4-42 §9 Gāmaṇisamyutta | Samyutta

9 Families

On one occasion the Blessed One, while wandering on tour among the Kosalans together with a large Saṅgha of Bhikkhus, arrived at Nālanda. He stayed there at Nālanda in Pāvārika’s Mango Grove.

Now on that occasion Nālanda was in the grip of famine, a time of scarcity, with crops blighted and turned to straw.

On that occasion Nigaṇṭha Nāthaputta was residing at Nālanda together with a large retinue of Nigaṇṭhas.

Then Asibandhakaputta the headman, a lay disciple of the Nigaṇṭhas, approached Nigaṇṭha Nāthaputta, paid homage to him, and sat down to one side.

Nigaṇṭha Nāthaputta then said to him:

Come, headman, refute the doctrine of the ascetic Gotama.

Then a good report concerning you will be spread about thus: ‘Asibandhakaputta the headman has refuted the doctrine of the ascetic Gotama, who is so powerful and mighty.’

But how, venerable sir, shall I refute the doctrine of the ascetic Gotama, who is so powerful and mighty?

Go, headman, approach the ascetic Gotama and ask him:

‘Venerable sir, doesn’t the Blessed One in many ways praise sympathy towards families, the protection of families, compassion towards families?’

If, when he is questioned by you thus, the ascetic Gotama answers,

‘Yes, headman, the Tathāgata in many ways praises sympathy for families, the protection of families, compassion for families,’

then you should say to him:

 ‘Then why, venerable sir, is the Blessed One wandering on tour with a large Saṅgha of Bhikkhus at a time of famine, a time of scarcity, when crops are blighted and have turned to straw?

The Blessed One is practising for the annihilation of families, for the calamity of families, for the destruction of families.’

When the ascetic Gotama is posed this dilemma by you, he will neither be able to throw it up nor to gulp it down.

Yes, venerable sir, Asibandhakaputta the headman replied.

Then he rose from his seat and, after paying homage to Nigaṇṭha Nāthaputta, keeping him on his right, he departed and went to the Blessed One.

After paying homage to the Blessed One, he sat down to one side and said to him:

Venerable sir, doesn’t the Blessed One in many ways praise sympathy for families, the protection of families, compassion for families?

Yes, headman, the Tathāgata in many ways praises sympathy for families, the protection of families, compassion for families.

Then why, venerable sir, is the Blessed One wandering on tour with a large Saṅgha of Bhikkhus at a time of famine, a time of scarcity, when crops are blighted and have turned to straw?

The Blessed One is practising for the annihilation of families, for the calamity of families, for the destruction of families.

I recollect 91 aeons back, headman, but I do not recall any family that has ever been destroyed merely by offering cooked alms-food.

Rather, whatever families there are that are rich,

with much wealth and property, with abundant gold and silver, with abundant possessions and means of subsistence, with abundant wealth and grain,

- they have all become so from giving, from truthfulness, and from self-control.

There are, headman, 8 causes and conditions for the destruction of families:

Families come to destruction:

1) on account of the king, or
2) on account of thieves, or
3) on account of fire, or
4) on account of water;
5) or they do not find what they have put away;
6) or mismanaged undertakings fail;

1) or there arises within a family a wastrel who squanders, dissipates, and fritters away its wealth;

8) and impermanence is the 8th.

- These are the 8 causes and conditions for the destruction of families.

But while these 8 causes and conditions for the destruction of families exist, if anyone speaks thus of me:

‘The Blessed One is practising for the annihilation of families, for the calamity of families, for the destruction of families,’

- if he does not abandon that assertion and that state of mind, and if he does not relinquish that view, then according to his deserts he will be, as it were, dropped off in hell.

When this was said, Asibandhakaputta the headman said to the Blessed One:

Magnificent, venerable sir!…

From today let the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge for life.