MN 134Lomasakaṅgiya and One Fine Night
Pāli / Sanskrit:Lomasakaṅgiyabhaddekarattasutta
A monk who does not know the verses from MN 131 is encouraged by a deity to learn them.
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– Middle Discourses 134
Lomasakaṅgiya and One Fine Night
So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.
Now at that time Venerable Lomasakaṅgiya was staying in the Sakyan country at Kapilavatthu in the Banyan Tree Monastery.
Then, late at night, the glorious godling Candana, lighting up the entire Banyan Tree Monastery, went up to the Venerable Lomasakaṅgiya, and stood to one side. Standing to one side, he said to Lomasakaṅgiya:
“Mendicant, do you remember the summary recital and the analysis of the one who has one fine night?”
“No, reverend, I do not. Do you?”
“I also do not. But do you remember just the verses on the one who has one fine night?”
“I do not. Do you?”
“I do.”
“How do you remember the verses on the one who has one fine night?”
“This one time, the Buddha was staying among the gods of the thirty-three at the root of the Orchid Tree on the stone spread with a cream rug. There he taught the summary recital and the analysis of the one who has one fine night to the gods of the thirty-three:
That’s how I remember the verses of the one who has one fine night. Learn the summary recital and the analysis of the one who has one fine night, mendicant, memorize it, and remember it. It is beneficial and relevant to the fundamentals of the spiritual life.” That’s what the godling Candana said before vanishing right there.
Then Lomasakaṅgiya set his lodgings in order and, taking his bowl and robe, set out for Sāvatthī. Eventually he came to Sāvatthī and Jeta’s Grove. He went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and told him what had happened. Then he added: “Sir, please teach me the summary recital and the analysis of the one who has one fine night.”
“But mendicant, do you know that god?”
“I do not, sir.”
“That godling was named Candana. Candana pays attention, applies the mind, concentrates wholeheartedly, and actively listens to the teaching. Well then, mendicant, listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.”
“Yes, sir,” Lomasakaṅgiya replied. The Buddha said this:
And how do you run back to the past? … ” That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, Venerable Lomasakaṅgiya approved what the Buddha said.
The “…” is an abbreviation carried over from the Pāli original itself, called peyyāla. The early canon was memorized and recited, so passages repeated verbatim from a preceding discourse were commonly contracted to an elision mark rather than written out in full. Venerable Thích Minh Châu's translation preserves this convention. Some texts therefore look short — but that is the canonical form, not missing content or a truncated translation. The elided passages can be read in full in the preceding discourses of the same chapter.
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