Patoda Sutta: Discourse on goad stick
By Dr. Ari Ubeysekara
All of the discourses delivered by the Lord Gautama Buddha, who lived and preached in India during the 6th and 5th century BC, were grouped into five collections at the first Buddhist council that was held three months after the passing away of the Buddha in 483 BC.
- Collection of long discourses (dīgha nikāya)
- Collection of middle length discourses (majjhima nikāya)
- Collection of connected discourses (samyutta nikāya)
- Collection of numerical discourses (anguttara nikāya)
- Collection of minor discourses (khuddaka nikāya)
Collection of numerical discourses (anguttara nikāya) contain the discourses in eleven groups (nipātas), grouped numerically from one to eleven, based on the number of facts discussed by the Buddha in each discourse. Patoda sutta is included in the Kesi vagga of the fourth group of the discourses in the Anguttara Nikāya. (1)
Content of Patoda sutta
“Monks, there are these four kinds of excellent thoroughbred horses existing in the world.
What four?”
“Monks, there may be a certain excellent thoroughbred horse which, when seeing the very shadow of the goad stick, is stirred and agitated thinking: ‘What task, I wonder, will my trainer have for me today? How should I respond to him?’ Monks, there may be such an excellent thoroughbred horse. And, this is the first kind of excellent thoroughbred horse existing in the world.”
“Monks, then again, there may be a certain excellent thoroughbred horse which is not stirred or agitated when seeing the shadow of the goad stick, but when his coat is pricked with the goad stick, he is stirred and agitated thinking: ‘What task, I wonder, will my trainer have for me today? How should I respond to him?’ Monks, there may be such an excellent thoroughbred horse. And, this is the second kind of excellent thoroughbred horse existing in the world.”
“Monks, then again, there may be a certain excellent thoroughbred horse which is not stirred or agitated when seeing the shadow of the goad stick or when his coat is pricked with the goad stick, but when his hide is pierced with the goad stick, he is stirred and agitated thinking: ‘What task, I wonder, will my trainer have for me today? How should I respond to him?’ Monks, there may be such an excellent thoroughbred horse. And, this is the third kind of excellent thoroughbred horse existing in the world.”
“Monks, then again, there may be a certain excellent thoroughbred horse which is not stirred or agitated when seeing the shadow of the goad stick or when his coat is pricked with the goad stick or when his hide is pierced, but when his bone is pierced with the goad stick, he is stirred and agitated thinking: ‘What task, I wonder, will my trainer have for me today? How should I respond to him?’ Monks, there may be such an excellent thoroughbred horse. And, this is the fourth kind of excellent thoroughbred horse existing in the world.”
“Thus, monks, there are these four kinds of excellent thoroughbred horses existing in the world.”
“Monks, in the same way, there are these four kinds of excellent thoroughbred men existing in the world. What four?”
“Monks, there may be a certain excellent thoroughbred man who hears: ‘In such and such a village or town, there is a man or a woman who is afflicted or has died. On hearing that, he is stirred and agitated. Thus stirred and agitated, he becomes earnestly resolute. With such resolution, he both realises the supreme truth with his own body, and sees it by penetrating it with wisdom. This kind of excellent thoroughbred man, monks, is like the excellent thoroughbred horse which, when seeing the very shadow of the goad stick, is stirred and agitated. Monks, there may be such an excellent thoroughbred man. And, this is the first kind of excellent thoroughbred man existing in the world.”
“Monks, then again, there may be a certain excellent thoroughbred man who does not hear: ‘In such and such a village or town, there is a man or a woman who is afflicted or has died.’ But he himself sees a man or a woman who is afflicted or has died. And, he is stirred and agitated by that. Thus stirred and agitated, he becomes earnestly resolute. With such resolution, he both realises the supreme truth with his own body, and sees it by penetrating it with wisdom. This kind of excellent thoroughbred man, monks, is like the excellent thoroughbred horse which, when his coat is pricked with the goad stick, is stirred and agitated. Monks, there may be such an excellent thoroughbred man. And, this is the second kind of excellent thoroughbred man existing in the world.”
“Monks, then again, there may be a certain excellent thoroughbred man who does not hear: ‘In such and such a village or town, there is a man or a woman who is afflicted or has died.’ He himself does not see a man or a woman who is afflicted or has died. But one of his own blood relatives is afflicted or has died. He is stirred and agitated by that. Thus stirred and agitated, he becomes earnestly resolute. With such resolution, he both realises the supreme truth with his own body, and sees it by penetrating it with wisdom. This kind of excellent thoroughbred man, monks, is like the excellent thoroughbred horse which, when his hide is pierced with the goad stick, is stirred and agitated. Monks, there may be such an excellent thoroughbred man. And, this is the third kind of excellent thoroughbred man existing in the world.”
“Monks, then again, there may be a certain excellent thoroughbred man who does not hear: ‘In such and such a village or town, there is a man or a woman who is afflicted or has died.’ He himself does not see a man or a woman who is afflicted or has died, nor one of his own blood relatives is afflicted or has died. But, he himself is struck with painful bodily feelings, which are fierce, sharp, racking, distracting, discomforting and life threatening. He is stirred and agitated by that. Thus stirred and agitated, he becomes earnestly resolute. With such resolution, he both realises the supreme truth with his own body, and sees it by penetrating it with wisdom. This kind of excellent thoroughbred man, monks, is like the excellent thoroughbred horse which, when his bone is pierced with the goad stick, is stirred and agitated. Monks, there may be such an excellent thoroughbred man. And, this is the fourth kind of excellent thoroughbred man existing in the world.”
“Thus, monks, there are these four kinds of excellent thoroughbred men existing in the world.”
In the Patoda sutta, the Buddha has used the simile of four kinds of excellent thoroughbred horses, to describe four kinds of individuals in the world who develop spiritual urgency (samvega) and cultivate the Buddhist path of liberation in four different circumstances. The first individual becomes stirred and agitated and develops spiritual urgency just by hearing the news of someone who is suffering or has died. The second individual responds in a similar way when he sees a person unrelated to him who is suffering or has died. The third individual responds when someone in his own family is afflicted or has died while the fourth individual responds when he himself is afflicted with severe pain or a life threatening illness.
In the Pāli-English dictionary of the Pāli Text Society edited by Rhys Davids, the Pāli word “samvega” is translated as “agitation, fear, anxiety, thrill, and religious emotion caused by contemplation of the miseries of this world”. There is no word or phrase in the English language which can reflect the exact meaning of samvega, and hence it is referred to as spiritual urgency. Spiritual urgency can be described as the profound and complex emotional reaction including a sense of shock, dismay and alienation that comes with the realisation of the futility and meaninglessness of life as it is lived at the present time. This realisation will create an urge, urgency and conviction to do something to get out of this conditioned and unsatisfactory existence in the cycle of birth and death (samsāra) with all it’s associated suffering. This may come about by being triggered by a particular event or a life experience such as illness, death, emotional trauma, an accident, a natural disaster or even by noticing the immense suffering in others.
When spiritual urgency arises in a person, it may inspire the person to begin a spiritual journey with energy and courage while remaining in lay life or by becoming a monastic. Spiritual urgency will help one to avoid negligence and practise harder with more vigour, diligence and perseverance to achieve one’s spiritual goal to be free from suffering.
One of the greatest examples of the arising of spiritual urgency is what Prince Siddhartha, the Buddha aspirant (Bodhisatta), felt when he was exposed to old age, sickness and death for the first time at the age of 29 years. Until then he had been protected from such experiences by his father King Suddhodana, who had been alarmed by the prediction of some wise men that one day the young prince may leave the domestic life to become an ascetic and would eventually become a Buddha. When Prince Siddhartha realised that old age, sickness, death and associated suffering are common to himself, his loved ones and every human being, the prince was overwhelmed by spiritual urgency and decided to renounce the domestic life and royal comforts in order to search for a way out of human suffering.
Reference
- Bhikkhu Bodhi 2012, Patoda sutta, The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, Anguttara Nikāya, Wisdom Publications.
End.
drarisworld 