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Saɱyutta Nikāya
I. Sagātha Vagga
1. Devatā-Saɱyutta
III. Satti Vagga

Sutta 25

Arahanta Suttaɱ

An Arahant

Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Sourced from the edition at dhammatalks.org
Provenance, terms and conditons

 


[25.1][rhyc][bodh]

"An arahant monk,
one who is done,
effluent-free, bearing his last body:
Would he say, 'I speak'?
Would he say, 'They speak to me'?"

"An arahant monk,
one who is done,
effluent-free, bearing his last body:
He would say, 'I speak';
would say, 'They speak to me.'
  Skillful,
knowing harmonious gnosis
with regard to the world,
he uses expressions
just as expressions."

"An arahant monk,
one who is done,
effluent-free, bearing his last body:
Is it from conceit
that he'd say, ' I speak'?—
that he'd say, 'They speak to me'?"[1]

"For one whose conceit is abandoned,
whose knot of conceit is dispersed,
no knots exist
  at all.
He, beyond any concept, wise,
would say, 'I speak';
would say, 'They speak to me.'
  Skillful,
knowing harmonious gnosis
with regard to the world,
he uses expressions
just as expressions."

 


[1] This question confuses the conceit, "I am" (asmimāna) with the simple concept, "I." The former is a fetter, in that it involves one in a tangle of views as to what the "I" is, and what it means to be. (See MN 2.) The latter, as this verse shows, is simply a conventional expression, and if it can be separated from the conceit "I am," it need not fetter the mind.

 

Of Related Interest:

DN 9;
MN 102;
AN 4:159;
AN 4:200;
AN 6:13;
AN 9:1;
AN 10:13

 


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