24. “So too, Māgandiya, if I were to teach you the Dhamma thus: ‘This is that health, this is that Nibbāna,’ you might know health and see Nibbāna. Together with the arising of your vision, your desire and lust for the five aggregates affected by clinging might be abandoned. Then perhaps you might think: ‘Indeed, I have long been tricked, cheated, and defrauded by this mind. For when clinging, I have been clinging just to material form, I have been clinging just to feeling, I have been clinging just to perception, I have been clinging just to formations, I have been clinging just to consciousness.746 With my clinging as condition, being [comes to be]; with being as condition, birth; with birth as condition, ageing and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, [512] and despair come to be. Such is the origin of this whole mass of suffering.’”
25. “I have confidence in Master Gotama thus: ‘Master Gotama is capable of teaching me the Dhamma in such a way that I might rise up from this seat cured of my blindness.’”
“Then, Māgandiya, associate with true men. When you associate with true men, you will hear the true Dhamma. When you hear the true Dhamma, you will practise in accordance with the true Dhamma. When you practise in accordance with the true Dhamma, you will know and see for yourself thus: ‘These are diseases, tumours, and darts; but here these diseases, tumours, and darts cease without remainder.747 With the cessation of my clinging comes cessation of being; with the cessation of being, cessation of birth; with the cessation of birth, ageing and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair cease. Such is the cessation of this whole mass of suffering.’”
26. When this was said, the wanderer Māgandiya said: “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.”
27. “Māgandiya, 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.” [513]
28. Then the wanderer Māgandiya received the going forth under the Blessed One, and he received the full admission. And soon, not long after his full admission, dwelling alone, withdrawn, diligent, ardent, and resolute, the venerable Māgandiya, 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 Māgandiya became one of the arahants.
Sandaka Sutta
To Sandaka
1. THUS HAVE I HEARD. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Kosambī in Ghosita’s Park.
2. Now on that occasion the wanderer Sandaka was staying in the Pilakkha-tree Cave with a large assembly of wanderers.
3. Then, when it was evening, the venerable Ānanda rose from meditation and addressed the bhikkhus thus: “Come, friends, let us go to the Devakaṭa Pool to see the cave.”—“Yes, friend,” those bhikkhus replied. Then the venerable Ānanda went to the Devakaṭa Pool together with a number of bhikkhus.
4. Now on that occasion the wanderer Sandaka was seated with a large assembly of wanderers who were making an uproar, loudly and noisily talking many kinds of pointless talk,748 such as talk of kings, robbers, ministers, armies, dangers, battles, food, drink, clothing, beds, garlands, perfumes, relatives, vehicles, villages, towns, cities, countries, women, heroes, streets, wells, the dead, trifles, the origin of the world, the origin of the sea, [514] whether things are so or are not so. Then the wanderer Sandaka saw the venerable Ānanda coming in the distance. Seeing him, he quieted his own assembly thus: “Sirs, be quiet; sirs, make no noise. Here comes the recluse Ānanda, a disciple of the recluse Gotama, one of the recluse Gotama’s disciples staying in Kosambī. These venerable ones like quiet; they are disciplined in quiet; they commend quiet. Perhaps if he finds our assembly a quiet one, he will think to join us.” Then the wanderers became silent.
5. The venerable Ānanda went to the wanderer Sandaka who said to him: “Let Master Ānanda come! Welcome to Master Ānanda! It is long since Master Ānanda found an opportunity to come here. Let Master Ānanda be seated; this seat is ready.”
The venerable Ānanda sat down on the seat made ready, and the wanderer Sandaka took a low seat and sat down at one side. When he had done so, the venerable Ānanda asked him: “For what discussion are you sitting together here now, Sandaka? And what was your discussion that was left unfinished?”
“Master Ānanda, let be the discussion for which we are now sitting together here. Master Ānanda can well hear about it later. It would be good if Master Ānanda would give a talk on his own teacher’s Dhamma.”
“Then, Sandaka, listen and attend closely to what I shall say.”
“Yes, sir,” he replied. The venerable Ānanda said this:
6. “Sandaka, these four ways that negate the living of the holy life have been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened, and also these four kinds of holy life without consolation have been declared, wherein a wise man certainly would not live the holy life, or if he should live it, would not attain the true way, the Dhamma that is wholesome.”749
“But, Master Ānanda, what are those four ways that negate the living of the holy life that have been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened, wherein [515] a wise man certainly would not live the holy life, or if he should live it, would not attain the true way, the Dhamma that is wholesome?”
7. “Here, Sandaka, some teacher holds such a doctrine and view as this: ‘There is nothing given, nothing offered, nothing sacrificed; no fruit or result of good and bad actions; no this world, no other world; no mother, no father; no beings who are reborn spontaneously; no good and virtuous recluses and brahmins in the world who have themselves realised by direct knowledge and declare this world and the other world. A person consists of the four great elements.750 When he dies, earth returns and goes back to the body of earth, water returns and goes back to the body of water, fire returns and goes back to the body of fire, air returns and goes back to the body of air; the faculties pass over to space. [Four] men with the bier as fifth carry away the corpse. The funeral orations last as far as the charnel ground; the bones whiten; burnt offerings end with ashes. Giving is a doctrine of fools. When anyone asserts the doctrine that there is [giving and the like], it is empty, false prattle. Fools and the wise are alike cut off and annihilated with the dissolution of the body; after death they do not exist.’
8. “About this a wise man considers thus: ‘This good teacher holds this doctrine and view: “There is nothing given…after death they do not exist.” If this good teacher’s words are true, then both of us are exactly equal here, we stand on the same level: I who have not practised [this teaching] here and he who has practised it; I who have not lived [the holy life] here and he who has lived it.751 Yet I
do not say that both of us are cut off and annihilated with the dissolution of the body, that after death we shall not exist. But it is superfluous for this good teacher to go about naked, to be shaven, to exert himself in the squatting posture, and to pull out his hair and beard, since I, who live in a house crowded with children, who use Benares sandalwood, who wear garlands, scents, and unguents, and accept gold and silver, shall reap exactly the same destination, the same future course, as this good teacher. What do I know and see that I should lead the holy life under this teacher?’ So when he finds that this way negates the living of the holy life, he turns away from it and leaves it.
9. “This is the first way that negates the living of the holy life that has been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened, wherein a wise man certainly would not live the holy life, [516] or if he should live it, would not attain the true way, the Dhamma that is wholesome.
10. “Again, Sandaka, here some teacher holds such a doctrine and view as this: ‘When one acts or makes others act, when one mutilates or makes others mutilate, when one tortures or makes others inflict torture, when one inflicts sorrow or makes others inflict sorrow, when one oppresses or makes others inflict oppression, when one intimidates or makes others inflict intimidation, when one kills living beings, takes what is not given, breaks into houses, plunders wealth, commits burglary, ambushes highways, seduces another’s wife, utters falsehood—no evil is done by the doer. If, with a razor-rimmed wheel, one were to make the living beings on this earth into one mass of flesh, into one heap of flesh, because of this there would be no evil and no outcome of evil. If one were to go along the south bank of the Ganges killing and slaughtering, mutilating and making others mutilate, torturing and making others inflict torture, because of this there would be no evil and no outcome of evil. If one were to go along the north bank of the Ganges giving gifts and making others give gifts, making offerings and making others make offerings, because of this there would be no merit and no outcome of merit. By giving, by taming oneself, by restraint, by speaking truth, there is no merit and no outcome of merit.’
11. “About this a wise man considers thus: ‘This good teacher holds this doctrine and view: “When one acts…there is no merit and no outcome of merit.” If this good teacher’s words are true, then both of us are exactly equal here, we stand on the same level: I who have not practised [this teaching] here and he who has practised it; I who have not lived [the holy life] here and he who has lived it. Yet I do not say that whatever both [of us] do, no evil is done. But it is superfluous for this good teacher…What do I know and see that I should lead the holy life under this teacher?’ So when he finds that this way negates the living of the holy life, he turns away from it and leaves it.
12. “This is the second way that negates the living of the holy life that has been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened…
13. “Again, Sandaka, here some teacher holds such a doctrine and view as this: ‘There is no cause or condition for the defilement of beings; beings are defiled without cause or condition. There is no cause or condition for the purification of beings; beings are purified without cause or condition. There is no power, no energy, no manly [517] strength, no manly endurance. All beings, all living things, all creatures, all souls are without mastery, power, and energy; moulded by destiny, circumstance, and nature, they experience pleasure and pain in the six classes.’
14. “About this a wise man considers thus: ‘This good teacher holds this doctrine and view: “There is no cause…in the six classes.” If this good teacher’s words are true, then both of us are exactly equal here, we stand on the same level: I who have not practised [this teaching] here and he who has practised it; I who have not lived [the holy life] here and he who has lived it. Yet I do not say that both [of us] will be purified without cause or condition. But it is superfluous for this good teacher…What do I know and see that I should lead the holy life under this teacher?’ So when he finds that this way negates the living of the holy life, he turns away from it and leaves it.
15. “This is the third way that negates the living of the holy life that has been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened…
16. “Again, Sandaka, here some teacher holds such a doctrine and view as this: 752 ‘There are these seven bodies that are unmade, not brought forth, uncreated, without a creator, barren, standing like mountain peaks, standing like pillars. They do not move or change or obstruct each other. None is able [to arouse] pleasure or pain or pleasure-and-pain in another. What are the seven? They are the earth-body, the water-body, the fire-body, the air-body, pleasure, pain, and the soul as the seventh. These seven bodies are unmade…Herein, there is no killer, no slaughterer, no hearer, no speaker, no cognizer, no intimater. Even those who cut off someone’s head with a sharp sword do not deprive anyone of life; the sword merely passes through the space between the seven bodies. There are these fourteen hundred thousand principal kinds of generation, and sixty hundred kinds, and six hundred kinds; there are five hundred kinds of action, and five kinds of action, and three kinds of action, and action and half-action; there are sixty-two ways, sixty-two sub-aeons, six classes, eight planes of man, forty-nine hundred kinds of livelihood, forty-nine hundred kinds of wanderers, forty-nine hundred [518] abodes of serpents, twenty hundred faculties, thirty hundred hells, thirty-six elements of dust, seven percipient breeds, seven non-percipient breeds, seven sheathless breeds, seven kinds of gods, seven kinds of men, seven kinds of demons, seven lakes, seven knots, seven kinds of chasms, seven hundred kinds of chasms, seven kinds of dreams, seven hundred kinds of dreams; and there are eighty-four hundred thousand great aeons wherein, by running and wandering through the round of rebirths, fools and the wise both will make an end of suffering. There is none of this: “By this virtue or observance or asceticism or holy life I shall make unripened action ripen or annihilate ripened action as it comes.” Pleasure and pain are meted out. The round of rebirths is limited, there is no shortening or extending it, no increasing or decreasing it. Just as a ball of string when thrown goes as far as the string unwinds, so too, by running and wandering through the round of rebirths, fools and the wise both will make an end of suffering.’
17. “About this a wise man considers thus: ‘This good teacher holds this doctrine and view: “There are these seven bodies… fools and the wise both will make an end of suffering.” If this good teacher’s words are true, then both of us are exactly equal here, we stand on the same level: I who have not practised [this teaching] here and he who has practised it; I who have not lived [the holy life] here and he who has lived it. Yet I do not say that both of us will make an end of suffering by running and wandering through the round of rebirths. But it is superfluous for this good teacher to go about naked, to be shaven, to exert himself in the squatting position, and to pull out his hair and beard, since I, who live in a house crowded with children, who use Benares sandalwood, who wear garlands, scents, and unguents, and accept gold and silver, shall reap exactly the same destination, the same future course, as this good teacher. What do I know and see that I should lead the holy life under this teacher?’ So when he finds that this way negates the living of the holy life, he turns away from it and leaves it.
18. “This is the fourth way that negates the living of the holy life that has been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened…
19. “These, Sandaka, are the four ways that negate the living of the holy life that have been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened, [519] wherein a wise man certainly would not live the holy life, or if he should live it, would not attain the true way, the Dhamma that is wholesome.”
20. “It is wonderful, Master Ānanda, it is marvellous, how the four ways that negate the living of the holy life have been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and ful
ly enlightened…But, Master Ānanda, what are those four kinds of holy life without consolation that have been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened, wherein a wise man certainly would not live the holy life, or if he should live it, would not attain the true way, the Dhamma that is wholesome?”
21. “Here, Sandaka, some teacher claims to be omniscient and all-seeing, to have complete knowledge and vision thus: ‘Whether I am walking or standing or sleeping or awake, knowledge and vision are continuously and uninterruptedly present to me.’753 He enters an empty house, he gets no almsfood, a dog bites him, he meets with a wild elephant, a wild horse, a wild bull, he asks the name and clan of a woman or a man, he asks the name of a village or a town, and the way to go there. When he is questioned: ‘How is this?’ he replies: ‘I had to enter an empty house, that is why I entered it. I had to get no almsfood, that is why I did not get any. I had to be bitten by a dog, that is why I was bitten. I had to meet with a wild elephant, a wild horse, a wild bull, that is why I met with them. I had to ask the name and clan of a woman or a man, that is why I asked. I had to ask the name of a village or a town and the way to go there, that is why I asked.’
The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha Page 68
