The Buddha preached these three stanzas after settling the dispute between the two Sakya-Koliya clans over the water of the Rohini River, which was about to erupt into a large riot.
Getting rid of hatred and becoming non-hateful leads to a healthy and delightful lifestyle.
By understanding ‘Anichcha-Dukkha-Anaththa’, live without hatred, eliminating hatred by freeing the mind from ignorance and becoming noble.
Getting rid of defilements of ‘Greed- Hatred- Delusion’ leads to a healthy and delightful lifestyle.
By understanding ‘Anichcha-Dukkha-Anaththa’, live without defilements, eliminating ‘Greed- Hatred- Delusion’ by freeing the mind from ignorance and becoming noble.
Giving up the grasped notion of ‘I – Mine – My soul’ leads to a healthy and delightful lifestyle.
By understanding ‘Anichcha-Dukkha-Anaththa’, live without defilements, giving up the grasped notion ‘I – Mine – My soul’ by freeing the mind from ignorance and becoming noble.
The farmers in both cities, ‘Kimbulwath City’ of Shakyas and ‘Koliya City’ of Koliyas, started a dispute for the ownership of the water in the river ‘Rohini’, which was flowing between those two cities.
Ultimately, this fight fell into the hands of the kings of both cities, which could have led to great bloodshed.
Seeing this with insight, the Buddha arrived at the site where the war was about to occur and questioned the two kings about the reason for the conflict.
Even if the kings were asked about the cause of the war, neither they nor their ministers, nor any of the village leaders, could respond because even they didn’t know the reason.
| This is an excellent example of today’s heinous crimes and racial-religious upheavals. Have you ever considered how you might have participated in great destructions without any reasonable inquiry, without even looking into the root or the cause, only because of the delusional thought of ‘I-Mine-My Soul’ caused by the “Craving- Obstinacy-Arrogance”? |
Even though the question was passed from the king to the chief minister, from the chief minister to the soldiers, from the soldiers to the crown prince, and from the crown prince to the village leaders, there was no one who could answer.
Only a few labourers were able to answer the Buddha’s question in the end. The answer was that this feud arose from a disagreement over water sharing in the Rohini River.
The Buddha then inquired, “What is the cost of the water?”
‘There is no such thing as a price for water’ both sides responded.
“What is the value of a human being?” asked the Buddha.
People responded that the worth of a man could not be measured in money.
“Then, are you going to protect the priceless water by sacrificing so many priceless human lives?” questioning this, Buddha explained to the people of both cities about their ignorance and pointed out to them how the Buddha himself can live comfortably without fear and apprehension as he had banished ‘Craving’ and furthermore, he preached the above stanzas.
Aaryasathya 