Here is my notes from comparison study done from Madhyama Āgamas and it’s parallel in Pali.
suttas: The Discourse to Rāhula and it’s parallel is Ambalatthika-rahulovada
There is a untranslated location by Bhikkhu Bodhi word in the Pali version
Ambalatthika
Thanissaro Bhikkhu has translated it Mango Stone
Funny translation since there is no tradition of Sangha going at a location like this.
In the Agama it has in English translation at least a location found elsewhere in Pali suttas.
But since I do not know Chinese I can’t confirm if the translation is true.
It’s in the Agamas as Hot Spring Grove.
I didn’t finish comparing but Since Online says Buddhaghosa is said to have explained the location of this sutta. I’m feeling this sutta was transmitted by him when he came to Sri Lanka. Word seems unsure.
I will note only major feelings that I get. Because in Chinese there is mistakes in transmission not comparing fully.
Agama has what I think is in some Pali suttas also.
Rāhula, you should train yourself like this: “Even in jest I shall not speak falsehood.”
This is repeated to make clear that lying is a serious bad habit. I remember else where in Theravada source it says the Bodhisattva can brake other precepts but keeping truthfulness he can’t brake.
In the Agama has:
“Rāhula, did you see me again take the toppled water vessel and turn it bottom up?”
It makes me remember the instance in Burma where monks used the Vinaya rule of turning the bowl in protest. But what these sutta say is even worst.
Until the end of the elephant simile the sutta in Pali says as the Agama, “So too, Rāhula, when one is not ashamed to tell a deliberate lie, there is no evil, I say, that one would not do. Therefore, Rāhula, you should train thus: ‘I will not utter a falsehood even as a joke.”
I liked the repetition more in Agamas, makes you concentrate and take to heart.
Agama has Buddha saying a stanza that has some parts that has parallel in Dhammapada
“Better to swallow an iron ball, Burning hot like fire,
Than to transgress the precepts
While accepting the offerings of the faithful.”
Dhammapada. Chapter on hell
- It would be better to swallow a red-hot iron ball, blazing like fire, than as an immoral and uncontrolled monk to eat the alms of the people.
The next verses in Agama was said by Buddha in Pali canon to the boys fishing in Udana
“If you have fear of suffering, if suffering is unpleasant to you,
Don’t do any bad deeds, whether in the open or in secret.
“But if you will do, or now do do bad deeds,
For you there is no freedom from suffering, even after going, while running away.”
The agama to Rahula is the next. Something maybe Buddha repeatedly said.
If you fear suffering,
Not even wishing to think of it, Whether secretly or openly, Perform no evil deed.
An unwholesome deed,
Already done or being done,
Can never be escaped;
One cannot hide from [its result]
Dhammapada has something with similar meaning
- Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts suffering follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.
Also good to mention is Dhammapada chapter on Evil
- Think not lightly of evil, saying, “It will not come to me.” Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the fool, gathering it little by little, fills himself with evil.
Agama has at the reflection part that need to be done. The translation is “performing”.Which I like that word better.
Catch yourself in the performance.
Noteworthy the reflection in the Agama.
“I have performed a bodily action, which is already past, having ceased completely or changed.”
That’s nice. Because then you learn to let it go.
And
“With a present deed as its condition, a mental action is arising. Is this mental action pure or impure? Am I doing it for myself or for another?”
This is a important practice for restraint. Taming the mind.
The ending of Pali is in Plural although Buddha seemed to be alone with Rahula. But it’s common in Pali canon when Buddha is talking to the monks.
“Therefore, Rāhula, you should train thus: ‘We will purify our bodily action, our verbal action, and our mental action by repeatedly reflecting upon them.’”
While noteworthy in Agama it feels more as said a training. Like said in Pali Bhikkhu in higher training.
Rāhula, you should train yourself like this: “I too repeatedly examine and repeatedly purify my bodily, verbal, and mental actions in this very way.”
This made me remember the sutta in Pali Canon where Buddha taught to reflect that what gods have in them you also have. It’s the same meaning in the Agama to reflect the like they do it you also. It let’s you know that you can do it too.
The agama ends with another stanza not in Pali.
Then the World-honored One uttered further verses, saying:
Bodily action, verbal action,
And mental action, Rāhula,
Whether wholesome or unwholesome by nature, You should constantly examine them.
Knowingly to speak falsehood,
Do not do it, Rāhula. Shaven-headed, you live off others,
How could you speak falsehood? Overturning the law of renunciants, Empty, without truthfulness,
Such is speaking falsehood,
With an unrestrained mouth.
Therefore, not to speak falsehood, O son of the rightly Awakened One, This is the law of renunciants, [Thus] you should train, O Rāhula.
Prosperity and happiness all around, Safety and fearlessness,
Rāhula, to attain that,
Do not harm others.
