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Samgyutta Nikaya, I.iii
Kosalasamyutta II.2
I hear tell,
Once Upon a Time, the Great Teacher, Savatthi-town, Anathapindika Park, Jeta Grove came a revisiting. There the King, the Kosalan Pasenadi, came to call, and after the exchange of friendly greetings, polite talk and common courtesies, he sat down at a respectful distance, on a lower seat, to one side. There he spoke to The Great Teacher, saying:
"Is there any one dhamma, Great Teacher, that will gain one's getting of attainment both in the here and now and in the hereafter?"
"Yes Great King, there is such a one thing."
"But what is that one thing, Great Teacher?"
"'AppamĪda',[2] Great King, is that one dhamma that will gain one's getting of attainment both in the here and now and in the hereafter."
"In the same way, Great King, as all the tracks of breathing things that walk are encompassed by the track of the elephant,
and of tracks, on account of it's size, the elephant's is number one,
In the same way, Great King, this one dhamma, on account of its scope, gains one's getting of attainment both in the here and now and in the hereafter."
Mrs. Rhys Davids rendering of the Gatha is very nice:
Whoso to length of days aspires, to health,
To beauty, or to heaven, or to the joys
Of the highborn, if he in virtuous deeds
Show diligence, he wins the wise man's praise.
He that is wise and diligent doth win
Twofold advantage: wins that which is good
In this life and wins good in life to come.
The strong in mind doth win the name of Wise,
Because he grasps wherein his vantage lies.
The following is a probably-incorrect rendering of "AppamĪda" in a Brahmi font I was developing but which has been put on hold because of my lack of understanding as to an acceptable way to produce double consonnants.
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The first character is the "A" as used when it is the first letter of a word (tip it to one side in your mind to see how closely it resembles our "A"); the second and third characters are the two "p" characters which according to some sources should be joined in some way, and according to other sources were not originally joined -- all consonants are pronounced as though followed by the short "A" except in the case of double consonants, and in this case, at least according to some sources, the first "P" is inserted simply because it is not possible to join the "A" to the "P" without making the "P" sound twice (flip the characters upside down to see the resemblance to our "P"); the fourth character is the "M" where the straight line leading from the top right of the ribbon indicates that in stead of the short "A" it should be pronounced with the long "A" sound, and the final character is the "Da" (again notice the resemblance to our "D"). |
This word is a "Manta" (Sanskrit: Mantra). To get this word to reveal it's secrets, it should be taken as a subject of meditation, researched in the dictionaries and wherever it occurs in the suttas, and then repeated silently. It should be repeated as a whole word, it should be "spelled out" ... "A" "P" (say "p'!") "PA" "MA" "DA"; it should be spelled out pronouncing each syllable twice: "A" "A" "P" "P" "PA" "PA" "MA" "MA" "DA" "DA"; it should be spelled out backwards; where it is possible to break apart the sounds, break them apart (e.g.,"PA" to "P' - Ah", "MA" to "M' - Ah", "DA" to "D' - Ah"); and in any other way you can think of.
[1]Footnote in Rhys Davids translation:
Appamada is a negative term, meaning not-delay, not-dalliance, non-infatuation, from the root, or roots, mad, mand, 'to be exhilarated.' (See Whitney, Sanskrit Roots, 118) From this source we get both the terms for such a state and those for its results and by-products: -- intoxication, obsession, insanity, want of concentration and earnestness, etc. Cf. below, VI, 2, §5. B. qualifies the term by the (unusual) word kĪrĪpaka-: diligence in making [others] do their work.
[2]In my opinion best left untranslated. See: Glossology: AppamĪda
References:
See the Closely Related Topic under Give Ear: Brahmi
Anguttara Nikaya X.15, Appamada Sutta, Heedfulness, Bhk. Thanissaro, trans
Samgyutta Nikaya, I.iii: Kosalasamyutta II.2: Appamada;
PTS: The Book of the Kindred Sayings I.iii.2.7: Diligence, Mrs. Rhys Davids, trans, pp111;
WP: The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, I.III.ii.7: Diligence, Bodhi, trans., pp179
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