Dhammapada Verse 226
Punnadasi Vatthu
Sada jagaramananam
ahorattanusi kkhinam
nibbanam adhimuttanam
attham gacchanti asava.
Verse 226: In those who are ever vigilant, who by day and by night train
themselves in the three sikkhas (i.e., sila, samadhi and panna), and who have
their mind directed towards Nibbana, moral intoxicants become extinct.
The Story of Punna, the Slave Girl
While residing at the Gijjhakuta mountain, the Buddha uttered Verse (226) of
this book, with reference to a slave girl in Rajagaha.
One night, Punna the slave girl was up pounding rice for her master. As she
got tired she rested for a while. While resting, she saw Thera Dabba leading
some bhikkhus to their respective monasteries on their return from listening to
the Dhamma. The girl seeing them up so late, pondered, "I have to be up at
this late hour because I am so poor and have to work hard. But, why are these
good people up at this late hour? Maybe a bhikkhu is sick, or are they being
troubled by a snake?"
Early in the morning the next day, Punna took some broken rice, soaked it in
water and made a pan-cake out of it. Then, intending to eat it at the riverside
she took her cheap, coarse pan-cake along with her. On the way, she saw the
Buddha coming on an alms-round. She wanted to offer her pan-cake to the Buddha,
but she was not sure whether the Buddha would condescend to eat such cheap,
coarse pan-cake. The Buddha knew her thoughts. He accepted her pan-cake and
asked Thera Ananda to spread the small mat on the ground. The Buddha sat on the
mat and ate the pan-cake offered by the slave girl. After eating, the Buddha
called Punna to him and answered the question which was troubling her. Said the
Buddha to the slave girl, "Punna, you cannot go to sleep because you are
poor and so have to work hard. As for my sons the bhikkhus, they do not go to
sleep because they have to be always vigilant and ever mindful."
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
Verse 226: In those who are ever vigilant, who by day
and by night train themselves in the three sikkhas (i.e., sila,
samadhi and panna), and who have their mind directed towards Nibbana,
moral intoxicants become extinct.
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At the end of the discourse Punna attained Sotapatti Fruition.