Reading guide
A dialogue with its speakers formally tagged inside the verse itself
Unlike this collection's other dialogue poems, several verses here embed an explicit speaker-tag directly within the Pali line itself — ‘(selāti bhagavā)’, ‘said the Buddha to Sela’; ‘(iti selo brāhmaṇo)’, ‘said Sela the brahmin’ — a formal attribution convention distinct from the plainer alternating voices found elsewhere in this collection.
Marks of greatness, read two different ways
Sela's opening six verses catalogue the traditional marks of a great man on the Buddha's body — golden skin, white teeth, formidable bearing — concluding these marks point toward universal kingship, not asceticism. The same physical description recurs, per Sujato's comment, at this site's own MN 91, With Brahmāyu, where another brahmin reads the identical signs.
A king who names a different general entirely
When Sela presses further — who is your general, the one who keeps your wheel rolling? — the Buddha names Sāriputta directly. Sujato's comment notes the title ‘General of the Dhamma’ belongs specifically to Sāriputta, also found at this site's own Thag 18.1, not yet reached in this collection. The ‘wheel that cannot be rolled back’ itself echoes the first sermon, already told on this site's SN 56.11, Rolling Forth the Wheel of Dhamma.
An explicit claim that the path holds regardless of birth
The narrator's brief interjection in verse sixteen asks ‘who would not be inspired by him, even one born in a dark class?’ Sujato's comment identifies ‘dark class’ as referring to those born in an unfortunate state, and reads the line as Sela affirming that the Buddha's path is open to everyone, not reserved for the fortunate.
A near-instant conversion of an entire following
Once Sela decides to go forth, his three hundred brahmin students immediately follow — ‘may we lead the spiritual life in your presence?’ — and the poem's closing verses report they were ‘tamed’ within seven days of taking refuge. This site's own MN 92, With Sela, and Snp 3.7, With Sela, both already tell this same episode in full prose narrative.
Two verses shared with another elder's own conversion praise
Sujato's comment on verse twenty-two notes that this verse and the next are also found at this site's own Snp 3.7's parallel text, Snp 3.6 — the account of Sabhiya, another figure already represented in this collection at Thag 3.6. The closing praise-formula ‘you are the Buddha, you are the Teacher... you've crossed over, and you bring humanity across’ belongs to a shared repertoire of conversion-praise language rather than to Sela alone.
Key terms
The text
§1“O Blessed One, your body’s perfect, you’re radiant, handsome, lovely to behold; golden colored, with teeth so white; you’re strong.
§2The characteristics of a handsome man, the marks of a great man, are all found on your body.
§3Your eyes are clear, your face is fair, you’re formidable, upright, majestic. In the midst of the Saṅgha of ascetics, you shine like the sun.
§4You’re a mendicant fine to see, with skin that shines like lustrous gold. But with such excellent appearance, what do you want with the ascetic life?
§5You’re fit to be a king, a wheel-turning monarch, chief of charioteers, victorious in the four quarters, lord of the Black Plum Tree Land.
§6Aristocrats, nobles, and kings ought follow your rule. Gotama, you should reign as king of kings, lord of mankind!”
§7“I am a king, Sela”, said the Buddha to Sela, “the supreme king of the teaching. By the teaching I roll forth the wheel which cannot be rolled back.”
§8“You claim to be awakened,” said Sela the brahmin, “the supreme king of the teaching. ‘I roll forth the teaching’: so you say, Gotama.
§9Then who is your general, the disciple who follows the Teacher’s way? Who keeps rolling the wheel of the teaching you rolled forth?”
§10“By me the wheel was rolled forth,” said the Buddha, “the supreme wheel of the teaching. Sāriputta, taking after the Realized One, keeps it rolling on.
§11I have known what should be known, and developed what should be developed, and given up what should be given up: and so, brahmin, I am a Buddha.
§12Dispel your doubt in me—make up your mind, brahmin! The sight of a Buddha is hard to find again.
§13I am a Buddha, brahmin, the supreme surgeon, one of those whose appearance in the world is hard to find again.
§14A manifestation of divinity, unequaled, crusher of Māra’s army; having subdued all my opponents, I rejoice, fearing nothing from any quarter.”
§15“Pay heed, sirs, to what is spoken by the Clear-eyed One. The surgeon, the great hero, roars like a lion in the jungle.
§16A manifestation of divinity, unequaled, crusher of Māra’s army; who would not be inspired by him, even one born in a dark class?
§17Those who wish may follow me; those who don’t may go. Right here, I’ll go forth in his presence, the one of such outstanding wisdom.”
§18“Sir, if you endorse the teaching of the Buddha, we’ll also go forth in his presence, the one of such outstanding wisdom.”
§19“These three hundred brahmins with cupped palms held up, ask: ‘May we lead the spiritual life in your presence, Blessed One?’”
§20“The spiritual life is well explained,” said the Buddha, “apparent in the present life, immediately effective. Here the going forth isn’t in vain for one who trains with diligence.”
§21“This is the eighth day since we went for refuge, O Clear-eyed One. In these seven days, Blessed One, we’ve become tamed in your teaching.
§22You are the Buddha, you are the Teacher, you are the sage who has overcome Māra; you have cut off the underlying tendencies, you’ve crossed over, and you bring humanity across.
§23You have transcended attachments, your defilements are shattered; by not grasping, like a lion, you’ve given up fear and dread.
§24These three hundred mendicants stand with cupped palms raised. Stretch out your feet, great hero: let these giants bow to the Teacher.”
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