Aṅguttara Nikāya
VIII. Navaka Nipāta
III. Sattāvāsa Vagga

The Book of Nines

Sutta 24

Sattāvāsa Suttaṃ

Being's Habitations

Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds

 

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[1][pts][than] I hear tell:

Once upon a time The Lucky Man
Sāvātthi-town revisiting
Anāthapiṇḍika's Jetavana sporting ground.

"These nine, beggars,
are being's habitations.

What nine?

There are, beggars,
beings with diverse bodies, and
diverse perceptions
such as
men,
some gods, and
some born in Hell.

This is the first habitat of beings.

There are, beggars,
beings with diverse bodies
but uniform perception
such as
the gods first reborn with
the Brahma-body.^[1]

This is the second habitat of beings.

There are, beggars,
beings with uniform bodies, and
diverse perceptions,
such as
the gods of the Ābhāsarā realm.

This is the third habitat of beings.

There are, beggars,
beings with uniform bodies, and
uniform perceptions,
such as
the gods of the Subhakiṇṇā realm.

This is the fourth habitat of beings.

There are, beggars,
beings that have
no experience of perception
such as
the Non-percipient gods.

This is the fifth habitat of beings.

There are, beggars,
beings that pass beyond
all perception of form,
that send home
perception of resistence,
pay no attention to
perception of difference,
think
'Endless is space,' and
abide in the Realm of Space.

This is the sixth habitat of beings.

There are, beggars,
beings that pass beyond
all perception of the Realm of Space,
think
"Endless is consciousness," and
abide in the Realm of Consciousness.

This is the seventh habitat of beings.

There are, beggars,
beings that pass beyond
all perception of
the Realm of Consciousness,
think
"There is nothing," and
abide in the Realm of
Nothing Is To Be Had There.

This is the eighth habitat of beings.

There are, beggars,
beings that pass beyond
all perception of
the Realm of
Nothing Is To Be Had There and
abide in the Realm of
Neither-perception-nor-non-perception.

This is the ninth habitat of beings.

These then, beggars are the nine habitations of beings.

 

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^[1] This is radically different than the translations of either Hare or Bhikkhu Thanissaro who both introduce with very flimsy justification from the Pāḷi the idea that these beings were reborn there as a result of practicing the first jhāna. The first jhāna is one of several ways to reach that realm but the text says nothing about jhānas. I think this refers to the beings reborn in the Brahma realm at the very beginning (the first) of the world cycle.

 

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