Vol. 11 · pages 416–420

397 HIS SERMONS IV lying on his back. How, then, can there arise in him any view of bodyhood ? Yet there is indeed latent in him a tendency to the view of bodyhood.’ 9. “ ‘ Likewise, Malunkyaputta. there can be no mental conditions for a tender baby-boy, dull of wits and lying on his back. How, then, can there be in him any wavering of mental conditions ? Yet there is in him a latent tendency to wavering.’ 10. “ ‘So also, Malunkyaputta, he can have no moral practice. How, then, can there be in him any moral taint of dependence on rite and ritual ? Yet he has a latent tendency thereto.’ 11. “ ‘Again, Malunkyaputta, that tender babe has no sensual passions. How, then, can be known the excitement of sensual delight ? But the tendency is there.’ 12. “ ‘ Lastly, Malunkyaputta, for that tender babe beings do not exist. How then can it harbour malevolence against beings ? Yet the tendency thereto is in him.’ 13. “Now, Malunkyaputta, will not those wanderers of other views thus reproach you, using for their reproach the parable of that tender baby-boy ?” 14. When this was said, the venerable Ananda thus addressed the Exalted One : “ Now is the time, Exalted One. O Wayfarer, now is the time for the Exalted One to set.”

398 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES IV SECTION V SERMONS ON DHAMMA § 1. Why Right Views Rank First 1. Of the noble Eightfold path the noblest is Right Outlook. 2. Right thinking is the preface and the key to everything else in the higher life, and ignorance. 3. The lack of understanding is the root of all evil. 4. For developing right outlook one must see “all phenomena of life as a process of causal law. To have right outlook is to recognise the law of cause and effect. 5. “ Whatsoever individual, brethren, follows perverted views, perverted aim, perverted speech or acts or living, perverted effort, attention, and contemplation : whose knowledge and emancipation are perverted, for him every action of deed, word or thought, performed and achieved according to such perverted views ; every willed act, every aspiration, every resolve, all his activities, these things one and all conduce to what is distasteful, unpleasing, repulsive, unprofitable, and painful. And why so? Because of his evil view.” 6. To be right is not enough. A baby may be right but that does not mean that a baby knows what is right. To be right one must know what is right. 7. “Ananda, who can be rightly described as an almsman? Only he who has mastered what is rationally possible and what is rationally impossible.” § 2. Why Bother About Life After Death 1. On a certain occasion the venerable Kassapa the Great and the venerable Sariputta were staying near Benares at Isipatana in the Deer Park. 2. Then the venerable Sariputta rising up at eventide from solitude, went to the venerable Kassapa the Great and sat down on one side.

399 HIS SERMONS IV 3. So seated, the venerable Sariputta said to the venerable Kassapa the Great. “How now friend Kassapa ? Does the Tathagata exist beyond death? 4. “Undeclared is it, friend, by the Exalted One that the Tathagata exists beyond death. 5. “What then friend? Does the Tathagata both exist and not exist beyond death ? 6. “This also, friend, is undeclared by the Exalted One. 7. “How then, friend ? Does the Tathagata neither not exist beyond death ? That also, friend, is not declared by the Exalted One. 8. “But why, friend, has it not been declared by the Exalted One?” 9. “This is a question not concerned with profit to humanity or with the first principles of holy life. It does not lead to perfect wisdom nor to Nihbana. That, friend, is why it is not declared by the Exalted One.” § 3. Prayers and Invocations to God are a Futility 1. Once the Blessed Lord speaking to Vasettha said : 2. “If this river Achiravati were full of water even to the brim and overflowing, and a man with business to be done on the further bank of it should come up, and want to cross over : 3. “And standing on that bank, he should invoke the further bank and say : ‘Come hither, O further bank ! Come over to this side !’ 4. “Now what think you, Vasettha ? Would the further bank of the river Achiravati, by that man’s invoking and praying, and hoping, and praising, come over to this side ? 5. “In just the same way, Vasettha, do the Brahmins, versed in the three Vedas, omitting the practice of those qualities which really make a man a Brahmin, and adopting the practice of those qualities which really make men non-Brahmins say thus :

400 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES IV 6. “ ‘ Indra we call upon, Brahma we call upon, Isana we call upon, Prajapati we call upon, Brahma, we call upon, we call, we call.’ 7. “Verily, Vasettha, that these Brahmins, by reason of their invoking and praying and hoping and praising, should after death become united with Brahma—verily such a condition of things can in nowise be.” § 4. It is Not What You Eat that Makes You Holy 1. A Brahmin happened to meet the Lord and raised the question of the effect of food on a man’s character. 2. The Brahmin said : “ The millet-grain, palm-nuts, pulse, bulbs, and wilding shoots—this diet rightly got, ever prompts the good life. Tis eating carrion that is bad.” 3. The Blessed One replied: “Though you (Lord) say you touch no carrion, you eat choice dishes made with flesh of birds—I ask what you term ‘carrion.’ 4. “Killing and maiming, stripes, bonds, theft, lies, fraud, deceit, adultery—not meats, but these are carrion. 5. “Pursuit of pleasure, lust for guzzlings, life unclean, blatant dissent—not meats, but these are carrion. 6. “Backbiting, cruelty, betrayals, ruthless pride, mean stinginess—not meats, but these are carrion. 7. “Anger, conceit, revolt, guile, envy, bluster, pride, low company—not meats, but these are carrion. 8. “Base living, slander, fraud, cheating, the trickster’s wiles, foul infamies—not meats, but these are carrion. 9. “This rage to slay and steal, these crimes, are fraught with doom and end in hell—not meats, but these are carrion. 10. “No abstinence from meat and fish, no nudity, no topknots, shaven crowns, or garb of pelt, no cult of sacred fire, no stark austerities to purchase

401 HIS SERMONS IV future bliss, no rinsing, burnt-offering, rites; can cleanse the man who doubts, 11. “Control thy sense, rule thy powers, hold to Truth, be kind. The saint who leaves all ties and vanquishes all ills, is stained by naught he either sees or hears.” 12. Hearing the Lord preach these lofty, saving truths, denouncing ‘carrion’, and sweeping ills away, the Brahmin meekly knelt and asked to be enrolled as Almsman then and there. § 5. Not Food But Evil Actions That Matter 1. A Brahmin by name Amagandha was an ascetic who lived in the region of Himalayas with his pupils. 2. They ate neither fish nor flesh. Every year they came down from their hermitage in search of salt and acids. The inhabitants of the village received them with honour and gave them hospitality for four months. 3. Then the Blessed Lord with his monks visited the same village. The people on hearing the Lord preach his Dhamma became his followers. 4. That year even Amagandha and his disciples as usual went to the villagers but the villagers did not show the same enthusiasm. 5. Amagandha was disappointed to hear that the Lord did not forbid eating fish and flesh. Wishing to have the matter confirmed he went to Jeta Vana at Shravasti where the Blessed Lord was then staying and said : 6. “Millet, cingula-beans and peas, edible leaves and roots, the fruit of any creeper ; the righteous who eat these, obtained justly, do not tell lies for the sake of pleasures. 7. “ Thou eatest whatever food is given by others, which is well prepared, nicely got up, pure and excellent. He who enjoys such food made of rice, he eats, Amagandha. You say that the charge of