The Drum Called Plugger

Āṇisutta

The Drum Called Plugger

Āṇisutta

EN
At Sāvatthī. “Once upon a time, mendicants, the Dasārahas had a mridangam drum called the Plugger. When the Plugger cracked, the Dasārahas patched it with another plug. Eventually, there came a time when the old wooden shell for the drumskin disappeared
PL
Sāvatthiyaṁ viharati. “Bhūtapubbaṁ, bhikkhave, dasārahānaṁ ānako nāma mudiṅgo ahosi. Tassa dasārahā ānake ghaṭite aññaṁ āṇiṁ odahiṁsu. Ahu kho so, bhikkhave, samayo yaṁ ānakassa mudiṅgassa porāṇaṁ pokkharaphalakaṁ antaradhāyi.
EN
and all that was left of the mridangam Plugger was a mass of plugs. In the same way, in a future time there will be mendicants who won’t want to listen when discourses spoken by the Realized One—deep, profound, transcendent, dealing with emptiness—are being recited. They won’t actively listen or try to understand, nor will they think those teachings are worth learning and memorizing.
PL
Āṇisaṅghāṭova avasissi. Evameva kho, bhikkhave, bhavissanti bhikkhū anāgatamaddhānaṁ, ye te suttantā tathāgatabhāsitā gambhīrā gambhīratthā lokuttarā suññatappaṭisaṁyuttā, tesu bhaññamānesu na sussūsissanti na sotaṁ odahissanti na aññā cittaṁ upaṭṭhāpessanti na ca te dhamme uggahetabbaṁ pariyāpuṇitabbaṁ maññissanti.
EN
But when discourses composed by poets—poetry, with fancy words and phrases, composed by outsiders or spoken by disciples—are being recited they will want to listen. They’ll actively listen and try to understand, and they’ll think those teachings are worth learning and memorizing. And that is how the discourses spoken by the Realized One—deep, profound, transcendent, dealing with emptiness—will disappear.
PL
Ye pana te suttantā kavikatā kāveyyā cittakkharā cittabyañjanā bāhirakā sāvakabhāsitā, tesu bhaññamānesu sussūsissanti, sotaṁ odahissanti, aññā cittaṁ upaṭṭhāpessanti, te ca dhamme uggahetabbaṁ pariyāpuṇitabbaṁ maññissanti. Evametesaṁ, bhikkhave, suttantānaṁ tathāgatabhāsitānaṁ gambhīrānaṁ gambhīratthānaṁ lokuttarānaṁ suññatappaṭisaṁyuttānaṁ antaradhānaṁ bhavissati.
EN
So you should train like this: ‘When discourses spoken by the Realized One—deep, profound, transcendent, dealing with emptiness—are being recited we will want to listen. We will actively listen and try to understand, and we will think those teachings are worth learning and memorizing.’ That’s how you should train.”
PL
Tasmātiha, bhikkhave, evaṁ sikkhitabbaṁ: ‘ye te suttantā tathāgatabhāsitā gambhīrā gambhīratthā lokuttarā suññatappaṭisaṁyuttā, tesu bhaññamānesu sussūsissāma, sotaṁ odahissāma, aññā cittaṁ upaṭṭhāpessāma, te ca dhamme uggahetabbaṁ pariyāpuṇitabbaṁ maññissāmā’ti. Evañhi vo, bhikkhave, sikkhitabban”ti.
PL
Sattamaṁ.

Pāli root text and English translation by Bhikkhu Sujato from SuttaCentral (https://suttacentral.net), CC0.

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