Bhaddiya
Bhaddiya Sutta (SN 21:6)
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. And on that occasion Ven. Bhaddiya the Dwarf, following behind a large number of monks, was going to the Blessed One. From afar, the Blessed One saw Ven. Bhaddiya the Dwarf coming, following behind a large number of monks: ugly, unsightly, stunted, treated with condescension1 by most of the monks. On seeing him, the Blessed One addressed the monks, “Monks, do you see that monk coming from afar, following behind a large number of monks: ugly, unsightly, stunted, treated with condescension by most of the monks?”
“Yes, lord.”
“That, monks, is a monk of great power, great might. The attainment already attained by that monk is not of a sort easily attained. And by means of it he has entered & remains in the supreme goal of the holy life for which clansmen rightly go forth from home into homelessness, directly knowing & realizing it for himself right in the here & now.”
That is what the Blessed One said. Having said that, the One Well-Gone, the Teacher, said further:
Swans, cranes, & peacocks,
elephants & spotted antelope
all fear the lion
(though) in body there’s no comparison.
In the same way, among human beings,
even if one is small
but endowed in discernment,
one is great for that—
not the fool endowed in physique.2
Notes
1. The Commentary notes that misbehaving monks liked to stroke his hands and catch hold of his ears.
Ud 7:5 contains the same story, but with a different verse.
