…The bandit Aṅgulimāla saw the Buddha coming off in the distance, and thought, “Oh, how incredible, how amazing! People travel along this road only after banding closely together in groups of ten, twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty. Still they meet their end by my hand. But still this ascetic comes along alone and unaccompanied, like a conqueror. Why don’t I take his life?”
Then Aṅgulimāla donned his sword and shield, fastened his bow and arrows, and followed behind the Buddha. But the Buddha used his psychic power to will that Aṅgulimāla could not catch up with him no matter how hard he tried, even though the Buddha kept walking at a normal speed.
Then Aṅgulimāla thought, “Oh, how incredible, how amazing! Previously, even when I’ve chased a speeding elephant, horse, chariot or deer, I’ve always caught up with them. But I can’t catch up with this ascetic no matter how hard I try, even though he’s walking at a normal speed.”
He stood still and said, “Stop, stop, ascetic!”
“I’ve stopped, Aṅgulimāla—now you stop.”
Then Aṅgulimāla thought, “These Sakyan ascetics speak the truth. Yet while walking the ascetic Gotama says: ‘I’ve stopped, Aṅgulimāla—now you stop.’ Why don’t I ask him about this?”
Then he addressed the Buddha in verse:
“While walking, ascetic, you say ‘I’ve stopped.’
And I have stopped, but you tell me I’ve not.
I’m asking you this, ascetic:
how is it you’ve stopped and I have not?”
“Aṅgulimāla, I have forever stopped—
I’ve laid aside violence towards all creatures.
But you can’t stop yourself
from harming living creatures;
that’s why I’ve stopped, but you have not.”“Oh, at long last a renowned great seer,
an ascetic has followed me into this deep wood.
Now that I’ve heard your verse on Dhamma,
I shall live without evil.”
With these words,
the bandit hurled his sword and weapons
down a cliff into an abyss.
He venerated the Holy One’s feet,
and asked him for the going forth right away.Then the Buddha, the compassionate great seer,
the teacher of the world with its gods,
said to him, “Come, monk!”
And with that he became a monk.…
Read the entire translation of Majjhima Nikāya 86 Aṅgulimālasutta: With Aṅgulimāla by Bhikkhu Sujato on SuttaCentral.net. Or read a different translation on SuttaCentral.net or DhammaTalks.org. Or listen on PaliAudio.com or SC-Voice.net. Or explore the Pali on DigitalPaliReader.online.
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