Thus have I heard: at one time the Lord was staying near Sāvatthī in the Jeta Grove in Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery. Then the wanderer Vekhanassa approached the Lord; having approached, he greeted the Lord; and having conversed in a friendly and courteous way, he stood at a respectful distance. As he was standing at a respectful distance, the wanderer Vekhanassa uttered a solemn utterance in the Lord's presence: “This is the highest lustre, this is the highest lustre.” “But why do you, Kaccāna, speak thus: ‘This is the highest lustre, this is the highest lustre?’ Which is this highest lustre?”

“Good Gotama, there is no other lustre superior to or more excellent than this lustre, it is the highest lustre.” “But which, Kaccāna, is this lustre than which there is no other lustre superior or more excellent?” “Good Gotama, there is no other lustre superior to or more excellent than this lustre, it is the highest lustre.”

“You would be long in expanding this, Kaccāna. You say: ‘Good Gotama, there is no other lustre superior to or more excellent than this lustre, it is the highest lustre.’ But you do not point to this lustre. Kaccāna, it is as though a man should say: ‘Whoever is the belle of this countryside, I want her, I desire her.’ Another man might say to him: ‘My good man, do you know whether this belle of the countryside whom you want and desire is a noble maiden or a brahmin or a merchant or a worker?’ Asked this, he would say: ‘No.’ The other might say to him: ‘My good man, do you know the name or the clan of this belle of the countryside whom you want and desire?’ Asked this, he would say: ‘No.’ The other might say to him: ‘My good man, do you know whether she is tall or short or of medium height, or dark or brown or sallow; or what village or market town or what town she belongs to?’ Asked this, he might say: ‘No.’ The other might speak to him thus: ‘My good man, do you want and desire her whom you know not, see not?’ Asked this, he might say: ‘Yes.’

What do you think about this, Kaccāna? This being so, surely that man‘s irresponsible talk does not prosper him?” “Certainly, revered sir, this being so, that man's irresponsible talk does not prosper him.” “But even so do you, Kaccāna, say: ‘Revered sir, there is no other lustre superior to or more excellent than this lustre, it is the highest lustre.’ But you do not point to this lustre.”

“Revered sir, as an emerald jewel, of lovely water, well cut into eight facets, if placed on a pale piece of cloth shines and gleams and glows, of such a lustre is the hale self after dying.”

“What do you think about this, Kaccāna? Of these two lustres, which is the surpassing and more excellent: that emerald jewel, of lovely water, cut into eight facets that, if placed on a pale piece of cloth shines and gleams and glows; or some glow-worm or fire-fly in the dense darkness of the night?” “Why, revered sir, of these two lustres, the surpassing and more excellent is the glow-worm or fire-fly in the dense darkness of the night.”

“What do you think about this, Kaccāna? Of these two lustres, which is the surpassing and more excellent: the glow-worm or fire-fly in the dense darkness of the night or an oil-lamp in the dense darkness of the night?” “Why, revered sir, the oil-lamp.”

“What do you think about this, Kaccāna? Of these two lustres, which is the surpassing and more excellent: the oil-lamp in the dense darkness of the night or a great blaze of fire in the dense darkness of the night?” “Why, revered sir, the great blaze of fire in the dense darkness of the night.”

“What do you think about this, Kaccāna? Of these two lustres, which is the surpassing and more excellent: the great blaze of fire in the dense darkness of the night or the morning star in a clear cloudless sky towards dawn?” “Why, revered sir, the morning star in a clear cloudless sky towards dawn is the surpassing and more excellent of these two lustres.”

“What do you think about this, Kaccāna? Of these two lustres, which is the surpassing and more excellent: the morning star in a clear cloudless sky towards dawn or the moon at its zenith in a clear cloudless sky at midnight on an Observance day, a fifteenth?” “Why, revered sir, on an Observance day, a fifteenth, the moon at its zenith in a clear cloudless sky at midnight.”

“What do you think about this, Kaccāna? Of these two lustres, which is the surpassing and more excellent: the moon at its zenith in a clear cloudless sky at midnight on an Observance day, a fifteenth, or the sun at its zenith in a clear cloudless sky at noonday in the last month of the rains in the autumn?” “Why, revered sir, the sun at its zenith in a clear cloudless sky at noonday in the last month of the rains in the autumn is of these two lustres the surpassing and more excellent.”

“Greater than these are those many devas, Kaccāna, who do not share in the brilliance of these moons and suns, that I comprehend. But then I do not say: ‘There is no other lustre superior to or more excellent than this lustre.’ But you, Kaccāna, although this lustre of a glow-worm or a fire-fly is feebler and poorer, say it is the highest lustre. And you do not point to that lustre.

These five, Kaccāna, are the strands of sense-pleasures. Which five? Material shapes cognisable by the eye, agreeable, pleasant, liked, enticing, connected with sensual pleasures, alluring. Sounds cognisable by the ear, agreeable, pleasant, liked, enticing, connected with sensual pleasures, alluring. Smells cognisable by the nose, agreeable, pleasant, liked, enticing, connected with sensual pleasures, alluring. Tastes cognisable by the tongue, agreeable, pleasant, liked, enticing, connected with sensual pleasures, alluring. Touches cognisable by the body, agreeable, pleasant, liked, enticing, connected with sensual pleasures, alluring. These, Kaccāna, are the five strands of sense-pleasures.

Whatever happiness, Kaccāna, whatever pleasure arises in consequence of these five strands of sense-pleasure, this is called happiness in sense-pleasures. Thus, because of sense-pleasures there is happiness in sense-pleasures; from happiness in sense-pleasures the topmost happiness in sense-pleasures is there accounted topmost.”

When this had been said, the wanderer Vekhanassa spoke thus to the Lord: “It is wonderful, good Gotama, it is marvellous, good Gotama. So far this is well spoken by the good Gotama: ‘Because of sense-pleasures there is happiness in sense-pleasures; from happiness in sense-pleasures the topmost happiness in sense-pleasures is there accounted topmost.’”

“Hard is this for you to understand, Kaccāna, sense-pleasures, or the happiness in sense-pleasures, or the topmost happiness in sense-pleasures, you who are of another view, another allegiance, another objective, of a different observance and under a different teacher. But those monks, Kaccāna, who are perfected ones, the cankers destroyed, who have lived the life, done what was to be done, shed the burden, who have attained their own goal, the fetters of becoming utterly destroyed, and who are freed by perfect profound knowledge, these would know: sense-pleasures, or the happiness in sense-pleasures, or the topmost happiness in sense-pleasures.”

When this had been said, the wanderer Vekhanassa, angry and displeased, scorning even the Lord, despising even him, saying even of him: “The recluse Gotama shall be disgraced,” spoke thus to the Lord: “But it is just that there are here some recluses and brahmans who, not knowing the past, not seeing the future, yet claim: ‘Destroyed is birth, brought to a close the Brahma-faring, done is what was to be done, there is no more of being such or so.’ This speech of theirs proves merely ridiculous, worthless, empty, void.” “This censure is only just, Kaccāna, for those recluses and brahmans who, not knowing the past, not seeing the future, yet claim: ‘Destroyed is birth, brought to a close the Brahma-faring, done is what was to be done, there is no more of being such or so.’ But, Kaccāna, let be the past, let be the future. Let there come an intelligent man, guileless, honest, straight, and who says: ‘I instruct, I teach Dhamma. Faring along as instructed it will not be long before (some man) of himself will know, of himself will see.’ Even so, indeed, is deliverance from the direst bond, that is from the bond of ignorance.

Kaccāna, it is like a young baby boy lying on his back and bound around his neck with a fivefold swaddling, it might be with swaddlings of thread. As he grows up and develops his faculties he would be released from those swaddlings, and in the absence of swaddlings he would know: ‘I am released.’

Even so, Kaccāna, let there come intelligent man, guileless, honest, straight, and who says: ‘I instruct, I teach Dhamma. Faring along as instructed it will not be long before (some man) of himself will know, of himself will see.’ Even so, indeed, is deliverance from the direst bond, that is from the bond of ignorance.”

When this had been said, the wanderer Vekhanassa spoke thus to the Lord: “It is excellent, good Gotama, excellent, good Gotama. Revered sir, it is as if one might set upright what had been upset, or might disclose what was covered, or show the way to one who had gone astray, or bring an oil-lamp into the darkness so that those with vision might see material shapes, even so in many a figure has Dhamma been made clear by the Lord. I, revered sir, am going to the Lord for refuge and to Dhamma and to the Order of monks. May the Lord accept me as a lay follower going for refuge from this day forth for as long as life lasts.”

Discourse to Vekhanassa: The Tenth

Division on Wanderers: The Third