..续本文上一页side at once and arranged the garment in the proper equally-circular way. Then he stood before the novice with folded hands, saying: "Now it is correct, teacher!"[37]

　　There is a reference to this incident in the Questions of Milinda, where these verses are ascribed to the Venerable Sariputta:

　　"One who this very day, at the age of seven, has gone forth —

　　If he should me, I accept it with (bended) head.

　　At sight of him, I give him ardent zeal and regard.

　　With respect may I again and again set him in the teacher”s place!"

　　On one occasion the Buddha mildly reproved Sariputta for not having carried his teaching far enough. When the brahman Dhanañjani was on his deathbed he was visited by the Venerable Sariputta. The Elder, reflecting that brahmans are bent on the Brahma-world (or "union with Brahma") taught the dying man the way to it through the Brahma-viharas. As a result, it is said, the brahman was in fact reborn there.

　　When the Venerable Sariputta returned from the visit, the Master asked him: "Why, Sariputta, while there was more to do, did you set the brahman Dhanañjani”s thoughts on the inferior Brahma-world, and then rising from your seat, leave him

　　" The Venerable Sariputta replied: "I thought: ”These brahmans are bent on the Brahma-world. Should I not show the brahman Dhanañjani the way to the communion with Brahma

　　"

　　"The brahman Dhanañjani has died, Sariputta," said the Buddha, "and he has been reborn in the Brahma-world."

　　This story, which is found in the Dhanañjani Sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya (97), is interesting as an illustration of the undesirability of rebirth in an inferior Brahma-world for one who is capable of bringing rebirth entirely to an end. For while the Buddha himself sometimes showed only the way to Brahma, as for example in the Tevijja Sutta, it seems probable that in the case of Dhanañjani the Master saw that he was fit to receive a higher teaching, while the Venerable Sariputta, lacking the capacity of knowing others” hearts (lokiya-abhiñña), was not able to discern that fact. The result is that Dhanañjani will spend an incalculable period in the Brahma-world and will have to take human birth again before he can achieve the goal.

　　The Venerable Sariputta received another gentle reproof when, having asked the Buddha why it was that the Sasana of some of the Buddhas of the past did not last very long, and the Buddha had replied that it was because those Enlightened Ones did not preach very much Dhamma, did not lay down regulations for the disciples, nor institute the recital of the Patimokkha, Sariputta said that it was now time for the Blessed One to promulgate the regulations and to recite the Patimokkha, so that the Holy Life might last for a long period. The Buddha said: "Let it be, Sariputta! the Tathagata himself will know the time for it. The Master will not lay down regulations for the disciples nor recite the Patimokkha until signs of corruption have appeared in the Sangha."[38]

　　The disciple”s concern that the Sasana should endure as long as possible is characteristic of Sariputta; equally characteristic was it of the Buddha that he did not wish to lay down regulations until such time as it was absolutely necessary to do so. He went on to explain that at that time the least-advanced member of the Sangha was a Sotapanna (perhaps a fact of which the Venerable Sariputta was not aware), and therefore it was not yet necessary to lay down the rules of the bhikkhu life.

　　The Catuma Sutta[39] records another occasion when the great Elder was admonished by the Master. A large number of monks, newly ordained, as the Commentary tell us, by the Venerable Sariputta and Maha Moggallana, had come with the latter to pay their respects to the B…

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