This is what I heard from the Blessed One. Those days, the Blessed One was living in the province of Rājagaha, at the Bamboo Park, the Squirrels’ Sanctuary. Those days Venerable Pilindivaccha went around addressing the monks as if they were outcasts (saying “Outcast come here! Outcast sit here!”).
So a large number of monks went to the Blessed One and bowed down to him and sat to one side. As they were sitting there they said to the Buddha, “Bhante, Venerable Pilindivaccha goes around addressing the monks as if they were outcasts.”
Then the Blessed One told a certain monk, “Come, monk. In my name, call Pilindivaccha, saying, ‘The Buddha calls you, friend Vaccha.’”
Responding, “Okay, Bhante,” to the Blessed One, the monk went to Venerable Pilindivaccha and said to him, “The Buddha calls you, friend Vaccha.”
Responding, “Okay, my friend,” to the monk, Venerable Pilindivaccha went to the Blessed One and, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One asked him, “Is it true, Pilindivaccha, that you go around addressing the monks as if they were outcasts?”
“Yes, Bhante.”
Then the Blessed One, having directed his mind to see Venerable Pilindivaccha’s previous lives, said to the monks, “Don’t take offense at the monk Vaccha. It’s not out of inner hatred that he goes around addressing the monks as if they were outcasts. For 500 consecutive lifetimes the monk Vaccha has been born in brahmin families. For a long time he has been accustomed to addressing people as outcasts. That’s why he goes around addressing the monks as if they were outcasts.”
Then, on realizing the true meaning of brahmin, the Blessed One spoke the following inspired verses:
“Whoever is free of deceit and conceit, and has ended greed, the notion “I am”, desire, and anger, his mind is tranquil. He is the brahmin, he is the recluse, he is the monk”.
