The Parable of the Tortoise

I present here a translation of the Kummopama Sutta along with Buddhaghosa's commentary. The former is a very tasty teaching on the benefits of guarding the gates of the senses (indriyesu gutta-dvāratā). The latter is not of huge interest, but those who are unfamiliar with the Pāli commentaries may be interested to see the kind of thing that they contain. Often it is simply synonyms, sometimes commentary in the sense of interpretation or exegesis. The commentaries can be invaluable when translating obscure passages.

As far as I know this is the only translation of this text on the web (I offered it to Access to Insight and they didn't want it).


Kummopama Sutta (SN 35.240; PTS: S iv 177)
With the Pāli Commentary from the Saḷāyatanavagga-aṭṭhakathā (SA 3.29)

Once, monks, a tortoise was intent on grazing along the banks of a river in the evening time. At the same time a jackal was also intent on foraging along the river. The tortoise saw the jackal in the distance. Seeing the jackal, the tortoise pulled his head and limbs into his shell, and stayed silent and still. The jackal also saw the tortoise in the distance, and went over to it. He thought: ‘when this tortoise pokes out its head, or one of its limbs I will grab it and pull it out and eat it!’ However the tortoise did not emerge from his shell and the jackal did not get an opportunity. So, becoming bored, the jackal went away. 

In the same way, monks, you should be ready because evil Māra is always waiting. He thinks ‘perhaps my opportunity will come from the eye, or the ear, or nose, or tongue, or body, or the mind.’ Therefore, monks, dwell guarding the gates of the senses. Seeing a form with the eye, do not grasp the appearance, nor the associations. Because dwelling with the eye-sense unrestrained leaves you open to attack by covetousness and grief, to wicked, unhelpful mental states. So exercise restraint, protect the eye-sense, and practice restraint of the eye. Similarly having heard a sound with the ear… smelled an odour with the ear… tasted a flavour with the tongue… touched a thing with the body… or experienced a mental state with the mind, do not grasp the appearance, nor the associations. Because dwelling with the senses unrestrained leave you open to attack by covetousness and grief, to wicked, unhelpful mental states. So exercise restraint, protect the senses, and practice restraint of the senses. Therefore, monks, dwell guarding the gates of the senses. Then evil Māra, finding no opportunity, will become bored and leave you, like the jackal left the tortoise. 

The tortoise, limbs in his own shell,
Drawn up. The monk, steady mind,
Not given to oppressing others,
Completely calm, he abuses no-one.

Commentary

‘kummo’ is just a synonym for ‘kaccahapo’ [tortoise]. ‘Anunadītīre’ means along the bank of the river. ‘Gocarapasuto’ means ‘if I locate any sort of food, I will eat it’; for the sake of grazing it is intent, eager, always [doing it]’. ‘Samodahitvā’ means ‘having put [it] in something like a box’. ‘Saṅkasāyati’ is ‘sit still’

So this is what is said: "just as the tortoise pulls his limbs into his shell and does not give the jackal an opportunity, and the jackal could not overcome him; so the bhikkhu pulling his turning mind back to the object of meditation does not give the taints or Māra an opportunity, and [Māra] cannot overcome [the monk]."

‘Samodahaṃ’ means remaining tucked up. ‘Anissito’ refers to not being attached [nissito] to the foundations of craving and views. ‘Aññamaheṭhayāno’ means not oppressing [aviheṭhento] any other person. ‘Parinibbuto’ means the complete calming [parinibbuto] associated with the extinguishing of the taints.’ Nūpavadeyya kañci’ means he should not insult [upavadati] another person, by moral transgression, failure of manners, longing for self-aggrandisement, desire to deceive another – surely having produced five subjective states: ‘I will speak at the proper time, not at an inopportune time, I will naturally not unnaturally, I will speak kindly not harshly, I will speak profitably not uselessly, I will speak with the loving thought, not bearing illwill’ that is how to dwell with a helpful disposition.


My Comments

Clearly the commentary makes better sense when read along with the text in Pāli - which I got from tripiṭaka.org (scroll down to find sutta 240). I have a typed up version with everything linked up by foot notes, but it's a bit complex for this format (it's on my other website as a pdf). The second paragraph which sums up what is being said comes after paragraph one of the text.

In the case of a word like anunadītīre it can be quite helpful to have someone point out how to interpret it. The break down is anu-nadī-tīre: nadī is river, tīre is bank, and anu a preposition meaning 'along'. Nadītīre is a tatpuruṣa compound meaning the bank of the river which is relatively easy, but role of anu- did take a bit of thinking about (I'm still not sure how to describe the construction) and I was glad of the hint.

In the sentence in which the tortoise pulls in his head the sentence is a bit awkwardly phrased. The Pāli goes:

Disvāna soṇḍipañcamāni aṅgāni sake kapāle samodahitvā.
Seeing the jackal, the tortoise pulled his head and limbs into his shell, and stayed silent and still.

The commentary explains the verb samodahitvā. It is a gerund of samodahati which literally means 'to put together'. So the sentence appears to say that the tortoise put together its limbs (aṅgāni) with its head (soṇḍi) as a fifth (pañcama) [i.e. its four limbs and his head] in its shell (kapāle). Buddhaghosa helpfully explains:

Samodahitvāti samugge viya pakkhipitvā.
‘Samodahitvā’ means ‘having put [it] in something like a box’.

Of course if you haven't seen a tortoise pull it's limb and head into it's shell this might be quite confusing and one might be glad of a little hint. It's much easier to say in English because we have the verb 'to tuck'!

These are relatively trivial examples, but they do give an idea of how the text and commentary work together.


Notes

A similar parable is found in the Bhagavadgīta (Bhg 2.56-58):

duḥkheṣv anudvigna-manāḥ sukheṣu vigata-spṛhaḥ |vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ sthita-dhīr munir ucyate ||56||

yaḥ sarvatrānabhisnehas tat tat prāpya śubhāśubham |nābhinandati na dveṣṭi tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā ||57|| 

yadā saṃharate cāryaṃ kūrmo 'ṅgānīva sarvaśaḥ |
indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā || 58 ||