Reading guide
A recoil from the world itself
Soṇa's motivation is described in general terms rather than a specific incident: seeing the world's ‘many forms of wickedness’, his mind recoils from rebirth ‘as if harshly pricked by a goad’ — closer to Cp 21's quiet dewdrop than to Cp 22's violent crisis.
An invitation declined plainly
As in Cp 24, relatives invite Soṇa to enjoy sensual pleasures; his reply is direct rather than argued at length: ‘do not invite me to such things!’
A younger brother who follows, not just a family that joins
Where Cp 24 showed an entire family departing at once on the parents' own initiative, here a single sibling, Nanda, chooses independently to follow Soṇa's example — a smaller-scale but still notably social version of renunciation, neither entirely solitary nor a whole household's decision.
A chapter of five stories, five different routes to the same theme
Read together, this chapter's five stories show renunciation reached by very different roads: a dewdrop, a false accusation survived, an unexplained confinement, a family's shared decision, and here, a general disillusionment joined by a brother — the same destination, arrived at differently each time.
Key terms
The text
§1“Then again when I was in the city of Brahmavaḍḍhana, I was reborn there in a fine, wealthy, and eminent family.
§2Even so, I saw that the world had become blind, smothered in darkness. My mind recoiled from rebirth, as if harshly pricked by a goad.
§3Seeing the many forms of wickedness, I though to myself: ‘When shall I leave the house and enter the forest?’
§4Then too my relatives invited me to enjoy the pleasures of the senses. I told them of my desire, saying, ‘Do not invite me to such things!’
§5My younger brother, who was named Nanda the astute, followed my ethical practices, and chose to go forth.
§6I, Soṇa, and Nanda, and both my mother and father, then discarded our riches entered the great forest.”
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