Do not leave the land of your fathers

Q & A
1

Checked Google, SuttaCentral, and Comprehensive Index; cannot find this one.

Way back in the day I came across a Buddhist text that warned one to ‘not leave the land of your fathers’. At the time I first read it I was kind of surprised by this, but eventually found a commentary that explained it away as not meaning what it said. The idea has followed me around for a long time now and I would like to resolve it.

Is there is Sutta in the Tripitaka that uses this wording/phrasing…
“Do not leave the land of your fathers…”

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2

It could be SN47.6

sn47.6:4.1 You should roam inside your own territory, the domain of your fathers.

It’s the simile of the quail.

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3

Sometimes when searching on SC you need to trim the search term down as much as possible. So in this case “your fathers” gets you what you want.

In all three cases that finds, it’s a simile for where we should keep our mind. I can’t think of any passage that literally discourages people from traveling.

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4

The Buddha did warn Puṇṇa that Sunāparanta is full of wild people who can be rough to foreigners. But yes in the end he gave Ven. Puṇṇa his blessing. :thinking:

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5

And its parallel in the opening and conclusion to DN26.

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6

Hi , Sotthi Hotu,

SN47.6 quote:

“You should roam inside your own territory, the domain of your fathers.”
Gocare, bhikkhave, caratha sake pettike visaye.

And what is a mendicant’s own territory, the domain of the fathers?
Ko ca, bhikkhave, bhikkhuno gocaro sako pettiko visayo?

It’s the four kinds of mindfulness meditation

Yadidaṁ—cattāro satipaṭṭhānā.

I’m gonna add this to my daily reminder ! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :pray:

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