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The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha

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by Bhikkhu Nanamoli




  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Preface

  Introduction

  A Summary of the 152 Suttas

  The MAJ JHIMA NIKĀYA

  Part One - The Root Fifty Discourses

  Chapter 1 - The Division of the Discourse on the Root

  1 - Mūlapariyāya Sutta

  2 - Sabbāsava Sutta

  3 - Dhammadāyāda Sutta

  4 - Bhayabherava Sutta

  5 - Anangaṇa Sutta

  6 - Ākankheyya Sutta

  7 - Vatthūpama Sutta

  8 - Sallekha Sutta

  9 - Sammādiṭṭhi Sutta

  10 - Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta

  Chapter 2 - The Division of the Lion’s Roar

  11 - Cūḷasīhanāda Sutta

  12 - Mahāsīhanāda Sutta

  13 - Mahādukkhakkhandha Sutta

  14 - Cūḷadukkhakkhandha Sutta

  15 - Anumāna Sutta

  16 - Cetokhila Sutta

  17 - Vanapattha Sutta

  18 - Madhupiṇḍika Sutta

  19 - Dvedhāvitakka Sutta

  20 - Vitakkasaṇṭhāna Sutta

  Chapter 3 - The Division of Similes

  21 - Kakacūpama Sutta

  22 - Alagaddūpama Sutta

  23 - Vammika Sutta

  24 - Rathavinīta Sutta

  25 - Nivāpa Sutta

  26 - Ariyapariyesanā Sutta

  27 - Cūḷahatthipadopama Sutta

  28 - Mahāhatthipadopama Sutta

  29 - Mahāsāropama Sutta

  30 - Cūḷasāropama Sutta

  Chapter 4 - The Great Division of Pairs

  31 - Cūḷagosinga Sutta

  32 - Mahāgosinga Sutta

  33 - Mahāgopālaka Sutta

  34 - Cūḷagopālaka Sutta

  35 - Cūḷasaccaka Sutta

  36 - Mahāsaccaka Sutta

  37 - Cūḷataṇhāsankhaya Sutta

  38 - Mahātaṇhāsankhaya Sutta

  39 - Mahā-Assapura Sutta

  40 - Cūḷa-Assapura Sutta

  Chapter 5 - The Shorter Division of Pairs

  41 - Sāleyyaka Sutta

  42 - Verañjaka Sutta

  43 - Mahāvedalla Sutta

  44 - Cūḷavedalla Sutta

  45 - Cūḷadhammasamādāna Sutta

  46 - Mahādhammasamādāna Sutta

  47 - Vīmaṁsaka Sutta

  48 - Kosambiya Sutta

  49 - Brahmanimantanika Sutta

  50 - Māratajjanīya Sutta

  Part Two - The Middle Fifty Discourses

  Chapter 1 - The Division on Householders

  51 - Kandaraka Sutta

  52 - Aṭṭhakanāgara Sutta

  53 - Sekha Sutta

  54 - Potaliya Sutta

  55 - Jīvaka Sutta

  56 - Upāli Sutta

  57 - Kukkuravatika Sutta

  58 - Abhayarājakumāra Sutta

  59 - Bahuvedanīya Sutta

  60 - Apaṇṇaka Sutta

  Chapter 2 - The Division on Bhikkhus

  61 - Ambalaṭṭhikārāhulovāda Sutta

  62 - Mahārāhulovāda Sutta

  63 - Cūḷamālunkya Sutta

  64 - Mahāmālunkya Sutta

  65 - Bhaddāli Sutta

  66 - Laṭukikopama Sutta

  67 - Cātumā Sutta

  68 - Naḷakapāna Sutta

  69 - Gulissāni Sutta

  70 - Kīṭāgiri Sutta

  Chapter 3 - The Division on Wanderers

  71 - Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta

  72 - Aggivacchagotta Sutta

  73 - Mahāvacchagotta Sutta

  74 - Dīghanakha Sutta

  75 - Māgandiya Sutta

  76 - Sandaka Sutta

  77 - Mahāsakuludāyi Sutta

  78 - Samaṇamaṇḍikā Sutta

  79 - Cūḷasakuludāyi Sutta

  80 - Vekhanassa Sutta

  Chapter 4 - The Division on Kings (Rājavagga)

  81 - Ghaṭīkāra Sutta

  82 - Raṭṭhapāla Sutta

  83 - Makhādeva Sutta

  84 - Madhurā Sutta

  85 - Bodhirājakumāra Sutta

  86 - Angulimāla Sutta

  87 - Piyajātika Sutta

  88 - Bāhitika Sutta

  89 - Dhammacetiya Sutta

  90 - Kaṇṇakatthala Sutta

  Chapter 5 - The Division on Brahmins (Br̄hmạavagga)

  91 - Brahmāyu Sutta

  92 - Sela Sutta

  93 - Assalāyana Sutta

  94 - Ghoṭamukha Sutta

  95 - Cankī Sutta

  96 - Esukārī Sutta

  97 - Dhānañjāni Sutta

  98 - Vāseṭṭha Sutta

  99 - Subha Sutta

  100 - Sangārava Sutta

  Part Three - The Final Fifty Discourses

  Chapter 1 - The Division at Devadaha

  101 - Devadaha Sutta

  102 - Pañcattaya Sutta

  103 - Kinti Sutta

  104 - Sāmagāma Sutta

  105 - Sunakkhatta Sutta

  106 - Āneñjasappāya Sutta

  107 - Gaṇakamoggallāna Sutta

  108 - Gopakamoggallāna Sutta

  109 - Mahāpuṇṇama Sutta

  110 - Cūḷapuṇṇama Sutta

  Chapter 2 - The Division of One by One

  111 - Anupada Sutta

  112 - Chabbisodhana Sutta

  113 - Sappurisa Sutta

  114 - Sevitabbāsevitabba Sutta

  115 - Bahudhātuka Sutta

  116 - Isigili Sutta

  117 - Mahācattārı̄saka Sutta

  118 - Ānāpānasati Sutta

  119 - Kāyagatāsati Sutta

  120 - Sankhārupapatti Sutta

  Chapter 3 - The Division on Voidness

  121 - Cūḷasuññata Sutta

  122 - Mahāsuññata Sutta

  123 - Acchariya-abbhūta Sutta

  124 - Bakkula Sutta

  125 - Dantabhūmi Sutta

  126 - Bhūmija Sutta

  127 - Anuruddha Sutta

  128 - Upakkilesa Sutta

  129 - Bālapaṇḍita Sutta

  130 - Devadūta Sutta

  Chapter 4 - The Division of Expositions

  131 - Bhaddekaratta Sutta

  132 - Ānandabhaddekaratta Sutta

  133 - Mahākaccānabhaddekaratta Sutta

  134 - Lomasakangiyabhaddekaratta Sutta

  135 - Cūḷakammavibhanga Sutta

  136 - Mahākammavibhanga Sutta

  137 - Saḷāyatanavibhanga Sutta

  138 - Uddesavibhanga Sutta

  139 - Araṇavibhanga Sutta

  140 - Dhātuvibhanga Sutta

  141 - Saccavibhanga Sutta

  142 - Dakkhiṇāvibhanga Sutta

  Chapter 5 - The Division of the Sixfold Base

  143 - Anāthapiṇḍikovāda Sutta

  144 - Channovāda Sutta

  145 - Puṇṇovāda Sutta

  146 - Nandakovāda Sutta

  147 - Cūḷarāhulovāda Sutta

  148 - Chachakka Sutta

  149 - Mahāsaḷāyatanika Sutta

  150 - Nagaravindeyya Sutta

  151 - Piṇḍapātapārisuddhi Sutta

  152 - Indriyabhāvanā Sutta

  Bibliography

  List of Abbreviations

  Notes

  Pali-English Glossary

  Index of Subjects

  Index of Proper Names

  Index of Similes

  Index of Pali Terms Discussed in Introduction and Notes

  About the Translators


  The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies

  Wisdom Publications

  Copyright Page

  Preface

  THE PRESENT WORK OFFERS a complete translation of the Majjhima Nikāya, The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, one of the major collections in the Sutta Piṭaka or “Basket of Discourses” belonging to the Pali Canon. This vast body of scriptures, recorded in the ancient Indian language now known as Pali, is regarded by the Theravāda school of Buddhism as the definitive recension of the Buddha-word, and among scholars too it is generally considered our most reliable source for the original teachings of the historical Buddha Gotama.

  This translation is an extensively revised version of an original draft translation made by the distinguished English scholar-monk Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli (1905–1960). During his eleven years’ life in the Buddhist Order, passed entirely at the Island Hermitage in south Sri Lanka, Ven. Ñāṇamoli had rendered into English some of the most difficult and intricate texts of Pali Buddhism, among them the encyclopaedic Visuddhimagga. Following his premature death at the age of fifty-five, three thick, hand-bound notebooks containing a handwritten translation of the entire Majjhima Nikāya were found among his effects. However, although all 152 suttas of the Majjhima had been translated, the work was obviously still in an ongoing process of revision, with numerous crossouts and overwritings and a fair number of unresolved inconsistencies. The translation also employed an experimental scheme of highly original renderings for Pali doctrinal terms that Ven. Ñāṇamoli had come to prefer to his earlier scheme and had overwritten into the notebooks. He had used this new set of renderings in several of his final publications, offering an explanation for his choices in an appendix to The Minor Readings and The Illustrator of Ultimate Meaning, his translation of the Khuddakapāṭha and its commentary.

  In 1976 Bhikkhu Khantipālo made a selection of ninety suttas from the notebooks, which he edited into a fairly consistent and readable version rearranged according to a topical sequence he himself devised. This was published in Thailand in three volumes under the title A Treasury of the Buddha’s Words. In this edition Ven. Khantipālo had endeavoured to make as few changes as possible in the original translation by Ven. Ñāṇamoli, though he inevitably found it desirable to replace some of the latter’s innovative renderings with better-known equivalents, generally choosing the terminology that Ven. Ñāṇamoli had used in The Path of Purification, his excellent translation of the Visuddhimagga.

  The present work contains finished translations of all 152 suttas. In editing the ninety suttas selected by Ven. Khantipālo, I have worked from the version found in A Treasury of the Buddha’s Words, referring to Ven. Ñāṇamoli’s notebooks whenever questions arose or problematic passages were encountered. The other sixty-two suttas had to be freshly edited from the notebooks. The translations of all 152 suttas have been checked against the original Pali texts and I hope that all errors and omissions have been rectified.

  My aim in editing and revising this material, I must frankly state, has not been to reconstruct the suttas in a way that would conform as closely as possible to the intentions of the original translator. My aim has been, rather, to turn out a translation of the Majjhima Nikāya that simultaneously approaches two ideals: first, fidelity to the intended meaning of the texts themselves; and second, the expression of that meaning in an idiom that would be intelligible to a modern reader seeking in the Pali suttas personal guidance in the proper understanding and conduct of life. Terminological exactitude and internal consistency have been important guidelines underlying the endeavour to achieve those ideals, but care has been taken that their pursuit should leave the translation transparent as to the meaning.

  To produce a translation of the Majjhima Nikāya that is both technically precise and lucid in expression required numerous revisions in the manuscript version. Most were quite minor but a few were substantial. Numerous alterations were made in the rendering of Pali doctrinal terms, most of Ven. Khantipālo’s changes having been incorporated. In place of Ven. Ñāṇamoli’s novel renderings I have in most cases returned to the clearer and better established terminology he employed in The Path of Purification. When doubts arose I always turned for help to Ven. Nyanaponika Mahāthera, whose wise advice helped to steer this translation closer towards its two guiding ideals. The handling of several important technical terms is discussed at the end of the Introduction, to which is attached a list showing the terminological changes that were made for this edition. By consulting the list the reader can obtain some idea of how the manuscript translation read. A glossary in the back gives the English renderings used for the major Pali doctrinal terms found in the Majjhima Nikāya as well as Pali words and meanings not included in the Pali Text Society’s Pali-English Dictionary. The subject index also includes, for most entries, the Pali term after its chosen English rendering. Botanical names that could not be easily rendered by familiar English equivalents have been left untranslated.

  Ven. Ñāṇamoli’s translation was based primarily on the Pali Text Society’s roman-script edition of the Majjhima Nikāya, published in three volumes, the first edited by V. Trenckner (1888), the second two by Robert Chalmers (1898, 1899). This edition was also used to check the translation, but on problematic passages I consulted as well two other editions: the Burmese Buddhasāsana Samiti’s Sixth Buddhist Council edition in Burmese script and the Sinhala-script Buddha Jayanti edition published in Sri Lanka. Instances are not unusual where the reading in one or the other of these editions was preferred to that of the PTS edition, though only occasionally are these mentioned in the notes. Seldom too do the notes refer to I. B. Horner’s long-standing English translation of the Majjhima Nikāya, The Collection of the Middle Length Sayings, with which I sometimes compared Ven. Ñāṇamoli’s translation. Since the first volume of that translation was published in 1954, and the next two in 1957 and 1959, while Ven. Ñāṇamoli’s manuscript indicates that he did his revised translation between 1953 and 1956, it seems unlikely that he had consulted Horner’s version in preparing his own; at most, he might have had access to the first volume after he had completed his first volume.

  The text of the translation is divided into numerical sections. These divisions were introduced by Ven. Ñāṇamoli into his manuscript version of the suttas and are not found in the PTS edition of the Majjhima Nikāya. Sometimes, when logic seemed to dictate it, I have made minor alterations in the divisions. The section numbers are included in the sutta references in the Introduction, Notes, and Indexes. Thus, for example, a reference to MN 26.18 means Majjhima Sutta No. 26, section 18.

  The numbers at the top of the pages refer to the volume and page number of the PTS edition of the Majjhima Nikāya, as do the bracketed numbers embedded in the text (except for MN 92 and MN 98, wherein the numbers refer to the PTS edition of the Sutta Nipāta).

  The Introduction aims to provide the reader with a thorough study guide to the Majjhima Nikāya by systematically surveying the principal teachings of the Buddha contained in this collection along with references to the suttas where fuller expositions of those teachings can be found. More elementary information on the Pali Canon and on Pali Buddhism in general will be found in Maurice Walshe’s introduction to his recent translation of the complete Dīgha Nikāya, Thus Have I Heard, which the present publication is intended to parallel. As a way of easing the reader’s entrance into the canonical texts themselves, a summary of the Majjhima’s 152 suttas follows the Introduction.

  To clarify difficult passages in the suttas and to shed additional light on passages whose meaning is richer than appears at first sight, a copious set of back notes has been provided. Many of these notes are drawn from the commentaries on the Majjhima, of which there are two. One is the commentary proper, the Majjhima Nikāya Aṭṭhakathā, also known as the Papañcasūdanī. This was composed in the fifth century by the great Buddhist commentator, Ācariya Buddhaghosa, who based it on the ancient commentaries (no longer extant) that had been pres
erved for centuries by the Sangha of the Mahāvihāra at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka. The commentary is of value not only for elucidating the meaning of the texts but also for filling in the background of events that led to the promulgation of the discourses. The other commentarial work is the subcommentary, the Majjhima Nikāya Ṭīkā, ascribed to Ācariya Dhammapāla, who probably lived and worked in South India a century or more later than Ācariya Buddhaghosa. The main purpose of the Ṭīkā is to clear up obscure or difficult points in the Aṭṭhakathā, but in doing so the author often sheds additional light on the meaning of the canonical text. In order to keep the notes as concise as possible, almost always the commentaries have been paraphrased rather than quoted directly.

 

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