14. “Just as the river Ganges inclines towards the sea, slopes towards the sea, flows towards the sea, and reaches the sea, so too Master Gotama’s assembly with its homeless ones and its householders inclines towards Nibbāna, slopes towards Nibbāna, flows towards Nibbāna, and reaches Nibbāna.towards
15. “Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent, Master Gotama! Master Gotama has made the Dhamma clear in many ways, as though he were turning upright what had been overthrown, revealing what was hidden, showing the way to one who was lost, or holding up a lamp in the dark for those with eyesight to see forms. I go to Master Gotama for refuge and to the Dhamma and to the Sangha of bhikkhus. I would receive the going forth under Master Gotama, I would receive the full admission.” [494]
16. “Vaccha, one who formerly belonged to another sect and desires the going forth and the full admission in this Dhamma and Discipline lives on probation for four months. At the end of four months, if the bhikkhus are satisfied with him, they give him the going forth and the full admission to the bhikkhus’ state. But I recognise individual differences in this matter.”
“Venerable sir, if those who formerly belonged to another sect and desire the going forth and the full admission in this Dhamma and Discipline live on probation for four months, and if at the end of the four months the bhikkhus being satisfied with them give them the going forth and the full admission to the bhikkhus’ state, then I will live on probation for four years. At the end of the four years if the bhikkhus are satisfied with me, let them give me the going forth and the full admission to the bhikkhus’ state.”
17. Then the wanderer Vacchagotta received the going forth under the Blessed One, and he received the full admission. Not long after his full admission, a half-month after his full admission, the venerable Vacchagotta went to the Blessed One, and after paying homage to him, he sat down at one side and told the Blessed One: “Venerable sir, I have attained whatever can be attained by the knowledge of a disciple in higher training, by the true knowledge of a disciple in higher training. Let the Blessed One teach me the Dhamma further.”727
18. “In that case, Vaccha, develop further two things: serenity and insight. When these two things—serenity and insight—are developed further, they will lead to the penetration of many elements.
19. “To the extent that you may wish: ‘May I wield the various kinds of supernormal power: having been one, may I become many; having been many, may I become one; may I appear and vanish; may I go unhindered through a wall, through an enclosure, through a mountain, as though through space; may I dive in and out of the earth as though it were water; may I walk on water without sinking as though it were earth; seated cross-legged, may I travel in space like a bird; with my hand may I touch and stroke the moon and sun so powerful and mighty; may I wield bodily mastery even as far as the Brahma-world’—you will attain the ability to witness any aspect therein, there being a suitable basis.728
20. “To the extent that you may wish: ‘May I, with the divine ear element, [495] which is purified and surpasses the human, hear both kinds of sounds, the divine and the human, those that are far as well as near’—you will attain the ability to witness any aspect therein, there being a suitable basis.
21. “To the extent that you may wish: ‘May I understand the minds of other beings, of other persons, having encompassed them with my own mind. May I understand a mind affected by lust as affected by lust and a mind unaffected by lust as unaffected by lust; may I understand a mind affected by hate as affected by hate and a mind unaffected by hate as unaffected by hate; may I understand a mind affected by delusion as affected by delusion and a mind unaffected by delusion as unaffected by delusion; may I understand a contracted mind as contracted and a distracted mind as distracted; may I understand an exalted mind as exalted and an unexalted mind as unexalted; may I understand a surpassed mind as surpassed and an unsurpassed mind as unsurpassed; may I understand a concentrated mind as concentrated and an unconcentrated mind as unconcentrated; may I understand a liberated mind as liberated and an unliberated mind as unliberated’—you will attain the ability to witness any aspect therein, there being a suitable basis.
22. “To the extent that you may wish: ‘May I recollect my manifold past lives, that is, one birth, two births…(as Sutta 51, §24)…Thus with their aspects and particulars may I recollect my manifold past lives’—you will attain the ability to witness any aspect therein, there being a suitable basis. [496]
23. “To the extent that you may wish: ‘May I, with the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, see beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate…(as Sutta 51, §25)…and may I understand how beings pass on according to their actions’—you will attain the ability to witness any aspect therein, there being a suitable basis.
24. “To the extent that you may wish: ‘May I, by realising for myself with direct knowledge, here and now enter upon and abide in the deliverance of mind and deliverance by wisdom that are taintless with the destruction of the taints’—you will attain the ability to witness any aspect therein, there being a suitable basis.”
25. Then the venerable Vacchagotta, having delighted and rejoiced in the Blessed One’s words, rose from his seat, and after paying homage to the Blessed One, keeping him on his right, he departed.
26. Before long, dwelling alone, withdrawn, diligent, ardent, and resolute, the venerable Vacchagotta, by realising for himself with direct knowledge, here and now entered upon and abided in that supreme goal of the holy life for the sake of which clansmen rightly go forth from the home life into homelessness. He directly knew: “Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming to any state of being.” And the venerable Vacchagotta became one of the arahants.
27. Now on that occasion a number of bhikkhus were going to see the Blessed One. The venerable Vacchagotta saw them coming in the distance. Seeing them, he went to them and asked them: [497] “Where are the venerable ones going?” “We are going to see the Blessed One, friend.”
“In that case, may the venerable ones pay homage in my name with their heads at the Blessed One’s feet, saying: ‘Venerable sir, the bhikkhu Vacchagotta pays homage with his head at the Blessed One’s feet.’ Then say: ‘The Blessed One has been worshipped by me, the Sublime One has been worshipped by me.’”729
“Yes, friend,” those bhikkhus replied. Then they went to the Blessed One, and after paying homage to him, they sat down at one side and told the Blessed One: “Venerable sir, the venerable Vacchagotta pays homage with his head at the Blessed One’s feet, and he says: ‘The Blessed One has been worshipped by me, the Sublime One has been worshipped by me.’”
28. “Bhikkhus, having encompassed his mind with my own mind, I already knew of the bhikkhu Vacchagotta: ‘The bhikkhu Vacchagotta has attained the threefold true knowledge and has great supernormal power and might.’ And deities also told me this: ‘The bhikkhu Vacchagotta has attained the threefold true knowledge and has great supernormal power and might.’”
That is what the Blessed One said. Those bhikkhus were satisfied and delighted in the Blessed One’s words.
Dīghanakha Sutta
To Dīghanakha
1. THUS HAVE I HEARD. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Rājagaha in the Boar’s Cave on the mountain Vulture Peak.
2. Then the wanderer Dīghanakha went to the Blessed One and exchanged greetings with him.730 When this courteous and amiable talk was finished, he stood at one side and said to the Blessed One: “Master Gotama, my doctrine and view is this: ‘Nothing is acceptable to me.’”731
“This view of yours, Aggivessana, ‘Nothing is acceptable to me’—is not at least that view acceptable to you?”
“If this view of mine were acceptable to me, Master Gotama, it too would be the same, it too [498] would be the same.”732
3. “Well, Aggivessana, there are plenty in the world who s
ay: ‘It too would be the same, it too would be the same,’ yet they do not abandon that view and they take up still some other view. Those are few in the world who say: ‘It too would be the same, it too would be the same,’ and who abandon that view and do not take up some other view.733
4. “Aggivessana, there are some recluses and brahmins whose doctrine and view is this: ‘Everything is acceptable to me.’ There are some recluses and brahmins whose doctrine and view is this: ‘Nothing is acceptable to me.’ And there are some recluses and brahmins whose doctrine and view is this: ‘Something is acceptable to me, something is not acceptable to me.’734 Among these, the view of those recluses and brahmins who hold the doctrine and view ‘Everything is acceptable to me’ is close to lust, close to bondage, close to delighting, close to holding, close to clinging. The view of those recluses and brahmins who hold the doctrine and view ‘Nothing is acceptable to me’ is close to non-lust, close to non-bondage, close to non-delighting, close to non-holding, close to non-clinging.”
5. When this was said, the wanderer Dīghanakha remarked: “Master Gotama commends my point of view, Master Gotama recommends my point of view.”
“Aggivessana, as to those recluses and brahmins who hold the doctrine and view ‘Something is acceptable to me, something is not acceptable to me’—the view of theirs as to what is acceptable is close to lust, close to bondage, close to delighting, close to holding, close to clinging, while the view of theirs as to what is not acceptable is close to non-lust, close to non-bondage, close to non-delighting, close to non-holding, close to non-clinging.
6. “Now, Aggivessana, a wise man among those recluses and brahmins who hold the doctrine and view ‘Everything is acceptable to me’ considers thus:735 ‘If I obstinately adhere to my view “Everything is acceptable to me” and declare: “Only this is true, anything else is wrong,” then I may clash with the two others: with a recluse or brahmin who holds the doctrine [499] and view “Nothing is acceptable to me” and with a recluse or brahmin who holds the doctrine and view “Something is acceptable to me, something is not acceptable to me.” I may clash with these two, and when there is a clash, there are disputes; when there are disputes, there are quarrels; when there are quarrels, there is vexation.’ Thus, foreseeing for himself clashes, disputes, quarrels, and vexation, he abandons that view and does not take up some other view. This is how there comes to be the abandoning of these views; this is how there comes to be the relinquishing of these views.
7. “A wise man among those recluses and brahmins who hold the doctrine and view ‘Nothing is acceptable to me’ considers thus: ‘If I obstinately adhere to my view “Nothing is acceptable to me” and declare: “Only this is true, anything else is wrong,” then I may clash with the two others: with a recluse or brahmin who holds the doctrine and view “Everything is acceptable to me” and with a recluse or brahmin who holds the doctrine and view “Something is acceptable to me, something is not acceptable to me.” I may clash with these two, and when there is a clash, there are disputes; when there are disputes, there are quarrels; when there are quarrels, there is vexation.’ Thus, foreseeing for himself clashes, disputes, quarrels, and vexation, he abandons that view and does not take up some other view. This is how there comes to be the abandoning of these views; this is how there comes to be the relinquishing of these views.
8. “A wise man among those recluses and brahmins who hold the doctrine and view ‘Something is acceptable to me, something is not acceptable to me’ considers thus: ‘If I obstinately adhere to my view “Something is acceptable to me, something is not acceptable to me” and declare: “Only this is true, anything else is wrong,” then I may clash with the two others: with a recluse or brahmin who holds the doctrine and view “Everything is acceptable to me” and with a recluse or brahmin who holds the doctrine and view “Nothing is acceptable to me.” I may clash with these two, and when there is a clash, there are disputes; when there are disputes, there are quarrels; when there are quarrels, there is vexation.’ Thus, foreseeing for himself clashes, disputes, quarrels, and vexation, he abandons that view and does not take up some other view. This is how there comes to be the abandoning of these views; this is how there comes to be the relinquishing of these views. [500]
9. “Now, Aggivessana,736 this body made of material form, consisting of the four great elements, procreated by a mother and father, and built up out of boiled rice and porridge, is subject to impermanence, to being worn and rubbed away, to dissolution and disintegration. It should be regarded as impermanent, as suffering, as a disease, as a tumour, as a dart, as a calamity, as an affliction, as alien, as disintegrating, as void, as not self. When one regards this body thus, one abandons desire for the body, affection for the body, subservience to the body.
10. “There are, Aggivessana, three kinds of feeling: pleasant feeling, painful feeling, and neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling. On the occasion when one feels pleasant feeling, one does not feel painful feeling or neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling; on that occasion one feels only pleasant feeling. On the occasion when one feels painful feeling, one does not feel pleasant feeling or neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling; on that occasion one feels only painful feeling. On the occasion when one feels neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, one does not feel pleasant feeling or painful feeling; on that occasion one feels only neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling.
11. “Pleasant feeling, Aggivessana, is impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, subject to destruction, vanishing, fading away, and ceasing. Painful feeling too is impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, subject to destruction, vanishing, fading away, and ceasing. Neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling too is impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, subject to destruction, vanishing, fading away, and ceasing.
12. “Seeing thus, a well-taught noble disciple becomes disenchanted with pleasant feeling, disenchanted with painful feeling, disenchanted with neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling. Being disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion [his mind] is liberated. When it is liberated there comes the knowledge: ‘It is liberated.’ He understands: ‘Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming to any state of being.’
13. “A bhikkhu whose mind is liberated thus, Aggivessana, sides with none and disputes with none; he employs the speech currently used in the world without adhering to it.”737
14. Now on that occasion the venerable Sāriputta was standing behind the Blessed One, [501] fanning him. Then he thought: “The Blessed One, indeed, speaks to us of the abandoning of these things through direct knowledge; the Sublime One, indeed, speaks to us of the relinquishing of these things through direct knowledge.” As the venerable Sāriputta considered this, through not clinging his mind was liberated from the taints.738
15. But in the wanderer Dīghanakha the spotless immaculate vision of the Dhamma arose: “All that is subject to arising is subject to cessation.” The wanderer Dīghanakha saw the Dhamma, attained the Dhamma, understood the Dhamma, fathomed the Dhamma; he crossed beyond doubt, did away with perplexity, gained intrepidity, and became independent of others in the Teacher’s Dispensation.739
16. Then he said to the Blessed One: “Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent, Master Gotama! Master Gotama has made the Dhamma clear in many ways, as though he were turning upright what had been overthrown, revealing what was hidden, showing the way to one who was lost, or holding up a lamp in the dark for those with eyesight to see forms. I go to Master Gotama for refuge and to the Dhamma and to the Sangha of bhikkhus. From today let Master Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for refuge for life.”
Māgandiya Sutta
To Māgandiya
1. THUS HAVE I HEARD. On one occasion the Blessed One was living in the Kuru country where there was a town of the Kurus named Kammāsadhamma, on a spread of grass in the fire chamber of a brahmin belonging to the Bhāradvāja clan.
2. Then, w
hen it was morning, the Blessed One dressed, and taking his bowl and outer robe, went into Kammāsadhamma for alms. When he had wandered for alms in Kammāsadhamma and had returned from his almsround, after his meal he went to a certain grove for the day’s abiding. Having entered the grove, he sat down at the root of a tree for the day’s abiding. [502]
3. Then the wanderer Māgandiya, while walking and wandering for exercise, went to the fire chamber of the brahmin belonging to the Bhāradvāja clan. There he saw a spread of grass prepared and asked the brahmin: “For whom has this spread of grass been prepared in Master Bhāradvāja’s fire chamber? It seems like it might be a recluse’s bed.”
4. “Master Māgandiya, there is the recluse Gotama, the son of the Sakyans, who went forth from a Sakyan clan. Now a good report of Master Gotama has been spread to this effect: ‘That Blessed One is accomplished, fully enlightened, perfect in true knowledge and conduct, sublime, knower of worlds, incomparable leader of persons to be tamed, teacher of gods and humans, enlightened, blessed.’ This bed has been prepared for that Master Gotama.”
The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha Page 66
