Kakacūpamasutta

Majjhima Nikāya 21

The Simile of the Saw · Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral

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‘No vata re kiñci, pāpi dāsi, divātaraṁ uṭṭhāsī’ti kupitā anattamanā anattamanavācaṁ nicchāresi.
Atha kho, bhikkhave, kāḷiyā dāsiyā etadahosi:
‘santaṁyeva kho me ayyā ajjhattaṁ kopaṁ na pātukaroti, no asantaṁ.
Mayhamevete kammantā susaṁvihitā, yena me ayyā santaṁyeva ajjhattaṁ kopaṁ na pātukaroti, no asantaṁ.
Yannūnāhaṁ bhiyyoso mattāya ayyaṁ vīmaṁseyyan’ti.
Atha kho, bhikkhave, kāḷī dāsī divātaraṁyeva uṭṭhāsi.
Atha kho, bhikkhave, vedehikā gahapatānī kāḷiṁ dāsiṁ etadavoca:
‘he je kāḷī’ti.
‘Kiṁ, ayye’ti?
‘Kiṁ, je, divā uṭṭhāsī’ti?
‘Na khvayye, kiñcī’ti.
‘No vata re kiñci, pāpi dāsi, divā uṭṭhāsī’ti kupitā anattamanā aggaḷasūciṁ gahetvā sīse pahāraṁ adāsi, sīsaṁ vobhindi.

‘Oh, so nothing’s up, you naughty maid, but you get up later in the day!’ Angry and upset, she blurted out angry words. Then Kāḷī thought, ‘My mistress actually has anger in her and just doesn’t show it; it’s not that she has no anger. It’s just because my work is well-organized that she doesn’t show anger, even though she still has it inside. Why don’t I test my mistress further?’ So Kāḷī got up even later in the day. Vedehikā said to her, ‘Oi wench, Kāḷī!’ ‘What is it, ma’am?’ ‘You’re getting up even later in the day—what’s up with you, wench?’ ‘Nothing, ma’am.’ ‘Oh, so nothing’s up, you naughty maid, but you get up even later in the day!’ Angry and upset, she grabbed a door-pin and hit Kāḷī on the head, cracking it open.

Atha kho, bhikkhave, kāḷī dāsī bhinnena sīsena lohitena galantena paṭivissakānaṁ ujjhāpesi:
‘passathayye, soratāya kammaṁ;
passathayye, nivātāya kammaṁ, passathayye, upasantāya kammaṁ.
Kathañhi nāma ekadāsikāya divā uṭṭhāsīti kupitā anattamanā aggaḷasūciṁ gahetvā sīse pahāraṁ dassati, sīsaṁ vobhindissatī’ti.
Atha kho, bhikkhave, vedehikāya gahapatāniyā aparena samayena evaṁ pāpako kittisaddo abbhuggacchi:
‘caṇḍī vedehikā gahapatānī, anivātā vedehikā gahapatānī, anupasantā vedehikā gahapatānī’ti.

Then Kāḷī, with blood pouring from her cracked skull, denounced her mistress to the neighbors, ‘See, ladies, what the gentle one did! See what the placid one did! See what the calm one did! How on earth can she grab a door-pin and hit her only maid on the head, cracking it open, just for getting up late?’ Then after some time the housewife Vedehikā got this bad reputation: ‘The housewife Vedehikā is fierce, ill-tempered, and not calm at all.’

Evameva kho, bhikkhave, idhekacco bhikkhu tāvadeva soratasorato hoti nivātanivāto hoti upasantūpasanto hoti yāva na amanāpā vacanapathā phusanti.
Yato ca, bhikkhave, bhikkhuṁ amanāpā vacanapathā phusanti, atha bhikkhu ‘sorato’ti veditabbo, ‘nivāto’ti veditabbo, ‘upasanto’ti veditabbo.
Nāhaṁ taṁ, bhikkhave, bhikkhuṁ ‘suvaco’ti vadāmi yo cīvarapiṇḍapātasenāsanagilānappaccayabhesajjaparikkhārahetu suvaco hoti, sovacassataṁ āpajjati.
Taṁ kissa hetu?
Tañhi so, bhikkhave, bhikkhu cīvarapiṇḍapātasenāsanagilānappaccayabhesajjaparikkhāraṁ alabhamāno na suvaco hoti, na sovacassataṁ āpajjati.
Yo ca kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhu dhammaṁyeva sakkaronto, dhammaṁ garuṁ karonto, dhammaṁ mānento, dhammaṁ pūjento, dhammaṁ apacāyamāno suvaco hoti, sovacassataṁ āpajjati, tamahaṁ ‘suvaco’ti vadāmi.
Tasmātiha, bhikkhave, ‘dhammaṁyeva sakkarontā, dhammaṁ garuṁ karontā, dhammaṁ mānentā, dhammaṁ pūjentā, dhammaṁ apacāyamānā suvacā bhavissāma, sovacassataṁ āpajjissāmā’ti.

In the same way, a mendicant may be the gentlest of the gentle, the most placid of the placid, the calmest of the calm, so long as they don’t encounter any disagreeable criticism. But it’s when they encounter disagreeable criticism that you’ll know whether they’re really gentle, placid, and calm. I don’t say that a mendicant is easy to admonish if they make themselves easy to admonish only for the sake of robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicines and supplies for the sick. Why is that? Because when they don’t get robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicines and supplies for the sick, they’re no longer easy to admonish. But when a mendicant is easy to admonish purely because they honor, respect, revere, worship, and venerate the teaching, then I say that they’re easy to admonish. So, mendicants, you should train yourselves: ‘We will be easy to admonish purely because we honor, respect, revere, worship, and venerate the teaching.’

Evañhi vo, bhikkhave, sikkhitabbaṁ.

That’s how you should train.

Pañcime, bhikkhave, vacanapathā yehi vo pare vadamānā vadeyyuṁ—
kālena vā akālena vā;
bhūtena vā abhūtena vā;
saṇhena vā pharusena vā;
atthasaṁhitena vā anatthasaṁhitena vā;
mettacittā vā dosantarā vā.
Kālena vā, bhikkhave, pare vadamānā vadeyyuṁ akālena vā;
bhūtena vā, bhikkhave, pare vadamānā vadeyyuṁ abhūtena vā;
saṇhena vā, bhikkhave, pare vadamānā vadeyyuṁ pharusena vā;
atthasaṁhitena vā, bhikkhave, pare vadamānā vadeyyuṁ anatthasaṁhitena vā;
mettacittā vā, bhikkhave, pare vadamānā vadeyyuṁ dosantarā vā.
Tatrāpi vo, bhikkhave, evaṁ sikkhitabbaṁ:
‘na ceva no cittaṁ vipariṇataṁ bhavissati, na ca pāpikaṁ vācaṁ nicchāressāma, hitānukampī ca viharissāma mettacittā, na dosantarā.

Mendicants, there are these five ways in which others might criticize you. Their speech may be timely or untimely, true or false, gentle or harsh, beneficial or harmful, from a heart of love or from secret hate. When others criticize you, they may do so in any of these ways. If that happens, you should train like this: ‘Our minds will not degenerate. We will blurt out no bad words. We will remain full of sympathy, with a heart of love and no secret hate.

Tañca puggalaṁ mettāsahagatena cetasā pharitvā viharissāma, tadārammaṇañca sabbāvantaṁ lokaṁ mettāsahagatena cittena vipulena mahaggatena appamāṇena averena abyābajjhena pharitvā viharissāmā’ti.
Evañhi vo, bhikkhave, sikkhitabbaṁ.

We will meditate spreading a heart of love to that individual. And with them as a basis, we will meditate spreading a heart full of love to everyone in the world—abundant, expansive, limitless, free of enmity and ill will.’ That’s how you should train.

Seyyathāpi, bhikkhave, puriso āgaccheyya kudālapiṭakaṁ ādāya.
So evaṁ vadeyya:
‘ahaṁ imaṁ mahāpathaviṁ apathaviṁ karissāmī’ti.
So tatra tatra vikhaṇeyya, tatra tatra vikireyya, tatra tatra oṭṭhubheyya, tatra tatra omutteyya:
‘apathavī bhavasi, apathavī bhavasī’ti.
Taṁ kiṁ maññatha, bhikkhave,
api nu so puriso imaṁ mahāpathaviṁ apathaviṁ kareyyā”ti?
“No hetaṁ, bhante”.
“Taṁ kissa hetu”?
“Ayañhi, bhante, mahāpathavī gambhīrā appameyyā.
Sā na sukarā apathavī kātuṁ;
yāvadeva ca pana so puriso kilamathassa vighātassa bhāgī assā”ti.

Suppose a person was to come along carrying a spade and basket and say, ‘I shall make this great earth be without earth!’ And they’d dig all over, scatter all over, spit all over, and urinate all over, saying, ‘Be without earth! Be without earth!’ What do you think, mendicants? Could that person make this great earth be without earth?” “No, sir. Why is that? Because this great earth is deep and limitless. It’s not easy to make it be without earth. That person will eventually get weary and frustrated.”

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