Aṇguttara-Nikāya
II. Dukanipāta
V. Parisā Vagga
Sutta 46
Bombast
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Proofed against and modified in accordance with the revised edition at dhammatalks.org
Provenance, terms and conditons
[46.1][pts][olds] "Monks, there are these two assemblies.
Which two?
The assembly trained in bombast
and not in cross-questioning,
and the assembly trained in cross-questioning
and not in bombast.
"And which is the assembly
trained in bombast
and not in cross-questioning?
"There is the case where
in any assembly
when the discourses of the Tathāgata
— deep, deep in their meaning,
transcendent,
connected with emptiness —
are recited,
the monks don't listen,
don't lend ear,
don't set their hearts on knowing them;
don't regard them as worth grasping or mastering.
But when discourses that are literary works
— the works of poets,
artful in sound,
artful in expression,
the work of outsiders,
words of disciples —
are recited,
they listen,
they lend ear,
they set their hearts on knowing them;
they regard them as worth grasping and mastering.
Yet when they have mastered that Dhamma,
they don't cross-question one another about it,
don't dissect:
'How is this?
What is the meaning of this?'
They don't make open what isn't open,
don't make plain what isn't plain,
don't dispel doubt
on its various doubtful points.
This is called an assembly
trained in bombast,
not in cross-questioning.
■
"And which is the assembly
trained in cross-questioning
and not in bombast?
"There is the case where
in any assembly
when discourses that are literary works
— the works of poets,
artful in sound,
artful in rhetoric,
the work of outsiders,
words of disciples —
are recited,
the monks don't listen,
don't lend ear,
don't set their hearts on knowing them;
don't regard them as worth grasping or mastering.
But when the discourses of the Tathāgata
— deep,
deep in their meaning,
transcendent,
connected with emptiness —
are recited,
they listen,
they lend ear,
they set their hearts on knowing them;
they regard them as worth grasping and mastering.
And when they have mastered that Dhamma,
they cross-question one another about it
and dissect it:
'How is this?
What is the meaning of this?'
They make open what isn't open,
make plain what isn't plain,
dispel doubt on its various doubtful points.
This is called an assembly
trained in cross-questioning
and not in bombast."
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