[383] "Friend, in the eighty years since I went forth, I do not recall ever having accepted a robe from a householder."
That the Venerable Bakkula, in eighty years, does not recall having accepted a robe from a householder — this too we remember as a wonderful and marvellous quality (acchariya-abbhūtadhamma) of the Venerable Bakkula.
"Friend, in the eighty years since I went forth, I do not recall having cut a robe with a knife … I do not recall having sewn a robe with a needle … I do not recall having dyed a robe with dye … I do not recall having sewn a robe on a kaṭhina frame … I do not recall having arranged the robe-making of my companions in the holy life (sabrahmacārī) … I do not recall having accepted an invitation … I do not recall a thought of this kind having ever arisen in me: 'Oh, that someone might invite me!' … I do not recall having sat down inside a house … I do not recall having eaten inside a house … I do not recall having grasped at the sign of a woman by way of her features … I do not recall having taught the Dhamma to a woman, even so much as a four-line verse … I do not recall having approached the bhikkhunīs' quarters … I do not recall having taught the Dhamma to a bhikkhunī … I do not recall having taught the Dhamma to a trainee nun (sikkhamānā) … I do not recall having taught the Dhamma to a female novice (sāmaṇerī) … I do not recall having given the going forth (pabbajjā) … I do not recall having given the higher ordination (upasampadā) … I do not recall having given dependence (nissaya) … I do not recall having had a novice (sāmaṇera) attend upon me … I do not recall having bathed in a bathhouse … I do not recall having bathed with powder … I do not recall having accepted the massaging of my limbs by companions in the holy life … I do not recall illness having ever arisen in me, even for so long as it takes to milk a cow … I do not recall having kept medicine, even so much as a piece of yellow myrobalan … I do not recall having leaned against a leaning-board … I do not recall having lain down to sleep."
That the Venerable Bakkula, in eighty years, does not recall having lain down to sleep — this too we remember as a wonderful and marvellous quality of the Venerable Bakkula.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.