Aṇguttara Nikāya
Chakka-Nipāta
III: Anuttariya-Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
The Book of the Sixes
Chapter III: Above All
Sutta 29
Udāyi Suttaṃ
Udāyin[1]
Translated from the Pali by E.M. Hare.
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Once the Exalted One was dwelling near Sāvatthī.
And the Exalted One addressed the venerable Udāyin,
saying:
'How many states are there, Udāyin,
of ever minding?
Now when he had thus spoken,
the venerable Udāyin was silent.
■
And a second time
the Exalted One addressed the venerable Udāyin,
saying:
'How many states are there, Udāyin,
of ever minding?
And a second time,
the venerable Udāyin was silent.
■
And a third time
the Exalted One addressed the venerable Udāyin,
saying:
'How many states are there, Udāyin,
of ever minding?
And a third time,
the venerable Udāyin was silent.
■
Then said the venerable Ānanda
to the venerable Udāyin:
'Udāyin, reverend sir,
the Master addresses you.'
'I am listening to the Exalted One, Ānanda,
reverend sir!
■
Lord, a monk remembers[2] many previous existences,
that is to say:
one birth,
two births,
three births,
four, five,
ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty,
a hundred births,
a thousand births,
a hundred thousand births,
many an aeon of progression,
many an aeon of destruction,
many an aeon of both progression and destruction;
that in each,
such was my name,
such my clan,
such my caste,
such my food,
such my experience of happiness and ill,
such my span of life;
that faring on thence
I arose there,
when such was my name,
such my clan,
such my caste,
such my food,
such my experience of happiness and ill,
such my span of life;
faring on thence
I arose here;
thus I would call to mind
each detail and circumstance
of my many previous dwellings" -
This, lord, is a state of ever minding.'[2]
■
Then said the Exalted One:
'I knew, Ānanda,
this foolish fellow, Udāyin,
did not live intent on higher thought.[3][ed1]
§
How many states of ever minding are there, Ānanda?'
'Lord, there are five states.
What five?
Herein, lord, a monk, aloof from sensuous appetites,
aloof from evil ideas,
enters and abides in the first musing,
wherein applied and sustained thought works,
which is born of solitude
and is full of joy and ease.
This state of ever minding, lord,
thus made become,
thus made to increase,
leads to dwelling at ease here now.
■
Suppressing applied and sustained thought,
he enters and abides in the second musing,
which is self-evolved,
born of concentration,
full of joy and ease,
free from applied and sustained thought,
and there the mind becomes calm and one-pointed.
This state of ever minding, lord,
thus made become,
thus made to increase,
leads to dwelling at ease here now.
■
Free from the zest for joy,
mindful and self-possessed,
he enters and abides in the [228] third musing[4],
and experiences in his being
that ease whereof the Ariyans declare:
'He that is tranquil and mindful dwells at ease'.
This state of ever minding, lord,
thus made become,
thus made to increase,
leads to dwelling at ease here now.
■
This state of ever minding, lord,
thus made become,
thus made to increase,
leads to dwelling at ease here now.
■
Again, lord, he concentrates
on the thought of light,[5]
fixes his mind on the thought of day -
as by day,
so by night;
as by night,
so by day -
thus with mind neither hampered nor hindered,
he makes his thought become radiant.[6]
This state of ever minding, lord,
thus made become,
thus made to increase,
leads to the gain of knowledge and insight.[ed2]
■
Again, lord, he considers this body,[ed3]
upwards from the soles of his feet,
downwards from the hair of his head,
as skin-bound,
as full of diverse impurities:
There is in this body
the hair of the head,
the hair of the body,
nails,
teeth,
skin,
flesh,
sinews,
bones,
marrow,
kidneys,
heart,
liver,
pleura,
spleen,
lungs,
intestines,
mesentery,
belly,
dung,
bile,
phlegm,
pus,
blood,
sweat,
fat,
tears,
lymph,
spittle,
snot,
synovia,
urine.[7]
This state of ever minding, lord,
thus made become,
thus made to increase,
leads to the riddance of passionate lust.
■
Again, lord, suppose he see a body[ed4]
cast away in a cemetery,
one day dead,
two days dead
or three days dead,
bloated,
blue-black,
a mass of pus;[8]
he compares his own body thus:
This body too is subject thus;
thus it will come to be;
this is not passed.[9]
-◦-
Or suppose he see such a body
being eaten by crows,[10]
ravens,
vultures,
dogs,
jackals,
vermin;
he compares [229] his own body thus
This body too is subject thus;
thus it will come to be;
this is not passed.
-◦-
So too, a body
that is a chain of bones,
with flesh and blood,
sinew-bound;
he compares his own body thus:
This body too is subject thus;
thus it will come to be;
this is not passed.
-◦-
So too, a body
that is but blood-bespattered,
sinew-bound;
he compares his own body thus:
This body too is subject thus;
thus it will come to be;
this is not passed.
-◦-
So too, a body
that is without flesh or blood,
sinew-bound;
he compares his own body thus:
This body too is subject thus;
thus it will come to be;
this is not passed.
-◦-
So too, a body
that is but bones
scattered here and there:
here a hand-bone,[11]
there a foot-bone,
there a leg-bone,
here a thigh-bone,
here a hip-bone,
there a back-bone,
here a skull;
he compares his own body thus:
This body too is subject thus;
thus it will come to be;
this is not passed.
-◦-
Should he see a body,
cast away in a cemetery,
the bones of which
are white as a sea-shell,
a heap of bones,
a rotting,
powdering mass,
years old;
he compares his own body thus:
This body too is subject thus;
thus it will come to be;
this is not passed.
-◦-
This state of ever minding, lord,
thus made become,
thus made to increase,
leads to the rooting out of the conceit "I am."
■
Then, lord,
by putting away ease
and by putting away ill,
by the passing away of happiness and misery
he was wont to feel,
he enters and abides in the fourth musing,
which is utter purity of mindfulness,
which comes of disinterestedness
and is free of ease and ill.
This state of ever minding, lord,
thus made become,
thus made to increase,
leads to the complete penetration
of the countless elements.[12]
Lord, there are these five states of ever minding.'
■
'Well done,
well done, Ānanda;
and hold, too,
this sixth to be a state of ever mindmg:
Herein, Ānanda,
a monk goes out mindful,
comes in mindful,
stands mindful,
sits mindful,
lies down mindful
and is mindful in performing action.[13]
This state of ever minding, Ānanda,
thus made become,
thus made to increase,
leads to mindfulness and self-possession.'
[1] Comy. Lāḷ'Udāyin foolish Udāyin; see Vin. i, 115; Dial. iii, 109.
[2] Anussarati and anussati, both from √smṛ.
[3] Adhicitta. Comy. samādhi-vipassanā-citta.
[4] The fourth is not included, being beyond 'sukha.'
[5] D. iii, 223; A. ii, 45; iv, 86; S. v, 279.
[6] Comy. Dibba-cakkhu-ñāṇ'atthāya sah'obhāsakaṃ cittaṃ brūheti, vaḍḍheti.
[7] This list recurs at D. ii, 293; M. i, 57; A. v, 109; S. v. 278 (trsl. gives thirty-two parts in error, though at Kh. 2 there are thirty-two); see Vism. 285-303, to which our Comy. refers.
[8] M. and D. loc. cit.; M. iii, 91. Comy. observes: swollen like a goatskin blown up; puffy, loathsome in repulsiveness; mottled, purplish; red where the flesh runs, white where the pus collects, but mostly blue (as if clad in blue robes!); and pus trickles from the broken places and from the nine orifices.
[9] With Comy., S.e. and other passages reading etaṃ.
[10] Comy. perched on the belly, tearing at the belly-flesh, the cheeks, the eyes.
[11] Comy. the bones of the hand consist of sixty-four pieces.
[12] Dhātu.
[13] Kammaṃ adhiṭṭhāti S.e. so, but v.l. caṃkammaṃ which is probably correct; cf. S. ii, 282; UdA. 231; Nidd. i, 26.
[ed1] The Pali puts in quotes the Buddha's thought "This foolish Udayi does not live intent on higher thought." The Buddha is not making a claim to have known, he is making a statement about what he knew.
[ed2] Ñāṇa-dassana. The 'knowing and seeing' of the Streamwinner.
