..續本文上一頁 to Ananda any special offerings that were made to him. Once Ananda received from a certain brahman a very valuable robe, and with the Master”s permission he kept it for ten days awaiting Sariputta”s return. The sub-commentary says that later teachers commented on this: "There may be those who say: ”We can well understand that Ananda, who had not yet attained to Arahatship, felt such affection. But how is it in the case of Sariputta, who was a canker-free arahant

　　" To this we answer: ”Sariputta”s affection was not one of worldly attachment, but a love for Ananda”s virtues (guna-bhatti).”"

　　The Buddha once asked the Venerable Ananda: "Do you, too, approve of Sariputta

　　" And Ananda replied: "Who, O Lord, would not approve of Sariputta, unless he were childish, corrupt, stupid or of perverted mind! Learned, O Lord, is the Venerable Sariputta; of great wisdom, O Lord, is the Venerable Sariputta; of broad, bright, quick, keen and penetrative wisdom is the Venerable Sariputta; of few wants and contented, inclined to seclusion, not fond of company, energetic, eloquent, willing to listen, an exhorter who censures what is evil."[14]

　　In the Theragatha (v. 1034f) we find the Venerable Ananda describing his emotion at the time of Sariputta”s death. "When the Noble Friend (Sariputta) had gone," he declares, "the world was plunged in darkness for me." But he adds that after the companion had left him behind, and also the Master had passed away, there was no other friend like mindfulness directed on the body. Ananda”s sorrow on learning of the Venerable Sariputta”s death is also described very movingly in the Cunda Sutta.[15]

　　Sariputta was a true friend in the fullest sense of the word. He well understood how to bring out the best in others, and in doing so did not hesitate sometimes to speak straightforwardly and critically, like the ideal friend described by the Buddha, who points out his friend”s faults. It was in this way that he helped the venerable Anuruddha in his final break-through to Arahatship, as recorded in the Anguttara Nikaya (Tika-Nipata No. 128):

　　Once the Venerable Anuruddha went to see the Venerable Sariputta. When they had exchanged courteous greetings he sat down and said to the Venerable Sariputta: "Friend Sariputta, with the pine eye that is purified, transcending human ken, I can see the thousandfold world-system. Firm is my energy, unremitting; my mindfulness is alert and unconfused; the body is tranquil and unperturbed; my mind is concentrated and one-pointed. And yet my mind is not freed from cankers, not freed from clinging."

　　"Friend Anuruddha," said the Venerable Sariputta, "that you think thus of your pine eye, this is conceit in you. That you think thus of your firm energy, your alert mindfulness, your unperturbed body and your concentrated mind, this is restlessness in you. That you think of your mind not being freed from the cankers, this is worrying[16] in you. It will be good, indeed, if the Venerable Anuruddha, abandoning these three states of mind and paying no attention to them, will direct the mind to the Deathless Element."

　　And the Venerable Anuruddha later on gave up these three states of mind, paid no attention to them and directed his mind to the Deathless Element. And the Venerable Anuruddha, living then alone, secluded, heedful, ardent, with determined mind, before long reached in this very life, understanding and experiencing it by himself, that highest goal of the Holy Life, for the sake of which noble sons go forth entirely from home into homelessness. And he knew: "Exhausted is rebirth, lived is the holy life, the work is done, nothing further remains after this." Thus the Venerable Anuruddha became one of the Arahats.

　　Sariputta must have been stimulating company, and sought after by many. Wha…

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