Miscellaneous Topics – 2434
whenever he feels hungry and who observes precepts and cultivates
meditation on the four sublime states (
danta-luyyaka
).
7. A recluse who lives depending upon a natural pond or a forest and who,
going nowhere else, subsists on the lotus stems and stalks from the pond
or on the fruits and flowers from the forest grove or even on the bark
of trees when other kinds of sustenance are not available and who
observes precepts and cultivates meditation on the four sublime states
(
pavatta-phalika
).
8. A recluse who subsists on leaves that fall naturally and observes
precepts and cultivates meditation on the four sublime states (
vaṇṭa-
muttika
).
In these two lists of eight kinds of recluses, each type is nobler than the
preceding type. Again, in these lists, excepting the first type:
saputta-bhariya
, all
are holy persons, observing precepts and cultivating meditation on the four
sublime states.
Sumedha came under the fourth category of the list given in the Chapter on
Virtue (
Sīlakkhanda
) commentary for one day, a recluse who collects and lives
only on food cooked by others (
asāma-pāka
); for the following days, he
remained as a recluse of the eighth type: one who lives only on leaves, flowers
and fruits that fall naturally from trees (
paṇḍu-palāsika
). According to the list
given in the Anthology of Discourses (
Sutta-nipāta
) commentary, he came under
the eighth category: a recluse who subsists only on leaves that fall naturally
from trees and who observes precepts and cultivates meditation on the four
sublime states (
vaṇṭa-muttika
).
The Three Kinds of Going Forth
The Pāḷi word
pabbajjā
has been translated as “the going forth as a recluse” by
teachers of old.
[1514]
That is to say it is the “giving up a worldly life.” It is of
three kinds:
1. Giving up of worldly life and becoming a seer (
isi-pabbajjā
).
2. Giving up of worldly life and becoming an ascetic (
samaṇa-pabbajjā
).
3. Giving up of worldly life and becoming a novice (
sāmaṇera-pabbajjā
).