Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhassa

One tries to abandon wrong view & to enter into right view: This is one's right effort. One is mindful to abandon wrong view & to enter & remain in right view: This is one's right mindfulness. Thus these three qualities — right view, right effort, & right mindfulness — run & circle around right view.

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhassa

The Story of Ayuvaddhanakumara

While residing in a village monastery near Dighalanghika, the Buddha uttered Verse (109) of this book, with reference to Ayuvaddhanakumara.

Once, there were two hermits who fixed together practising religious austerities (tapacaranam) for forty eight years. Later, one of the two left the hermit life and got married. After a son was born, the family visited the old hermit and paid obeisance to him. To the parents the hermit said, “May you live long,” but he said nothing to the child. The parents were puzzled and asked the hermit the reason for his silence. The hermit told them that the child would live only seven more days and that he did not know how to prevent his death, but Gotama Buddha might know how to do it.

So the parents took the child to the Buddha; when they paid obeisance to the Buddha, he also said, “May you live long” to the parents only and not to the child. The Buddha also predicted the impending death of the child. To prevent his death, the parents were told to build a pavilion at the entrance to the house, and put the child on a couch in the pavilion. Then some bhikkhus were sent there to recite the parittas(3) for seven days. On the seventh day the Buddha himself came to that pavilion; the devas from all over the universe also came. At that time the ogre Avaruddhaka was at the entrance, waiting for a chance to take the child away. But as more powerful devas arrived the ogre had to step back and make room for them so that he had to stay at a place two yojanas away from the child. That whole night, recitation of parittas continued, thus protecting the child. The next day, the child was taken up from the couch and made to pay obeisance to the Buddha. This time, the Buddha said, “May you live long” to the child. When asked how long the child would live, the Buddha replied that he would live up to one hundred and twenty years. So the child was named Ayuvaddhana.

When the child grew up, he went about the country with a company of five hundred fellow devotees. One day, they came to the Jetavana monastery, and the bhikkhus, recognizing him, asked the Buddha, “For beings, is there any means of gaining longevity?” To this question the Buddha answered, “By respecting and honouring the elders and those who are wise and virtuous, one would gain not only longevity, but also beauty, happiness and strength.”

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

Verse 109 For one who always respects and honours those who are older and more virtuous, four benefits, viz., longevity, beauty, happiness and strength, will increase.

At the end of the discourse, Ayuvaddhana and his five hundred companions attained Sotapatti Fruition.

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhassa

Verse 106
dhp.v.106
sut.kn.dhp.106 | att

If someone performed sacrifices a thousand times a month for a century, but then venerated even for a moment someone who had spiritually developed himself, that veneration would be certainly better than those sacrifices for a century.

Māse māse sahassena yo yajetha sataṁ samaṁ Ekañca bhāvitattānaṁ muhuttamapi pūjaye Sā yeva pūjanā seyyo yañce vassasataṁ hutaṁ

Verse 107
dhp.v.107
sut.kn.dhp.107 | att

If a person venerated fire in the forest for a century, but then venerated even for a moment someone who had spiritually developed himself, that veneration would be certainly better than that [fire] veneration for a century.

Yo ca vassasataṁ jantu aggiṁ paricare vane Ekañca bhāvitattānaṁ muhuttamapi pūjaye Sā yeva pūjanā seyyo yañce vassasataṁ hutaṁ

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Verse 108
dhp.v.108
sut.kn.dhp.108 | att

Whatever gift or offering is bestowed in the world in the course of a year by one looking for merit is not worth a quarter [of what is better, namely]: paying respects to those who are spiritually purified is better.

Yaṁ kiñci yiṭṭhaṁ va hutaṁ va loke saṁvaccharaṁ yajetha puññapekkho Sabbampi taṁ na catubhāgameti abhivādanā ujjugatesu seyyo

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Verse 109
dhp.v.109
sut.kn.dhp.109 | att

For one who habitually pays respect to and constantly honours those who are [possessed of qualities that make them] Elders, four things increase: his lifespan, good looks, happiness, and strength.

Abhivādanasīlissa niccaṁ vaddhāpacāyino Cattāro dhammā vaḍḍhanti āyu vaṇṇo sukhaṁ balaṁ