Khaggavisāṇasutta untranslated

Khaggavisāṇasutta. The third Sutta of the Uragavagga of the Suttanipāta (Snp.vv.35-75), consisting of forty-one stanzas, each of which ends with the refrain: “eko care khaggavisāṇakappo.”

The Commentary (Snp­a.i.46ff) divides the Sutta into four vaggas and gives each a separate name (except the first), the name being generally derived from the first word of the stanza. It is said that Gotama Buddha preached the Khaggavisāṇasutta in response to a question asked of him by Ānanda regarding the attainment of Awakening by Pacceka Buddhas; the Buddha gave details of their abhinīhāra and patthanā, and illustrated them by reciting to Ānanda stanzas which had been uttered by Pacceka Buddhas of old on various occasions and at different periods as their paeans of joy (udāna).

Buddhaghosa gives the life-story of each of the Pacceka Buddhas whose stanzas are included in this Sutta. It is, however, only in the case of a few Pacceka Buddhas that the actual names are given – e.g.,

• Brahmadatta (v.33),
• Anitthigandha (36),
• Mahā Paduma (39),
• Ekavajjika Brahmadatta (40),
• Ekaputtika Brahmadatta (41),
• Cātumāsika Brahmadatta (44, 64),
• Sītāluka Brahmadatta (52),
• Suta Brahmadatta (58),
• Vibhūsaka Brahmadatta (59),
• Pādalola Brahmadatta (61),
• Anivatta Brahmadatta (62),
• Cakkhulola Brahmadatta (63),
• Mātaṅga (74).

The rest are described as “the king of Benares,” or “the son of the king,” etc.

The Sutta is commented on in the Cūḷa Niddesa (pp.56ff), in addition to those of the Pārāyaṇavagga, an evidence of the fact that, when the Cūḷa Niddesa was composed, this was probably regarded as an independent Sutta, not belonging to any particular group such as the Uragavagga, and that the comments on it were written at a time prior to the composition of the Suttanipāta as an anthology in its present form. This view is further strengthened by the fact that its mixed Sanskrit version in the Mahā Vastu (i.357f) is not placed in any definite group. According to the Mahā Vastu, the Pratyeka Buddhas, five hundred in number, were living in Ṛṣipatana near Benares, and when they heard from the Suddhāvāsa Devas of the approach of the Buddha in twelve years, they disappeared from Ṛṣipatana, each repeating one of the verses of the Sutta.

The Apadāna (i.7ff) includes the stanzas of the Khaggavisāṇasutta in its chapter called the Paccekabuddhāpadāna and prefaces them with several introductory stanzas. A few stanzas are also added at the end by way of conclusion. In its exegesis the Apadāna Commentary (Ap­a.i.106f) gives the names of several Pacceka Buddhas. They are, however, different from those given by Buddhaghosa, and correspond more nearly to those mentioned in the Isigilisutta.