by our Bhagavā, well expounded, leading to liberation, conducive to peace, proclaimed by a perfectly awakened one. Therein all should recite in harmony, not quarrel, so that this brahmacariya (optimal life) may endure long and last for a long time, which would be for the welfare and happiness of many people, out of compassion for the world, for the good, welfare, and happiness of gods and humans.

781. And what, Āvuso, is the Dhamma well proclaimed by our Bhagavā, well expounded, leading to liberation, conducive to peace, proclaimed by a perfectly awakened one; concerning which all should recite in harmony, not quarrel, so that this optimal life may endure long and last for a long time, which would be for the welfare and happiness of many people, out of compassion for the world, for the good, welfare, and happiness of gods and humans?

Commentary

Section titled “Commentary”
  • The occasion of the recitation: the schism after Nāṭaputta’s death is why Sāriputta has the bhikkhū recite the Dhamma together; the historical setting and the sutta’s dating are discussed on the sutta’s index page.
  • saṅgāyitabbaṃ “should recite in harmony” names the sutta; the refrain of 780 recurs at the head and foot of every list section (782–1131) as a twin.
  • 780 writes the edition’s …pe… out in full, repeating 779 inside Sāriputta’s speech with nested quotation marks, as the author does again at 818 and 879.
  • Renderings: dhammavinaya “Dhamma and Discipline”; sammāsambuddha glossed “perfectly awakened one” at 779 and bare after; bhinnathūpa “with a broken pillar (foundation)” keeps the author’s gloss; the Nigaṇṭhas stay a name.
  • The edition’s 779–781 are CST 301–302.

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