Exploring the Path - Pāli Course

In the morning on his way from Jeta’s grove to Savatthi, the Buddha passed some boys who had drained water from small ponds, still left over from the rainy season, so they could easily catch some fishes.¹ According to the commentary boys are called foolish and ignorant (bālā) from the moment of birth till they turn about 15 years old² and after that up to their twentieth year they are called ‘young’.³

When the Buddha realised their intention to kill and eat these fish, his approach was to make them aware and sensible of what they were doing by asking them whether they were afraid of pain themselves:

Bhāyatha vo, tumhe kumārakā, dukkhassa, appiyaṃ vo dukkhan’ti.

Such an empathetic action, helping the boys understand how their actions cause suffering for themselves, not only shows the Buddha’s compassion but also reflects his deep knowledge of how many actions of beings are the origin of so much suffering for themselves since such actions are based in ignorance:

… atha pana taṃ pāpakammaṃ etarahi karotha, āyatiṃ vā karissatha, nirayādīsu catūsu apāyesu⁴ manussesu ca tassa phalabhūtaṃ dukkhaṃ ito vā etto vā palāyante amhe nānubandhissatīti adhippāyena⁵ upecca apecca⁶ palāyatampi⁷ tumhākaṃ tato mutti mokkho natthi!⁸

… whatever evil action you perform now, whatever evil action you may perform in the future – even if with the intention and the approach that you will run away from the fruits of suffering – i.e., from hell and so forth; or from the four states of ruin for mankind – there can be no liberation nor release therefrom for you!⁹

May the guidance highlighted in these warning suttas help all beings to become more established as a satidovāriko¹⁰ and ‘to renounce what is unwholesome, pursue the wholesome, renounce what is blameable and pursue the blameless and in this very way preserve themselves and increase their purity in this very life’:

ariyasāvako akusalaṃ pajahati kusalaṃ bhāveti,
sāvajjaṃ pajahati, anavajjaṃ bhāveti,
suddhamattānaṃ pariharatī’ti¹¹