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Editor's Note
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The Shorter Discourse on the Lion's Roar:
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The Great Discourse on the Lion's Roar:
The original
translations of the two suttas included in this booklet
were made by Ven. Bhikkhu Ñanamoli. They are taken from
his complete translation of the Majjhima Nikaya, which I
have edited and revised for publication by Wisdom
Publications, Boston (forthcoming, 1994/95). The numbers
enclosed in square brackets are the page numbers of the
Pali Text Society edition of the Pali text.
The introductions and
notes are my own. In these the following abbreviations
are employed:
DN
..... Digha Nikaya
MN ..... Majjhima Nikaya
Vbh. ..... Vibhanga
Comy. ..... Commentary
Bhikkhu Bodhi
The Shorter Discourse on the Lion's Roar
Among the hordes of
animals that roam the wild, whether the jungle, the
mountains or the plain, the lion is universally
recognized to be their chief. The living embodiment of
self-possessed power, he is the most regal in manner and
deportment, the mightiest, the foremost with respect to
speed, courage and dominion. The expression of the
lion's supremacy is its roar -- a roar which reduces to
silence the cries, howls, bellows, shrieks, barks and
growls of lesser creatures. When the lion steps forth
from his den and sounds his roar, all the other animals
stop and listen. On such an occasion none dares even to
sound its own cry, let alone to come into the open and
challenge the fearless, unsurpassable roar of the
golden-maned king of beasts.
The Buddha's discourses,
as found in the ancient Pali Canon, frequently draw
their imagery from the rich and varied animal life of
the luxuriant Indian jungle. It is thus not surprising
that when the Buddha has occasion to refer to himself,
he chooses to represent himself as the stately lion and
to describe his proclamation of the Dhamma, bold and
thunderous, as a veritable lion's roar in the spiritual
domain. The Majjhima Nikaya, the Collection of Middle
Length Discourses, contains two suttas which bear this
metaphor in their title. These two -- No. 11 and No. 12
in the collection -- are called respectively the Shorter
Discourse on the Lion's Roar and the Great Discourse on
the Lion's Roar. The variation in their titles,
signalled by the Pali words cula, "minor," and
maha, "great," evidently refers at one level to
their different lengths, the one being four pages in the
Pali, the other sixteen. At another level, these
different designations may allude to the relative weight
of the subject matter with which they deal, the "great"
discourse being a rare revelation by the Buddha of his
exalted spiritual endowments and all-encompassing
knowledge, which entitle him to "roar his lion's roar"
in the assemblies of human beings and gods. Still, both
suttas, as their controlling image suggests, are of
paramount importance. Each delivers in its own way an
eloquent and inspiring testimony to the uniquely
emancipating nature of the Buddha's Teaching and the
peerless stature of the Teacher among the spiritual
guides of humanity.
* * *
The Pali Commentaries
explain that there are two kinds of lion's roar: that of
the Buddha himself and that of his disciples. The former
is sounded when the Buddha extols his own attainments or
proclaims the potency of the doctrine he has realized;
the latter, when accomplished disciples testify to their
own achievement of the final goal, the fruit of
arahantship. Viewed in the light of this distinction,
the Shorter Discourse on the Lion's Roar exhibits a
hybrid character, being a sutta spoken by the Buddha to
instruct his disciples how they should affirm, in
discussions with others who hold different convictions,
the singular greatness of the Teaching.
Section 2. The Buddha
opens the discourse by disclosing the content of this
roar. He tells his monks that they can boldly declare
that "only here" (idh'eva) -- i.e., in the
Dispensation of the Enlightened One -- is it possible to
find true recluses of the first, second, third and
fourth degrees. The expression "recluse" (samana)
here refers elliptically to the four grades of noble
disciples who have reached the stages of realization at
which final deliverance from suffering is irrevocably
assured: the stream-enterer, the once-returner, the
nonreturner and the arahant. The "doctrines of others"
(parappavada), the Buddha says, are devoid of
true recluses, of those who stand on these elevated
planes. In order to understand this statement properly,
it is important to distinguish exactly what the words
imply and what they do not imply. The words do not mean
that other religions are destitute of persons of saintly
stature. Such religions may well engender individuals
who have attained to a high degree of spiritual purity
-- beings of noble character, lofty virtue, deep
contemplative experience, and rich endowment with love
and compassion. These religions, however, would not be
capable of giving rise to ariyan individuals,
those equipped with the penetrative wisdom that can cut
through the bonds that fetter living beings to samsara,
the round of repeated birth and death. For such wisdom
can only be engendered on a basis of right view -- the
view of the three characteristics of all conditioned
phenomena, of dependent arising, and of the Four Noble
Truths -- and that view is promulgated exclusively in
the fold of the Buddha's Dispensation.
Admittedly, this claim
poses an unmistakable challenge to eclectic and
universalist approaches to understanding the diversity
of humankind's religious beliefs, but it in no way
implies a lack of tolerance or good will. During the
time of the Buddha himself, in the Ganges Valley, there
thrived a whole panoply of religious teachings, all of
which proposed, with a dazzling diversity of doctrines
and practices, to show seekers of truth the path to
liberating knowledge and to spiritual perfection. In his
frequent meetings with uncommitted inquirers and with
convinced followers of other creeds, the Buddha
displayed the most complete tolerance and gracious
cordiality. But though he was always ready to allow each
individual to form his or her own convictions without
the least constraint or coercion, he clearly did not
subscribe to the universalist thesis that all religions
teach essentially the same message, nor did he allow
that the attainment of final release from suffering,
Nibbana, was accessible to those who stood outside the
fold of his own Dispensation. While this position may
seem narrow and parochial to many today, when reaction
against the presumptions of dogmatic religion has become
so prevalent, it is not maintained by the Buddha as a
hidebound dogma or from motives of self-exalting pride,
but from a clear and accurate discernment of the precise
conditions required for the attainment of deliverance.
The Buddha's statement
on this issue emerges in at least two important passages
in the Canon, each of which reveals, from a slightly
different angle, exactly what those conditions are. One
is found in the Maha-parinibbana Sutta (DN
16/ii,151-52). While the Buddha was lying between the
twin sal trees on the eve of his demise, a wandering
ascetic named Subhadda came into his presence to resolve
a doubt: he wished to know whether or not the other
great religious teachers contemporary with the Buddha,
who were regarded as saints by the multitude, had
actually attained spiritual realization, as they claimed
to have done. The Buddha shifted the burden of the
discussion away from a question aimed at assessing
particular individuals and rephrased it in terms of a
general evaluative principle. He declared: "In
whatsoever Dhamma and Discipline the Noble Eightfold
Path is not found, there one cannot find true recluses
of the four degrees of liberation. But in whatever
Dhamma and Discipline the Noble Eightfold Path is found,
there one can find the four types of true recluses."
Then the Buddha imparted to Subhadda the information
that was important for him to know: "In this Dhamma and
Discipline the Noble Eightfold Path is found, and in it
alone are found also the true recluses of the four
degrees. Outside this Dispensation the four types of
enlightened individuals are not to be found. The
doctrines of others are devoid of true recluses." In
this passage the thrust of the Buddha's explanation
points to a particular method of practice as essential
to the attainment of true realization. That method of
practice is the training in the Noble Eightfold Path,
and because this path, in its fullness and perfection,
is unique to the Dispensation of a Fully Enlightened
One, it follows that persons who have reached the planes
of deliverance are unique to his Dispensation as well.
In the Shorter Discourse
on the Lion's Roar the reason for the Buddha's
exclusivistic claim does not focus upon practice but
upon doctrine, upon the understanding of the nature of
reality that separates his own Dhamma from all other
attempts to comprehend the human situation. As the
argument unfolds, the Buddha will show that the
essential key to liberation, the key that he alone makes
available, is the teaching of anatta, of non-self
or egolessness, which is at the same time the boundary
line that marks the difference between his own doctrine
and the doctrines of other teachers.
Sections 3-4. After
announcing the "lion's roar" in Section 2, in the next
section the Buddha begins to construct an imaginary
dialogue between "the wanderers of other sects," i.e.,
the proponents of the rival religious systems, and his
own ordained disciples, the bhikkhus. In the first stage
of the discussion, the wanderers ask the bhikkhus about
the grounds on which they advance their seemingly
sweeping claim. The Buddha advises the monks that they
should answer by mentioning four reasons: that they have
confidence in the Teacher, they have confidence in his
Teaching, they have fulfilled the precepts of training,
and their co-religionists, both monastic and lay, live
together in cordial harmony. The wanderers, however, do
not remain satisfied with this answer, but join issue
with the bhikkhus by pointing out that the four reasons
that the Buddhists have offered are also found in their
own sects. Thus there seems to be no essential
distinction between them that the bhikkhus can appeal to
as the basis for their thesis.
Section 5. The Buddha
does not meet this challenge with a direct reply, but
instead approaches it via an indirect route. He enters
upon this route by first clarifying, through questioning
of the wanderers, the criteria of a truly emancipating
teaching. As a matter of mutual consensus both the
bhikkhus and the wanderers agree that such a teaching
must posit a goal that can be attained only by those who
have achieved complete purification: freedom from lust,
hate and delusion, from craving and clinging, from
arbitrary prejudices ("favoring and opposing"), and from
the coils of "proliferation" (papañca), i.e.,
thought constructions born of craving and groundless
speculation.
Although the bhikkhus
and the wanderers both agree on these criteria, this
does not suffice to establish that they are shared
equally by the different spiritual systems, nor does
this imply that they are capable of being fulfilled
regardless of the specific doctrine to which one
subscribes or the discipline in which one trains. To
show, again in an indirect manner, that the outside
systems are not capable of leading to final liberation,
the Buddha points out that there are two broad
"families" of views, diametrically opposed to each
other, under which the wide diversity of speculative
systems can be subsumed. These two views are called, in
the sutta, the view of being (bhavaditthi) and
the view of non-being (vibhavaditthi). The view
of being is identical with eternalism (sassatavada),
the positing of some eternal entity or spiritual
principle, i.e., a substantial self or soul, as the
essence of the individual, and the positing of an
eternal entity, such as a creator God or metaphysical
Absolute, as the ground or source of the objective
universe. The view of non-being is identical with
annihilationism (ucchedavada), the repudiation of
any principle of continuity beyond death and the denial
of an objective, transpersonal foundation for morality.
While those who adhere
to the former view do concur with the Buddhists in
accepting the efficacy of spiritual practice, their
teachings, according to the Buddha, are not free of an
erroneous grasp of actuality. They spring from a deep
clinging to the notion of a permanent self, which issues
in an edifice of doctrine designed to substantiate that
idea and guarantee the immortality of the imagined self.
Hence the Buddha traces this view to its root in the
craving for being (bhavatanha), and he maintains
that those who adopt such a view are for that very
reason the victims, even though unwittingly, of craving
and attachment. The view of non-being, on the other
hand, arises from an attitude of contempt towards
existence, and finds its root in the craving for
non-being (vibhavatanha). The thinkers who adopt
this view generally begin, as the Buddha does, by
recognizing the pervasive nature of suffering; but
instead of pursuing this suffering back to its true
causes, they rush to an unwarranted extreme by declaring
that the entire life-process comes to an absolute end
with the breakup of the body at death, so that at death
a being is annihilated and exists no more in any way.
Having isolated these
two views and shown them in their mutual opposition, the
Buddha then states that any "recluses or brahmans,"
i.e., spiritual teachers, who do not understand these
views as they really are fail to measure up to the
criteria of those who have achieved the final goal. They
are still subject to lust, hatred and delusion, to
craving and clinging, etc., and thus they cannot claim
to be freed from the cycle of repeated birth and death.
Only those who have comprehended these views, who see
their dangers and have relinquished them, are accessible
to the right view that leads beyond all erroneous
extremes, and it is by the instrumentality of that view
that they are capable of cutting off the defilements and
arriving at release from the samsaric round.
Sections 9-15. Even at
this point, however, the Buddha has not yet explicitly
shown that liberation from cyclic existence is an
exclusive prerogative of his own Dispensation. He has
only left this conclusion as an inference for those who
are already aware that his Dhamma makes known the middle
way that transcends extremist views. In the present
sequence, however, he will bring his argument to its
conclusion by homing in on the crucial point that
separates his own teaching from all other religious and
philosophical systems. He takes up this task by way of
an examination of the mental activity of clinging
(upadana). He states that there are four kinds of
clinging: (1) clinging to sense pleasures; (2) clinging
to speculative views regarding the self and the world;
(3) clinging to rules and observances, i.e., to external
rules, rituals and austerities in the belief that they
lead to liberation; (4) and clinging to a doctrine of
self, i.e., to a view of a truly existent self. The last
type of clinging, the subtlest and most elusive of the
group, is tantamount to what the texts refer to as
"personality view" (sakkayaditthi): the view of a
substantial self taken to be either identical in some
way to the five aggregates that constitute the
personality, or to stand in some relationship to those
aggregates (see MN 44/i,300, etc.).
The Buddha next points
out that the recluses and brahmans who propose a path to
liberation all declare that they propound "the full
understanding of all kinds of clinging," a phrase the
commentary to the sutta glosses as meaning the
overcoming (samatikkama) of all kinds of
clinging. However, the Buddha says, in spite of this
claim, the other spiritual teachers recognize and attack
only a limited number of the forms of clinging; at best,
they might teach the overcoming of the first three forms
of clinging. What they cannot teach, because they have
not comprehended this for themselves, is the overcoming
of clinging to a doctrine of self, and it is this fourth
type of clinging that vitiates even the aspects of their
teachings that are wholesome and praiseworthy. Because
they perceive the dangers in the grosser types of
clinging, they might urge their disciples to relinquish
them, to give up sensuality, dogmatism and ritualism,
and to cultivate in their place renunciation, detachment
and equanimity. Thereby they can enjoin their disciples
to engage in virtuous courses of spiritual practice,
courses which have the potency to generate superior
states of rebirth within the round of samsara. However,
what they have not discovered, because of the
insurmountable limits to their range of understanding,
is the buried root of the entire cycle of repeated
existence, which consists precisely in that adherence to
the notion of self. For this reason, the Buddha
maintains, such a Dhamma and Discipline cannot show the
way to the uprooting of the belief in self, and he
therefore concludes that it is "unemancipating,
unconducive to peace" -- the final peace of Nibbana.
Being taught by one who is not a Fully Enlightened
Buddha, such a system does not merit the confidence of
those who can be satisfied with nothing less than
complete release from all samsaric suffering.
In contrast to other
spiritual teachers, the Buddha continues, he himself,
the Tathagata, describes the full understanding of all
kinds of clinging, inclusive of the clinging to a
doctrine of self. Recognizing the danger in views of
self, aware that all such views, no matter how lofty,
are undermined by a fundamental cognitive error, he
proclaims a path that leads to the eradication of views
of self in all their bewildering variety. Hence, the
Buddha says, his Dhamma and Discipline is truly
emancipating, truly capable of leading to final peace,
promulgated by a Fully Enlightened One, the proper field
of confidence for seekers of liberation.
Sections 16-17. In the
final sections of the discourse, the Buddha will
validate his claim regarding the emancipating quality of
his Dispensation by showing how a disciple who
undertakes the practice of his teaching can reach the
fruit of final deliverance. He first takes up the four
kinds of clinging, the subject around which the
preceding portion of the exposition revolved, and
connects this topic with another major principle of his
doctrine, dependent arising (paticca samuppada).
By applying the principle of dependent arising, he
traces clinging to its source in craving, and then,
continuing this line of inquiry, he pursues the entire
sequence of conditional factors at the base of samsara
back to its deepest and most pernicious root, ignorance
(avijja).
In the final paragraph
he introduces a bhikkhu who arrives at the culmination
of the path: one who develops wisdom to the fullest
extent, abandons all ignorance, and arouses the
liberating knowledge. Such a one no longer clings
through any kind of clinging: he has eradicated all four
types of clinging, including the clinging to a doctrine
of self, and with their eradication has attained the
final goal, the personal realization of Nibbana right in
this very life.
* * *
Majjhima
Nikaya No. 11
[top]
The Shorter Discourse on the Lion's Roar
(Cula-sihanada Sutta)
1. Thus have I heard. On
one occasion the Blessed One was living at Savatthi in
Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's Park. There he addressed
the bhikkhus thus: "Bhikkhus." -- "Venerable sir," they
replied. The Blessed One said this:
2. "Bhikkhus, only here
is there a recluse, only here a second recluse, only
here a third recluse, only here a fourth recluse. The
doctrines of others are devoid[*p.64]
of recluses: that is how you should rightly roar your
lion's roar.[1]
3. "It is possible,
bhikkhus, that wanderers of other sects might ask: 'But
on the strength of what (argument) or with the support
of what (authority) do the venerable ones say thus?'
Wanderers of other sects who ask thus may be answered in
this way: 'Friends, four things have been declared to us
by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and
fully enlightened; on seeing these in ourselves we say
thus: "Only here is there a recluse, only here a second
recluse, only here a third recluse, only here a fourth
recluse. The doctrines of others are devoid of
recluses." What are the four? We have confidence in the
Teacher, we have confidence in the Dhamma, we have
fulfilled the precepts, and our companions in the Dhamma
are dear and agreeable to us whether they are layfolk or
those gone forth. These are the four things declared to
us by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished
and fully enlightened, on seeing which in ourselves we
say as we do.'
4. "It is possible,
bhikkhus, that wanderers of other sects might say thus:
'Friends, we too have confidence in the Teacher, that
is, in our Teacher; we too have confidence in the
Dhamma, that is, in our Dhamma; we too have fulfilled
the precepts, that is, our precepts; our companions in
the Dhamma are dear and agreeable to us too whether they
are layfolk or those gone forth. What is the distinction
here, friends, what is the variance, what is the
difference between you and us?'
5. "Wanderers of other
sects who ask thus may be answered in this way: 'How
then, friends, is the goal one or many?' Answering
rightly, the wanderers of other sects would answer thus:
'Friends, the goal is one, not many.'[2]
-- 'But, friends, is that goal for one affected by lust
or free from lust?' Answering rightly, the wanderers of
other sects would answer thus: 'Friends, that goal is
for one free from lust, not for one affected by lust.'
-- 'But, friends, is that goal for one affected by hate
or free from hate?' Answering rightly, they would
answer: 'Friends, that goal is for one free from hate,
not for one affected by hate.' -- 'But, friends, is that
goal for one affected by delusion or free from
delusion?' Answering rightly, they would answer:
'Friends, that goal is for one free from delusion, not
for one affected by delusion.' -- 'But, friends, is that
goal for one affected by craving or free from craving?'[*p.65]
Answering rightly, they would answer: 'Friends, that
goal is for one free from craving, not for one affected
by craving.' -- 'But, friends, is that goal for one
affected by clinging or free from clinging?' Answering
rightly, they would answer: 'Friends, that goal is for
one free from clinging, not for one affected by
clinging.' -- 'But, friends, is that goal for one who
has vision or for one without vision?' Answering
rightly, they would answer: 'Friends, that goal is for
one with vision, not for one without vision.' -- 'But,
friends, is that goal for one who favors and opposes, or
for one who does not favor and oppose?' Answering
rightly, they would answer: 'Friends, that goal is for
one who does not favor and oppose, not for one who
favors and opposes.'[3]
-- 'But, friends is that goal for one who delights in
and enjoys proliferation, or for one who does not
delight in and enjoy proliferation?' Answering rightly,
they would answer: 'Friends, that goal is for one who
does not delight in and enjoy proliferation, not for one
who delights in and enjoys proliferation.'[4]
6. "Bhikkhus, there are
these two views: the view of being and the view of
non-being. Any recluses or brahmans who rely on the view
of being, adopt the view of being, accept the view of
being, are opposed to the view of non-being. Any
recluses or brahmans who rely on the view of non-being,
adopt the view of non-being, accept the view of
non-being, are opposed to the view of being.[5]
7. "Any recluses or
brahmans who do not understand as they actually are the
origin, the disappearance, the gratification, the danger
and the escape[6]
in the case of these two views are affected by lust,
affected by hate, affected by delusion, affected by
craving, affected by clinging, without vision, given to
favoring and opposing, and they delight in and enjoy
proliferation. They are not freed from birth, aging and
death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and
despair; they are not freed from suffering, I say.
8. "Any recluses or
brahmans who understand as they actually are the origin,
the disappearance, the gratification, the danger and the
escape in the case of these two views are without lust,
without hate, without delusion, without craving, without
clinging, with vision, not given to favoring and
opposing, and they do not delight in and enjoy
proliferation. They are freed from birth, aging and
death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and
despair; they are freed from suffering, I say.[*p.66]
9. "Bhikkhus, there are
these four kinds of clinging. What four? Clinging to
sensual pleasures, clinging to views, clinging to rules
and observances, and clinging to a doctrine of self.
10. "Though certain
recluses and brahmans claim to propound the full
understanding of all kinds of clinging, they do not
completely describe the full understanding of all kinds
of clinging.[7]
They describe the full understanding of clinging to
sensual pleasures without describing the full
understanding of clinging to views, clinging to rules
and observances, and clinging to a doctrine of self. Why
is that? Those good recluses and brahmans do not
understand these three instances of clinging as they
actually are. Therefore, though they claim to propound
the full understanding of all kinds of clinging, they
describe only the full understanding of clinging to
sensual pleasures without describing the full
understanding of clinging to views, clinging to rules
and observances, and clinging to a doctrine of self.
11. "Though certain
recluses and brahmans claim to propound the full
understanding of all kinds of clinging... they describe
the full understanding of clinging to sensual pleasures
and clinging to views without describing the full
understanding of clinging to rules and observances and
clinging to a doctrine of self. Why is that? They do not
understand two instances... therefore they describe only
the full understanding of clinging to sensual pleasures
and clinging to views without describing the full
understanding of clinging to rules and observances and
clinging to a doctrine of self.
12. "Though certain
recluses and brahmans claim to propound the full
understanding of all kinds of clinging... they describe
the full understanding of clinging to sensual pleasures,
clinging to views, and clinging to rules and observances
without describing the full understanding of clinging to
a doctrine of self. They do not understand one
instance... therefore they describe only the full
understanding of clinging to sensual pleasures, clinging
to views, and clinging to rules and observances without
describing the full understanding of clinging to a
doctrine of self.[8]
13. "Bhikkhus, in such a
Dhamma and Discipline as that it is plain that
confidence in the Teacher is not rightly directed, that
confidence in the Dhamma is not rightly directed, that
fulfillment of the precepts is not rightly directed, and
that the affection among companions in the Dhamma is not
rightly directed. Why is that? Because that is how it is
when the Dhamma and Discipline is[*p.67]
badly proclaimed and badly expounded, unemancipating,
unconducive to peace, expounded by one who is not fully
enlightened.
14. "Bhikkhus, when a
Tathagata, accomplished and fully enlightened, claims to
propound the full understanding of all kinds of
clinging, he completely describes the full understanding
of all kinds of clinging: he describes the full
understanding of clinging to sensual pleasures, clinging
to views, clinging to rules and observances, and
clinging to a doctrine of self.[9]
15. "Bhikkhus, in such a
Dhamma and Discipline as that it is plain that
confidence in the Teacher is rightly directed, that
confidence in the Dhamma is rightly directed, that
fulfillment of the precepts is rightly directed, and
that the affection among companions in the Dhamma is
rightly directed. Why is that? Because that is how it is
when the Dhamma and Discipline is well proclaimed and
well expounded, emancipating, conducive to peace,
expounded by one who is fully enlightened.
16. "Now these four
kinds of clinging have what as their source, what as
their origin, from what are they born and produced?
These four kinds of clinging have craving as their
source, craving as their origin, they are born and
produced from craving.[10]
Craving has what as its source...? Craving has feeling
as its source... Feeling has what as its source...?
Feeling has contact as its source... Contact has what as
its source...? Contact has the sixfold base as its
source... The sixfold base has what as its source...?
The sixfold base has mentality-materiality as its
source... Mentality-materiality has what as its
source...? Mentality-materiality has consciousness as
its source... Consciousness has what as its source...?
Consciousness has formations as its source... Formations
have what as their source...? Formations have ignorance
as their source, ignorance as their origin; they are
born and produced from ignorance.
17. "Bhikkhus, when
ignorance is abandoned and true knowledge has arisen in
a bhikkhu, then with the fading away of ignorance and
the arising of true knowledge he no longer clings to
sensual pleasures, no longer clings to views, no longer
clings to rules and observances, no longer clings to a
doctrine of self.[11]
When he does not cling, he is not agitated. When he is
not agitated, he personally attains Nibbana. 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.'"[12]
[*p.68]
That is what the Blessed
One said. The bhikkhus were satisfied and delighted in
the Blessed One's words.
* * *
Notes
[*p.###]
The page numbers enclosed in square brackets in the
above text are the page numbers of the Pali Text Society
edition of the Pali text.
1.
Comy. explains "lion's roar" (sihanada) as
meaning a supreme roar (setthanada), a fearless
roar (abhitanada), and a roar which cannot be
confuted (appatinada). It adds: The roar about
the existence of these four types of recluse only here
is the supreme roar. The absence of any fear on account
of others when one advances such a claim makes it a
fearless roar. As none of the rival teachers can rise up
and say, "These recluses also exist in our
Dispensation," it is a roar which cannot be confuted. [Go
back]
2.
Comy.: Even though the adherents of other sects all
declare arahantship -- understood in a general sense as
spiritual perfection -- to be the goal, they point to
other attainments as the goal in accordance with their
views. Thus the brahmans declare the Brahma-world to be
the goal, the great ascetics declare the gods of
Streaming Radiance, the wanderers the gods of Refulgent
Glory, and the Ajivakas the non-percipient state, which
they posit to be "infinite mind" (anantamanasa).
[Go
back]
3.
"Favoring and opposing" (anurodha-pativirodha):
reacting with attraction through lust and with aversion
through hatred. [Go
back]
4.
Proliferation (papañca), according to Comy., generally
means mental activity governed by craving, conceit and
views, but here only craving and views are intended. [Go
back]
5.
The adoption of one view entailing opposition to the
other links up with the earlier statement that the goal
is for one who does not favor and oppose. [Go
back]
6.
Comy. mentions eight conditions which serve as the
origin (samudaya) of these views: the five
aggregates, ignorance, contact, perception, thought,
unwise attention, bad friends, and the voice of another.
Their disappearance (atthangama) is the path of
stream-entry, which eradicates all wrong views. Their
gratification (assada) may be understood as the
satisfaction of psychological need to which the view
caters, specifically the nurturing of craving for being
by the eternalist view and of craving for non-being by
the annihilationist view. Their danger (adinava)
is the continued bondage they entail, by obstructing the
acceptance of right view, which leads to liberation. And
the escape from them (nissarana) is Nibbana. [Go
back]
7.
Comy. glosses full understanding (pariñña) here
as overcoming (samatikkama), with reference to
the commentarial notion of pahanapariñña, "full
understanding as abandonment." [Go
back]
8.
This passage clearly indicates that the critical
differentiating factor of the Buddha's Dhamma is its
"full understanding of clinging to a doctrine of self."
This means, in effect, that the Buddha alone is able to
show how to overcome all views of self by developing
penetration into the truth of non-self (anatta).
[Go
back]
9.
Comy.: The Buddha teaches how clinging to sense
pleasures is abandoned by the path of arahantship, while
the other three types of clinging are eliminated by the
path of stream-entry. The path of stream-entry
eliminates the other three clingings because these three
are all forms of wrong view, and all wrong views are
overcome at that stage. Although the statement that
clinging to sense pleasures is abandoned by the path of
arahantship may sound strange, in view of the fact that
sensual desire is already eliminated by the nonreturner,
the Tika (subcommentary) to the sutta explains that in
the present context the word kama, sense
pleasure, should be understood to comprise all forms of
greed, and the subtler types of greed are only
eliminated with the attainment of arahantship. [Go
back]
10.
This passage is explained in order to show how clinging
is to be abandoned. Clinging is traced back, via the
chain of dependent arising, to its root-cause in
ignorance, and then the destruction of ignorance is
shown to be the means to eradicate clinging. [Go
back]
11.
The Pali idiom, n'eva kamupadanam upadiyati,
would have to be rendered literally as "he does not
cling to the clinging to sense pleasures," which may
obscure the sense more than it illuminates it. The word
upadana in Pali is the object of its own verb
form, while "clinging" in English is not. The easiest
solution is to translate directly in accordance with the
sense rather than to try to reproduce the idiom in
translation. [Go
back]
12.
This is the stock canonical declaration of arahantship.
[Go
back]
The Great Discourse on the Lion's Roar
The Maha-sihanada Sutta,
the Great Discourse on the Lion's Roar, is a text of
awesome scope and power, one of those rare suttas in
which the Buddha discloses the greatness and loftiness
of his own spiritual endowments. Towards the end of the
sutta, the Buddha says that he has reached his eightieth
year, which allows us to place the discourse in the
final year of his life. Thus the sutta serves as a
convenient summation of the exalted qualities that
enabled the Buddha to function so effectively as teacher
and spiritual guide through the forty-five years of his
mission.
It is not typical of the
Buddha to extol himself, for he did not intend his
Dispensation to evolve into a personality cult centered
around himself as a charismatic and powerful leader.
Throughout his ministry he constantly emphasized the
primacy of his role as guide, as the discoverer and
proclaimer of the path. His task is not to command
reverence, but to steer his disciples onto and along the
path, for it is only the practice of the path, the
cultivation of the training, that can effect the deep
interior purification by which one can reach the
extinction of the defilements and liberation from
suffering.
However, while the
Buddha functions primarily as the revealer of the path,
confidence in him as the Supreme Teacher remains an
essential element of the training. It is this
confidence, freshly arisen, that induces the curious
inquirer to cross the great divide that separates the
admirer of the Dhamma from the practitioner, and it is
this same confidence that drives the aspirant forward
until the task of self-cultivation has been completed.
Frequent reflection on the greatness of the Master
inspires joy and courage, sustaining one's commitment
during those dark periods when prospects for progress
appear bleak, and desire and doubt -- those twin
conspirators -- combine forces to attempt to persuade
one of the futility of one's efforts. Hence, in order to
provide a spur to awaken and nurture the confidence
necessary to tread the path through its downward turns
as well as its ascents, the Buddha on occasion offers us
revelations of his "Buddha-gunas," the excellent
qualities of a Fully Enlightened One that entitle him to
serve as the first of the Three Gems and Three Refuges.
One of the most
impressive of these rare disclosures is the Great
Discourse on the Lion's Roar. Spoken as a rebuttal to
the charges of a renegade disciple who, in the midst of
the populous city of Vesali, had been denouncing the
Buddha and attempting to dissuade others from following
his teaching, the sutta recapitulates the various
distinguished qualities of the Blessed One, with special
emphasis upon his "ten Tathagata powers"
(tathagatabala) and "four intrepidities"
(vesarajja); the sutta also affords us a glimpse of
the demanding ordeal he underwent over many past aeons
seeking the path to deliverance. When it was first
spoken, the sutta had such a powerful impact on one monk
in the assembly that his bodily hairs stood on end, and
thus, during an early period, the sutta was known by the
alternative title "The Hair-raising Discourse." Even
today, centuries later, the Great Discourse on the
Lion's Roar can continue to serve as a fecund source of
inspiration.
* * *
Majjhima
Nikaya No. 12
[top]
The Great Discourse on the Lion's Roar
(Maha-sihanada Sutta)
1. Thus have I heard. On
one occasion the Blessed One was living at Vesali in the
grove outside the city to the west.
2. Now on that occasion
Sunakkhatta, son of the Licchavis, had recently left
this Dhamma and Discipline.[1]
He was making this statement before the Vesali assembly:
"The recluse Gotama does not have any superhuman states,
any distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the
noble ones.[2]
The recluse Gotama teaches a Dhamma (merely) hammered
out by reasoning, following his own line of inquiry as
it occurs to him, and when he teaches the Dhamma to
anyone, it leads him when he practices it to the
complete destruction of suffering."[3]
3. Then, when it was
morning, the Venerable Sariputta dressed, and taking his
bowl and outer robe, went into Vesali for alms. Then he
heard Sunakkhatta, son of the Licchavis, making this
statement before the Vesali assembly. When he had
wandered for alms in Vesali and had returned from his
almsround, after his meal he went to the Blessed One,
and after paying homage to him, he sat down at one side
and told the Blessed One what Sunakkhatta was saying.
4. (The Blessed One
said:) "Sariputta, the misguided man Sunakkhatta is
angry, and his words are spoken out of anger. Thinking
to discredit the Tathagata, he actually praises him;[*p.69]
for it is a praise of the Tathagata to say of him: 'When
he teaches the Dhamma to anyone, it leads him when he
practices it to the complete destruction of suffering.'
5. "Sariputta, this
misguided man Sunakkhatta will never infer of me
according to Dhamma: '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.'[4]
6. "And he will never
infer of me according to Dhamma: 'That Blessed One
enjoys the various kinds of supernormal power: having
been one, he becomes many; having been many, he becomes
one; he appears and vanishes; he goes unhindered through
a wall, through an enclosure, through a mountain, as
though through space; he dives in and out of the earth
as though it were water; he walks on water without
sinking as though it were earth; seated cross-legged, he
travels in space like a bird; with his hand he touches
and strokes the moon and sun so powerful and mighty; he
wields bodily mastery even as far as the Brahma-world.'
7. "And he will never
infer of me according to Dhamma: 'With the divine ear
element, which is purified and surpasses the human, that
Blessed One hears both kinds of sounds, the heavenly and
the human, those that are far as well as near.'
8. "And he will never
infer of me according to Dhamma: 'That Blessed One
encompasses with his own mind the minds of other beings,
other persons. He understands a mind affected by lust as
affected by lust and a mind unaffected by lust as
unaffected by lust; he understands a mind affected by
hate as affected by hate and a mind unaffected by hate
as unaffected by hate; he understands a mind affected by
delusion as affected by delusion and a mind unaffected
by delusion as unaffected by delusion; he understands a
contracted mind as contracted and a distracted mind as
distracted; he understands an exalted mind as exalted
and an unexalted mind as unexalted; he understands a
surpassed mind as surpassed and an unsurpassed mind as
unsurpassed; he understands a concentrated mind as
concentrated and an unconcentrated mind as
unconcentrated; he understands a liberated mind as
liberated and an unliberated mind as unliberated.'
(Ten Powers of a Tathagata)
9. "Sariputta, the
Tathagata has these ten Tathagata's powers, possessing
which he claims the herd-leader's place, roars his
lion's roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the
Wheel of Brahma.[5]
What are the ten?
10. (1) "Here, the
Tathagata understands as it actually is the possible as
possible and the impossible as impossible.[6]
And that[*p.70]
is a Tathagata's power that the Tathagata has, by virtue
of which he claims the herd-leader's place, roars his
lion's roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the
Wheel of Brahma.
11. (2) "Again, the
Tathagata understands as it actually is the results of
actions undertaken, past, future and present, with
possibilities and with causes. That too is a Tathagata's
power...[7]
12. (3) "Again, the
Tathagata understands as it actually is the ways leading
to all destinations. That too is a Tathagata's power...[8]
13. (4) "Again, the
Tathagata understands as it actually is the world with
its many and different elements. That too is a
Tathagata's power...[9]
14. (5) "Again, the
Tathagata understands as it actually is how beings have
different inclinations. That too is a Tathagata's
power...[10]
15. (6) "Again, the
Tathagata understands as it actually is the disposition
of the faculties of other beings, other persons. That
too is a Tathagata's power...[11]
16. (7) "Again, the
Tathagata understands as it actually is the defilement,
the cleansing and the emergence in regard to the jhanas,
liberations, concentrations and attainments. That too is
a Tathagata's power...[12]
17. (8) "Again, the
Tathagata recollects his manifold past lives, that is,
one birth, two births, three births, four births, five
births, ten births, twenty births, thirty births, forty
births, fifty births, a hundred births, a thousand
births, a hundred thousand births, many aeons of
world-contraction, many aeons of world-expansion, many
aeons of world-contraction and expansion: 'There I was
so named, of such a clan, with such an appearance, such
was my nutriment, such my experience of pleasure and
pain, such my life-term; and passing away from there, I
reappeared elsewhere; and there too I was so named, of
such a clan, with such an appearance, such was my
nutriment, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such
my life-term; and passing away from there, I reappeared
here.' Thus with their aspects and particulars he
recollects his manifold past lives. That too is a
Tathagata's power...
18. (9) "Again, with the
divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human,
the Tathagata sees beings passing away and reappearing,
inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate and
unfortunate, and he understands how beings pass on
according to their actions thus: 'These worthy beings
who were ill-conducted in body, speech and mind,
revilers of noble ones, wrong in their views, giving
effect to wrong view in their actions, on the
dissolution of the body,[*p.71]
after death, have reappeared in a state of deprivation,
in a bad destination, in perdition, even in hell; but
these worthy beings who were well-conducted in body,
speech and mind, not revilers of noble ones, right in
their views, giving effect to right view in their
actions, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
have reappeared in a good destination, even in the
heavenly world.' Thus with the divine eye, which is
purified and surpasses the human, he sees beings passing
away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and
ugly, fortunate and unfortunate, and he understands how
beings pass on according to their actions. That too is a
Tathagata's power...
19. (10) "Again, by
realizing it for himself with direct knowledge, the
Tathagata here and now enters upon and abides in the
deliverance of mind and deliverance by wisdom that are
taintless with the destruction of the taints. That too
is a Tathagata's power that a Tathagata has, by virtue
of which he claims the herd-leader's place, roars his
lion's roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the
Wheel of Brahma.
20. "The Tathagata has
these ten Tathagata's powers, possessing which he claims
the herd-leader's place, roars his lion's roar in the
assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma.
21. "Sariputta, when I
know and see thus, should anyone say of me: 'The recluse
Gotama does not have any superhuman states, any
distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble
ones. The recluse Gotama teaches a Dhamma (merely)
hammered out by reasoning, following his own line of
inquiry as it occurs to him' -- unless he abandons that
assertion and that state of mind and relinquishes that
view, then as (surely as if he had been) carried off and
put there he will wind up in hell.[13]
Just as a bhikkhu possessed of virtue, concentration and
wisdom would here and now enjoy final knowledge, so it
will happen in this case, I say, that unless he abandons
that assertion and that state of mind and relinquishes
that view, then as (surely as if he had been) carried
off and put there he will wind up in hell.
(Four Kinds of Intrepidity)
22. "Sariputta, the
Tathagata has these four kinds of intrepidity,
possessing which he claims the herd-leader's place,
roars his lion's roar in the assemblies, and sets
rolling the Wheel of Brahma. What are the four?
23. "Here, I see no
ground on which any recluse or brahman or god or Mara or
Brahma or anyone at all in the world could, in
accordance with the Dhamma, accuse me thus: 'While you
claim full enlightenment, you are not fully enlightened
in regard to certain things.'[*p.72]
And seeing no ground for that, I abide in safety,
fearlessness and intrepidity.
24. "I see no ground on
which any recluse... or anyone at all could accuse me
thus: 'While you claim to have destroyed the taints,
these taints are undestroyed by you.' And seeing no
ground for that, I abide in safety, fearlessness and
intrepidity.
25. "I see no ground on
which any recluse... or anyone at all could accuse me
thus: 'Those things called obstructions by you are not
able to obstruct one who engages in them.' And seeing no
ground for that, I abide in safety, fearlessness and
intrepidity.
26. "I see no ground on
which any recluse... or anyone at all could accuse me
thus: 'When you teach the Dhamma to someone, it does not
lead him when he practices it to the complete
destruction of suffering.' And seeing no ground for
that, I abide in safety, fearlessness and intrepidity.
27. "A Tathagata has
these four kinds of intrepidity, possessing which he
claims the herd-leader's place, roars his lion's roar in
the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma.[14]
28. "Sariputta, when I
know and see thus, should anyone say of me... he will
wind up in hell.
(The Eight Assemblies)
29. "Sariputta, there
are these eight assemblies. What are the eight? An
assembly of nobles, an assembly of brahmans, an assembly
of householders, an assembly of recluses, an assembly of
gods of the heaven of the Four Great Kings, an assembly
of gods of the heaven of the Thirty-three, an assembly
of Mara's retinue, an assembly of Brahmas. Possessing
these four kinds of intrepidity, the Tathagata
approaches and enters these eight assemblies.
30. "I recall having
approached many hundred assemblies of nobles... many
hundred assemblies of brahmans... many hundred
assemblies of householders... many hundred assemblies of
recluses... many hundred assemblies of gods of the
heaven of the Four Great Kings... many hundred
assemblies of gods of the heaven of the Thirty-three...
many hundred assemblies of Mara's retinue... many
hundred assemblies of Brahmas. And formerly I had sat
with them there and talked with them and held
conversations with them, yet I see no ground for
thinking that fear or timidity might come upon me there.
And seeing no ground for that, I abide in safety,
fearlessness and intrepidity.[*p.73]
31. "Sariputta, when I
know and see thus, should anyone say of me... he will
wind up in hell.
(Four Kinds of Generation)
32. "Sariputta, there
are these four kinds of generation. What are the four?
Egg-born generation, womb-born generation, moisture-born
generation and spontaneous generation.
33. "What is egg-born
generation? There are these beings born by breaking out
of the shell of an egg; this is called egg-born
generation. What is womb-born generation? There are
these beings born by breaking out from the caul; this is
called womb-born generation. What is moisture-born
generation? There are these beings born in a rotten
fish, in a rotten corpse, in rotten dough, in a cesspit,
or in a sewer; this is called moisture-born generation.
What is spontaneous generation? There are gods and
denizens of hell and certain human beings and some
beings in the lower worlds; this is called spontaneous
generation. These are the four kinds of generation.
34. "Sariputta, when I
know and see thus, should anyone say of me... he will
wind up in hell.
(The Five Destinations and Nibbana -- In Brief)
35. "Sariputta, there
are these five destinations. What are the five? Hell,
the animal realm, the realm of ghosts, human beings and
gods.[15]
36. (1) "I understand
hell, and the path and way leading to hell. And I also
understand how one who has entered this path will, on
the dissolution of the body, after death, reappear in a
state of deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in
perdition, in hell.
(2) "I understand the
animal realm, and the path and way leading to the animal
realm. And I also understand how one who has entered
this path will, on the dissolution of the body, after
death, reappear in the animal realm.
(3) "I understand the
realm of ghosts, and the path and way leading to the
realm of ghosts. And I also understand how one who has
entered this path will, on the dissolution of the body,
after death, reappear in the realm of ghosts.
(4) "I understand human
beings, and the path and way leading to the human world.
And I also understand how one who has entered this path
will, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
reappear among human beings.
(5) "I understand the
gods, and the path and way leading to the world of the
gods. And I also understand how one who has entered this
path will, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
reappear in a happy destination, in the heavenly world.
(6) "I understand
Nibbana, and the path and way leading to Nibbana.[*p.74]
And I also understand how one who has entered this path
will, by realizing it for himself 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.
(The Five Destinations and Nibbana -- In Detail)
37. (1) "By encompassing
mind with mind I understand a certain person thus: 'This
person so behaves, so conducts himself, has taken such a
path that on the dissolution of the body, after death,
he will reappear in a state of deprivation, in an
unhappy destination, in perdition, in hell.' And then
later on, with the divine eye, which is purified and
surpasses the human, I see that on the dissolution of
the body, after death, he has reappeared in a state of
deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in perdition, in
hell, and is experiencing extremely painful, racking,
piercing feelings. Suppose there were a charcoal pit
deeper than a man's height full of glowing coals without
flame or smoke; and then a man scorched and exhausted by
hot weather, weary, parched and thirsty, came by a path
going in one way only and directed to that same charcoal
pit. Then a man with good sight on seeing him would say:
'This person so behaves, so conducts himself, has taken
such a path, that he will come to this same charcoal
pit'; and then later on he sees that he has fallen into
that charcoal pit and is experiencing extremely painful,
racking, piercing feelings. So too, by encompassing mind
with mind... piercing feelings.
38. (2) "By encompassing
mind with mind I understand a certain person thus: 'This
person so behaves, so conducts himself, has taken such a
path that on the dissolution of the body, after death,
he will reappear in the animal realm.' And then later
on, with the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses
the human, I see that on the dissolution of the body,
after death, he has reappeared in the animal realm and
is experiencing painful, racking, piercing feelings.
Suppose there were a cesspit deeper than a man's height
full of filth; and then a man[*p.75]
scorched and exhausted by hot weather, weary, parched
and thirsty, came by a path going in one way only and
directed to that same cesspit. Then a man with good
sight on seeing him would say: 'This person so
behaves... that he will come to this same cesspit'; and
then later on he sees that he has fallen into that
cesspit and is experiencing painful, racking, piercing
feelings. So too, by encompassing mind with mind...
piercing feelings.
39. (3) "By encompassing
mind with mind I understand a certain person thus: 'This
person so behaves, so conducts himself, has taken such a
path that on the dissolution of the body, after death,
he will reappear in the realm of ghosts.' And then later
on... I see that... he has reappeared in the realm of
ghosts and is experiencing much painful feeling. Suppose
there were a tree growing on uneven ground with scanty
foliage casting a dappled shade; and then a man scorched
and exhausted by hot weather, weary, parched and
thirsty, came by a path going in one way only and
directed to that same tree. Then a man with good sight
on seeing him would say: 'This person so behaves... that
he will come to this same tree'; and then later on he
sees that he is sitting or lying in the shade of that
tree experiencing much painful feeling. So too, by
encompassing mind with mind... much painful feeling.
40. (4) "By encompassing
mind with mind I understand a certain person thus: 'This
person so behaves, so conducts himself, has taken such a
path that on the dissolution of the body, after death,
he will reappear among human beings.' And then later
on... I see that... he has reappeared among human beings
and is experiencing much pleasant feeling. Suppose there
were a tree growing on even ground with thick foliage
casting a deep shade; and then a man scorched and
exhausted by hot weather, weary, parched and thirsty,
came by a path going in one way only and directed to
that same tree. Then a man with good sight on seeing him
would say: 'This person so behaves... that he will come
to this same tree'; and then later on he sees that he is
sitting or lying in the shade of that tree experiencing
much pleasant feeling. So too, by encompassing mind with
mind... much pleasant feeling[*p.76]
41. (5) "By encompassing
mind with mind I understand a certain person thus: 'This
person so behaves, so conducts himself, has taken such a
path that on the dissolution of the body, after death,
he will reappear in a happy destination, in the heavenly
world.' And then later on... I see that... he has
reappeared in a happy destination, in the heavenly world
and is experiencing extremely pleasant feelings. Suppose
there were a mansion, and it had an upper chamber
plastered within and without, shut off, secured by bars,
with shuttered windows, and in it there was a couch
spread with rugs, blankets and sheets, with a deerskin
coverlet, with a canopy as well as crimson pillows for
both (head and feet); and then a man scorched and
exhausted by hot weather, weary, parched and thirsty,
came by a path going in one way only and directed to
that same mansion. Then a man with good sight on seeing
him would say: 'This person so behaves... that he will
come to this same mansion'; and later on he sees that he
is sitting or lying in that upper chamber in that
mansion experiencing extremely pleasant feelings. So
too, by encompassing mind with mind... extremely
pleasant feelings.
42. (6) "By encompassing
mind with mind I understand a certain person thus: 'This
person so behaves, so conducts himself, has taken such a
path that by realizing it for himself with direct
knowledge, he here and now will enter upon and abide in
the deliverance of mind and deliverance by wisdom that
are taintless with the destruction of the taints.' And
then later on I see that by realizing it for himself
with direct knowledge, he here and now enters upon and
abides in the deliverance of mind and deliverance by
wisdom that are taintless with the destruction of the
taints, and is experiencing extremely pleasant
feelings.[16]
Suppose there were a pond with clean, agreeable, cool
water, transparent, with smooth banks, delightful, and
nearby a dense wood; and then a man scorched and
exhausted by hot weather, weary, parched and thirsty,
came by a path going in one way only and directed
towards that same pond. Then a man with good sight on
seeing him would say: 'This person so behaves... that he
will come to this same pond'; and then later on he sees
that he has plunged into the pond, bathed, drunk and
relieved all his distress, fatigue and fever and has
come out again and is sitting or lying in the wood[*p.77]
experiencing extremely pleasant feelings. So too, by
encompassing mind with mind... extremely pleasant
feelings. These are the five destinations.
43. "Sariputta, when I
know and see thus, should anyone say of me: 'The recluse
Gotama does not have any superhuman states, any
distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble
ones. The recluse Gotama teaches a Dhamma (merely)
hammered out by reasoning, following his own line of
inquiry as it occurs to him' -- unless he abandons that
assertion and that state of mind and relinquishes that
view, then as (surely as if he had been) carried off and
put there he will wind up in hell. Just as a bhikkhu
possessed of virtue, concentration and wisdom would here
and now enjoy final knowledge, so it will happen in this
case, I say, that unless he abandons that assertion and
that state of mind and relinquishes that view, then as
(surely as if he had been) carried off and put there he
will wind up in hell.
(The Bodhisatta's Austerities)
44. "Sariputta, I recall
having lived a holy life possessing four factors. I have
practiced asceticism -- the extreme of asceticism; I
have practiced coarseness -- the extreme of coarseness;
I have practiced scrupulousness -- the extreme of
scrupulousness; I have practiced seclusion -- the
extreme of seclusion.[17]
45. "Such was my
asceticism, Sariputta, that I went naked, rejecting
conventions, licking my hands, not coming when asked,
not stopping when asked; I did not accept food brought
or food specially made or an invitation to a meal; I
received nothing from a pot, from a bowl, across a
threshold, across a stick, across a pestle, from two
eating together, from a pregnant woman, from a woman
giving suck, from a woman lying with a man, from where
food was advertised to be distributed, from where a dog
was waiting, from where flies were buzzing; I accepted
no fish or meat, I drank no liquor, wine or fermented
brew. I kept to one house, to one morsel; I kept to two[*p.78]
houses, to two morsels;... I kept to seven houses, to
seven morsels. I lived on one saucerful a day, on two
saucerfuls a day... on seven saucerfuls a day; I took
food once a day, once every two days... once every seven
days, and so on up to once every fortnight; I dwelt
pursuing the practice of taking food at stated
intervals. I was an eater of greens or millet or wild
rice or hide-parings or moss or ricebran or rice-scum or
sesamum flour or grass or cowdung. I lived on forest
roots and fruits, I fed on fallen fruits. I clothed
myself in hemp, in hemp-mixed cloth, in shrouds, in
refuse rags, in tree bark, in antelope hide, in strips
of antelope hide, in kusa-grass fabric, in bark fabric,
in wood-shavings fabric, in head-hair wool, in animal
wool, in owls' wings. I was one who pulled out hair and
beard, pursuing the practice of pulling out hair and
beard. I was one who stood continuously, rejecting
seats. I was one who squatted continuously, devoted to
maintaining the squatting position. I was one who used a
mattress of spikes; I made a mattress of spikes my bed.
I dwelt pursuing the practice of bathing in water three
times daily including the evening. Thus in such a
variety of ways I dwelt pursuing the practice of
tormenting and mortifying the body. Such was my
asceticism.
46. "Such was my
coarseness, Sariputta, that just as the bole of a
tinduka tree, accumulating over the years, cakes and
flakes off, so too, dust and dirt, accumulating over the
years, caked off my body and flaked off. It never
occurred to me: 'Oh, let me rub this dust and dirt off
with my hand, or let another rub this dust and dirt off
with his hand' -- it never occurred to me thus. Such was
my coarseness.
47. "Such was my
scrupulousness, Sariputta, that I was always mindful in
stepping forwards and stepping backwards. I was full of
pity even for (the beings in) a drop of water thus: 'Let
me not hurt the tiny creatures in the crevices of the
ground.' Such was my scrupulousness.
48. "Such was my
seclusion, Sariputta, that[*p.79]
I would plunge into some forest and dwell there. And
when I saw a cowherd or a shepherd or someone gathering
grass or sticks, or a woodsman, I would flee from grove
to grove, from thicket to thicket, from hollow to
hollow, from hillock to hillock. Why was that? So that
they should not see me or I see them. Just as a
forest-bred deer, on seeing human beings, flees from
grove to grove, from thicket to thicket, from hollow to
hollow, from hillock to hillock, so too, when I saw a
cowherd or a shepherd... Such was my seclusion.
49. "I would go on all
fours to the cow-pens when the cattle had gone out and
the cowherd had left them, and I would feed on the dung
of the young suckling calves. As long as my own
excrement and urine lasted, I fed on my own excrement
and urine. Such was my great distortion in feeding.
50. "I would plunge into
some awe-inspiring grove and dwell there -- a grove so
awe-inspiring that normally it would make a man's hair
stand up if he were not free from lust. When those cold
wintry nights came during the 'eight-days interval of
frost,' I would dwell by night in the open and by day in
the grove.[18]
In the last month of the hot season I would dwell by day
in the open and by night in the grove. And there came to
me spontaneously this stanza never heard before:
Chilled by night and scorched by day,
Alone in awe-inspiring groves,
Naked, no fire to sit beside,
The sage yet pursues his quest.
51. "I would make my bed
in a charnel ground with the bones of the dead for a
pillow. And cowherd boys came up and spat on me,
urinated on me, threw dirt at me, and poked sticks into
my ears. Yet I do not recall that I ever aroused an evil
mind (of hate) against them. Such was my abiding in
equanimity.[*p.80]
52. "Sariputta, there
are certain recluses and brahmans whose doctrine and
view is this: 'Purification comes about through food.'[19]
They say: 'Let us live on kola-fruits,' and they eat
kola-fruits, they eat kola-fruit powder, they drink
kola-fruit water, and they make many kinds of kola-fruit
concoctions. Now I recall having eaten a single
kola-fruit a day. Sariputta, you may think that the
kola-fruit was bigger at that time, yet you should not
regard it so: the kola-fruit was then at most the same
size as now. Through feeding on a single kola-fruit a
day, my body reached a state of extreme emaciation.
Because of eating so little my limbs became like the
jointed segments of vine stems or bamboo stems. Because
of eating so little my backside became like a camel's
hoof. Because of eating so little the projections on my
spine stood forth like corded beads. Because of eating
so little my ribs jutted out as gaunt as the crazy
rafters of an old roofless barn. Because of eating so
little the gleam of my eyes sank far down in their
sockets, looking like a gleam of water which has sunk
far down in a deep well. Because of eating so little my
scalp shrivelled and withered as a green bitter gourd
shrivels and withers in the wind and sun. Because of
eating so little my belly skin adhered to my backbone;
thus if I touched my belly skin I encountered my
backbone, and if I touched my backbone I encountered my
belly skin. Because of eating so little, if I tried to
ease my body by rubbing my limbs with my hands, the
hair, rotted at its roots, fell from my body as I
rubbed.
53-55. "Sariputta, there
are certain recluses and brahmans whose doctrine and
view is this: 'Purification comes about through food.'
They say: 'Let us live on beans'... 'Let us live on
sesamum'... 'Let us live on rice,' and they eat rice,
they eat rice powder,[*p.81]
they drink rice water, and they make various kinds of
rice concoctions. Now I recall having eaten a single
rice grain a day. Sariputta, you may think that the rice
grain was bigger at that time, yet you should not regard
it so: the rice grain was then at most the same size as
now. Through feeding on a single rice grain a day, my
body reached a state of extreme emaciation. Because of
eating so little... the hair, rotted at its roots, fell
from my body as I rubbed.
56. "Yet, Sariputta, by
such conduct, by such practice, by such performance of
austerities, I did not attain any superhuman states, any
distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble
ones. Why was that? Because I did not attain that noble
wisdom which when attained is noble and emancipating and
leads the one who practices in accordance with it to the
complete destruction of suffering.
57. "Sariputta, there
are certain recluses and brahmans whose doctrine and
view is this: 'Purification comes about through the
round of rebirths.' But it is impossible to find a realm
in the round that I have not already[*p.82]
passed through in this long journey, except for the gods
of the Pure Abodes; and had I passed through the round
as a god in the Pure Abodes, I would never have returned
to this world.[20]
58. "There are certain
recluses and brahmans whose doctrine and view is this:
'Purification comes about through (some particular kind
of) rebirth.' But it is impossible to find a kind of
rebirth that I have not been reborn in already in this
long journey, except for the gods of the Pure Abodes...
59. "There are certain
recluses and brahmans whose doctrine and view is this:
'Purification comes about through (some particular)
abode.' But it is impossible to find a kind of abode
that I have not already dwelt in... except for the gods
of the Pure Abodes...
60. "There are certain
recluses and brahmans whose doctrine and view is this:
'Purification comes about through sacrifice.' But it is
impossible to find a kind of sacrifice that has not
already been offered up by me in this long journey, when
I was either a head-anointed noble king or a
well-to-do-brahman.
61. "There are certain
recluses and brahmans whose doctrine and view is this:
'Purification comes about through fire-worship.' But it
is impossible to find a kind of fire that has not
already been worshipped by me in this long journey, when
I was either a head-anointed noble king or a well-to-do
brahman.
62. "Sariputta, there
are certain recluses and brahmans whose doctrine and
view is this: 'As long as this good man is still young,
a black-haired young man endowed with the blessing of
youth, in the prime of life, so long is he perfect in
his lucid wisdom. But when this good man is old, aged,
burdened with years, advanced in life, and come to the
last stage, being eighty, ninety or a hundred years old,
then the lucidity of his wisdom is lost.' But it should
not be regarded so. I am now old, aged, burdened with
years, advanced in life, and come to the last stage: my
years have turned eighty. Now suppose that I had four
disciples with a hundred years' lifespan, perfect in
mindfulness, retentiveness, memory and lucidity of
wisdom.[21]
Just as a skilled archer, trained, practiced and tested,
could easily shoot a light arrow across the shadow of a
palm tree, suppose that they were even to that extent
perfect in mindfulness, retentiveness,[*p.83]
memory and lucidity of wisdom. Suppose that they
continuously asked me about the four foundations of
mindfulness and that I answered them when asked and that
they remembered each answer of mine and never asked a
subsidiary question or paused except to eat, drink,
consume food, taste, urinate, defecate and rest in order
to remove sleepiness and tiredness. Still the
Tathagata's exposition of the Dhamma, his explanations
of factors of the Dhamma, and his replies to questions
would not yet come to an end, but meanwhile those four
disciples of mine with their hundred years' lifespan
would have died at the end of those hundred years.
Sariputta, even if you have to carry me about on a bed,
still there will be no change in the lucidity of the
Tathagata's wisdom.
63. "Rightly speaking,
were it to be said of anyone: 'A being not subject to
delusion has appeared in the world for the welfare and
happiness of many, out of compassion for the world, for
the good, welfare and happiness of gods and humans,' it
is of me indeed that rightly speaking this should be
said."
64. Now on that occasion
the Venerable Nagasamala was standing behind the Blessed
One fanning him.[22]
Then he said to the Blessed One: "It is wonderful,
venerable sir, it is marvellous! As I listened to this
discourse on the Dhamma, the hairs of my body stood up.
Venerable sir, what is the name of this discourse on the
Dhamma?"
"As to that, Nagasamala,
you may remember this discourse on the Dhamma as 'The
Hair-raising Discourse.' "[23]
That is what the Blessed
One said. The Venerable Nagasamala was satisfied and
delighted in the Blessed One's words.
[*p.##]
The page numbers enclosed in square brackets in the
above text are the page numbers of the Pali Text Society
edition of the Pali text.
1.
The story of Sunakkhatta's defection is found in the
Patika Sutta (DN 24). He became dissatisfied with the
Buddha and left the Order because the Buddha would not
perform miracles for him or explain to him the beginning
of things. He also showed great admiration for those who
engaged in self-mortification, and probably resented the
Buddha for emphasizing a "middle way" that condemned
such extreme austerities as unprofitable. [Go
back]
2.
Superhuman states (uttari manussadhamma) are
states, virtues or attainments higher than the ordinary
human virtues comprised in the ten wholesome courses of
action; they include the jhanas, direct knowledges
(abhiñña), the paths and the fruits. "Distinction in
knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones"
(alamariyañana-dassanavisesa), an expression
frequently occurring in the suttas, signifies all higher
degrees of meditative knowledge characteristic of the
noble individual. In the present context, according to
Comy., it means specifically the supramundane path,
which Sunakkhatta is thus denying of the Buddha. [Go
back]
3.
The thrust of his criticism is that the Buddha teaches a
doctrine that he has merely worked out in thought rather
than one he has realized through transcendental wisdom.
Apparently, Sunakkhatta believes that being led to the
complete destruction of suffering is, as a goal,
inferior to the acquisition of miraculous powers. [Go
back]
4.
All the sections to follow are intended as a rebuttal of
Sunakkhatta's charge against the Buddha. Sections 6-8
cover the first three of the six direct knowledges, the
last three appearing as the last of the ten powers of
the Tathagata. The latter, according to Comy., are to be
understood as powers of knowledge (ñanabala) that
are acquired by all Buddhas as the outcome of their
accumulations of merit. The Vibhanga of the Abhidhamma
Pitaka provides an elaborate analysis of them, the gist
of which will be discussed in subsequent notes. [Go
back]
5.
Comy.: The Wheel of Brahma (brahmacakka) is the
supreme, best, most excellent wheel, the Wheel of the
Dhamma (dhammacakka). This has two aspects: the
knowledge of penetration (pativedhañana) and the
knowledge of teaching (desanañana). The knowledge
of penetration, by which the Buddha penetrates the truth
of the Dhamma, is produced from wisdom and leads to the
attainment of the noble fruit for himself; the knowledge
of teaching, by which the Buddha is qualified to expound
the Dhamma perfectly to others, is produced from
compassion and leads others to the attainment of the
noble fruit. [Go
back]
6.
Comy. glosses thana as cause or ground (karana)
and explains: "Such and such dhammas are causes (hetu),
conditions (paccaya), for the arising of such and
such dhammas: that is thana. Such and such
dhammas are not causes, not conditions, for the arising
of such and such dhammas: that is atthana.
Knowing that, he understands thana as thana
and atthana as atthana (i.e., causal
occasion as causal occasion, and non-causal occasion as
non-causal occasion)." Comy. also refers to the
different explanation in the Vibhanga, apparently
regarding both explanations as acceptable.
Vbh. Section 809
explains this knowledge with reference to MN 115 as the
Buddha's knowledge of what is possible and what is
impossible, e.g., it is impossible that a person
possessed of right view should regard any formations as
permanent or as pleasurable, or anything whatever as
self, while it is possible that a worldling will regard
things in such an erroneous way. It is impossible for a
person possessed of right view to commit the five
heinous crimes (matricide, parricide, the murder of an
arahant, the wounding of a Buddha, causing a schism in
the Sangha), while it is possible for a worldling to
commit such crimes, etc. etc. [Go
back]
7.
Vbh. Section 810: "Herein, the Tathagata comprehends
that there are some evil actions performed which do not
mature because they are prevented from maturing by a
fortunate rebirth, a fortunate body, a fortunate time, a
fortunate effort, while there are some evil actions
performed which mature because of an unfortunate
rebirth, etc. There are some good actions which do not
mature because of an unfortunate rebirth, etc., while
there are some good actions which mature because of a
fortunate rebirth, etc." (condensed). [Go
back]
8.
Vbh. Section 811: "Herein, the Tathagata comprehends
thus: 'This is the path, this is the practice leading to
hell, to the animal realm, to the plane of ghosts, to
the human realm, to the realm of the gods, to
deliverance.' " This knowledge will be elaborated upon
below in Sections 35-42. [Go
back]
9.
Vbh. Section 812: "The Tathagata comprehends the
different aggregates, the different sense bases, the
different elements; he comprehends the different worlds
that have many elements, different elements." [Go
back]
10.
Vbh. Section 813: "The Tathagata understands that beings
are of inferior inclinations and superior inclinations,
and that they gravitate towards those who share their
own inclinations" (condensed). [Go
back]
11.
Vbh. Sections 814-27 gives a detailed analysis. Comy.
states the meaning more concisely as the Tathagata's
knowledge of the superiority and inferiority of beings'
faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration
and wisdom. [Go
back]
12.
Vbh. Section 828: "The defilement (sankilesa) is
a state partaking of deterioration; cleansing (vodana)
is a state partaking of distinction; emergence
(vutthana) is both cleansing and the rising out of
an attainment. The eight liberations (vimokkha)
are enumerated, e.g., at DN 15/ii,70-71, and comprise
three liberations pertaining to the realm of material
form, the four immaterial attainments, and the cessation
of perception and feeling. The nine attainments
(samapatti) are the four jhanas, the four immaterial
attainments, and cessation. [Go
back]
13.
The idiom yathabhatam nikkhitto evam niraye is
knotty; the rendering here follows the gloss of Comy.:
"He will be put in hell as if carried off and put there
by the wardens of hell." Although such a fate may sound
excessively severe merely for verbal denigration, it
should be remembered that he is maligning a Fully
Enlightened Buddha with a mind of hatred, and his
intention in so doing is to discourage others from
entering upon the path that could lead them to complete
liberation from suffering. [Go
back]
14.
The four kinds of intrepidity (vesarajja: also
rendered "grounds of self-confidence") may be divided
into two pairs. The first pair relates mainly to the
internal qualities of the Buddha, his achievement of
personal perfection, while the second pair has an
outward orientation, being concerned primarily with his
qualifications as a teacher. The first intrepidity
confirms his attainment of supreme enlightenment and the
removal of all obscuration regarding the range of what
may be known; it points to the Buddha's acquisition of
omniscience (sabbaññutañana). The second
underlines his complete purity through the destruction
of all defilements; it points to his achievement of the
fruit of arahantship. The third means that the Buddha's
understanding of obstructions to the goal is
unimpeachable, while the fourth confirms the efficacy of
the Dhamma in accomplishing its intended purpose,
namely, leading the practitioner to complete release
from suffering. [Go
back]
15.
In later Buddhist tradition the asuras, titans or
"anti-gods," are added as a separate realm to make the
"six destinations" familiar from the Tibetan Wheel of
Life. [Go
back]
16.
Comy.: Even though the description is the same as that
of the bliss of the heavenly world, the meaning is
different. For the bliss of the heavenly world is not
really extremely pleasant because the fevers of lust,
etc. are still present there. But the bliss of Nibbana
is extremely pleasant in every way through the subsiding
of all fevers. [Go
back]
17.
Comy. explains that at this juncture the Buddha related
this account of his past ascetic practices because
Sunakkhatta was a great admirer of extreme asceticism
(as is clear from the Patika Sutta) and the Buddha
wanted to make it known that there was no one who could
equal him in the practice of austerities. Sections 44-56
apparently deal with the Bodhisatta's striving during
the six years' period of austerities in his last
existence, while Sections 57-61 refer back to his
previous existences as a seeker of enlightenment. [Go
back]
18.
The "eight-days' interval of frost" is a regular cold
spell which occurs in South Asia in late December or
early January. [Go
back]
19.
That is, they hold the view that beings are purified by
reducing their intake of food. [Go
back]
20.
Rebirth into the Pure Abodes (suddhavasa) is
possible only for nonreturners. [Go
back]
21.
The Pali for the four terms is: sati, gati,
dhiti, paññaveyyattiya. Comy. explains
sati as the ability to grasp in mind a hundred or a
thousand phrases as they are being spoken; gati,
the ability to bind them and retain them in the mind;
dhiti, the ability to recite back what has been
grasped and retained; and paññaveyyattiya, the
ability to discern the meaning and logic of those
phrases. [Go
back]
22.
The Venerable Nagasamala had been a personal attendant
of the Buddha during the first twenty years of his
ministry. [Go
back]
23.
Lomahamsanapariyaya. The sutta is referred to by
that name at Milindapañha, p. 398, and in the
commentary to the Digha Nikaya. [Go
back]
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