The Dhaniya Sutta Added: Dec. 2024

The following is (probably) a fictional conversation between a Dhaniya (Cattleman) and the Buddha:

Cattleman
Cooked is the evening rice, all milked the kine (cows),
by the banks of the Mahi (river) with friends, good cheer is mine,
my house well-thatched, my fire glows bright and still,
and so, rain on O sky, if such thy will!

Buddha
Hatred and barrenness from me are gone,
by Mahi's banks I bide this night alone,
my roof is open, my fires in ashes lie:
and so, rain on O sky, if such thy will!

Cattleman
No stinging gnats are here to tease and fret,
my cattle crop the grasses lush and wet,
and take no hurt though floods the valley fill:
and so, rain on O sky, if such thy will!

Buddha
The raft is bound and well together cast,
Having crossed over, gone to the far shore,
I’ve subdued the flood. No need for a raft is to be found:
and so, rain on O sky, if such thy will!

Cattleman
Attentive is my wife, no wanton she,
long have I lived with her full happily,
nor ever heard of her a breath of ill:
and so, rain on O sky, if such thy will!

Buddha
My mind is compliant, from passion freed,
has long been nurtured, well-tamed indeed:
no evil is to be found in me,
and so, rain on O sky, if such thy will!

Cattleman
My needs are met by my own body's work,
my sturdy boys sit round my own house fire,
nor do I hear of them one word of ill:
and so, rain on O sky, if such thy will!

Buddha
I am in no one's employ,
I wander the whole world on the reward of my own awakening,
No need for earnings is to be found:
and so, rain on O sky, if such thy will!

Cattleman
Cattle have I, yea, cows in milk are mine,
and cows with calf, and tender rising kine,
and lordly bulls whose ways the herds follow:
and so, rain on O sky, if such thy will!

Buddha
Cattle I have not, nor cows in milk are mine
nor cows with calf, nor tender rising kine,
nor lordly bulls to lead the herds have I:
and so, rain on O sky, if such thy will!

Cattleman
The stakes all deeply driven, set firm and sure,
the newly-plaited ropes of grass secure.
No young bulls can break by any skill:
and so, rain on O sky, if such thy will!

Buddha

Having broken my bonds like a great bull,
like a great elephant tearing a rotting vine,
I never again will lie in the womb:
and so, rain on O sky, if such thy will!

Narrator
And now the furious showers came down
in pouring floods that covered hill and plain,
and, listening to the beating of the rain
the Cattleman, faithful, thus found voice again.

Cattleman

Surely our gain is great and to be praised,
whose eyes upon the Radiant One have gazed!
Attentive, lo! We wait my wife and I,
to live the goodly life, the pathway high,
that leads beyond all birth and death to know
and win the final end of every woe.

Mara (the Evil One)
He who has boys rejoices in his boys,
Those with cattle delight in them.
A person's assets surely are his greatest treasure,
He who has no assets will have no pleasure.

Buddha
Who ever has boys, has sorrow because of his boys,
who ever has cattle becomes annoyed because of his cattle.
A person's grief comes from aquisitions
Who has no assets, nevermore has grief.

The End