Saɱyutta Nikāya
5. Mahā-Vagga
47. Sati-Paṭṭhāna Saɱyutta
2. Nālandā Vagga
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
5. The Great Chapter
47. Kindred Sayings on the Stations of Mindfulness
2. Nālandā
Sutta 11
Mahā-Purisa Suttaɱ
The Superman[1]
Translated by F. L. Woodward
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[1][olds][bodh] THUS have I heard:
Once the Exalted One was staying near Sāvatthī,
at Jeta Grove, in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
Now the venerable Sāriputta came to visit the Exalted One,
and on coming to him
saluted him
and sat down at one side.
So seated the venerable Sāriputta said this to the Exalted One:
"'A superman, a superman,'
is the saying, lord.
Pray, lord, how far is one a superman?"
"It is by emancipation of mind, Sāriputta,
that I call a man
'superman.'
Without emancipation of mind
there is no superman, I declare.
■
And how, Sāriputta, is one's mind emancipated?
Herein, Sāriputta, a monk abides in body contemplating body (as transient),
ardent,
composed
and mindful,
by restraining that dejection in the world
that arises from coveting.
As he so abides in body contemplating body,
his mind is purified,
emancipated,
by freedom from the āsavas.
■
Abides in feelings contemplating feelings (as transient),
ardent,
composed
and mindful,
by restraining that dejection in the world
that arises from coveting.
As he so abides in feelings contemplating feelings,
his mind is purified,
emancipated,
by freedom from the āsavas.
■
Abides in mind contemplating mind (as transient),
ardent,
composed
and mindful,
by restraining that dejection in the world
that arises from coveting.
As he so abides in mind contemplating mind,
his mind is purified,
emancipated,
by freedom from the āsavas.
■
Abides in mind-states contemplating mind-states (as transient),
ardent,
composed
and mindful,
by restraining that dejection in the world
that arises from coveting.
As he so abides in mind-states contemplating mind-states,
his mind is purified,
emancipated,
by freedom from the āsavas.
Thus, Sāriputta, is one's mind emancipated.
Indeed, [138] Sāriputta,
it is by emancipation of mind
that I call a man
'superman.'
Without this emancipation of mind
there is no superman, I declare."
Mahāpuriso. The term is found also in AN 8.30, where it is being addressed to Anuruddha (who was not a Brahmin) and appears to be being used as a technical term in the Buddhist doctrine. One suspects that Woodward's effort here to distance the Doctrine from this term was because of it's current (then) association with Hitler's Nazism.
The term is also found in:
AN 4.35, DN 3, KD Dhp, KD Sn, MN 91, MN 92, DN 14, MN 151
— p.p.
[1] I borrow this term from Dialog. iii, 134, q v. Cf. A. ii, 35; Dhp. 352. Comy. has no remarks on this sutta. At D. loc. cit. the editors remark: 'These are the only passages in "the sixteen volumes of the Four Nikāyas in which the word has so far been traced. This is sufficient to show that the word (mahāpuriso) is not in use as a technical term in the Buddhist doctrine. It occurs only when the brahmin use of the term is referred to (Sāriputta was a brahmin), and is there used to show the startling contrast between the brahmin and the Buddhist conceptions of what a superman must be.' Cf. also Sn. 1040.
