Re: Washing away merit & Cittalapabbata references

Dear Ole,

I just talked to Professor Venerable Dhammavihari and he said that
people put all sort of interesting things in the Buddha's mouth.
However, he knew about the flying arahants at Cittalapabbata and said
that they are even mentioned in the Sri Lanka national anthem! He could
not give the source though. I strongly suspect that it is from the
Mahava.msa.tiikaa because it is said in the Mahava.msa that there were
12000 arahants at Cittalapabbata and the commentator would probably have
seen the need to elaborate on it, as commentators usually do with these
kinds of things. It could also be from the Rasavaahini or some other
late medieaval Sinhalese work. It is not found on the CSCD. I checked
all references to Cittalapabbata on it.
Best wishes,
Bh. Nyanatusita

>Dear Bh. Nyanatusita,
>
>The Brahmins' statement about their sole claim to (ritual) purity is
>mentioned in a number of suttas in the Pali canon. I have not been able to
>trace anything like 1., though. However, compare Assalayanasuttanta about
>such claims. In the Jataka-a.t.thakatha one finds references to the fact
>that Brahmins are purified (sujjhanti) by performing sacrifices. I have not
>been able to trace 2. either. I wish I could because it is hilarious.
>
>With best wishes,
>
>Ole Pind
>
>-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
>Fra: palistudy@yahoogroups.com [mailto:palistudy@yahoogroups.com] På vegne
>af nyanatusita
>Sendt: 7. oktober 2005 17:48
>Til: Pali Yahoo Group; Pali Study Group
>Emne: [palistudy] Washing away merit & Cittalapabbata references
>
>Greetings,
>
>Would anyone by chance know the precise references for the following two
>statements?
>
>1: “When Brahmins said that they could wash away their sins by bathing in
>sacred rivers, the Buddha joked that the water might wash away their good
>deeds also.”
>
>2: “There were so many arahants flying through the sky around Cittalapabbata
>monastery in the Roha.na kingdom that the farmers' crops did not grow well
>due to lack of sunlight.''
>
>I was told that 1 is from the Jaataka- commentary and that 2 might be from
>the Mahaava.msa subcommentary.
>
>The statements probably differ from the originals somewhat. I need them for
>a book that I am editing.
>
>Best wishes,
>Bh. Nyanatusita
>
>
>
>
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