Saṃyutta Nikāya
3. Khandha Vagga
22. Khandha Saṃyutta
6. Upāya Vagga
Sutta 53
Upaya Suttaṃ
Taking Up
Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds
Translator's Introduction
The Pāḷi has been completely re-worked to reconcile it with the PTS version. This is one of the few cases where I have seen a difference in versions of the Pāḷi that could make a significant difference in understanding the message of a sutta. My new translation is my statement as to how I think it should be. There is a little bit of comedy here at the end where the various translators struggle with the fact that in the Pāḷi there is a sequence using 'attā' or 'self': vimuttattā ṭhitaṃ ṭhitattā santusitaṃ, santusitattā na paritassati where they have used 'it' for 'self', so they have of consciousness, 'it' walking around liberated, steady, content, not troubled, and become cool. This is not technically wrong, but there needs to be some relaxation in the use of conventional speech in such cases. The beggar is being told about how to attain liberation, so there is no real problem about speaking of him, or his self, as having attained it. I have my own suggested solution as to how to handle this. This is really a sutta that deals with The First Lesson; food. Here sense-consciousness is shown as being dependent on a person's attachment to and taking up of form, sensation, perception, and own-making, and when that attachment is let go, how that takes the rug out from under sense-consciousness and results in consciousness being liberated.
I have recently added "sense-" to "consciousness" where appropriate in this sutta where the Pāḷi only has "viññāṇā" ("consciousness"). This seemed to me to be necessary to indicate the two states of what we know of in English as "consciousness" which is used in the Pāḷi for both the ordinary consciousness and that of the arahant (as seen in this sutta). [I have more recently adopted a literal translation which can be heard both ways: "re-knowing-knowing-knowledge."
[1][pts][than][wrrn][bodh] I Hear Tell:
Once upon a time the Lucky Man
Sāvatthī-town residing,
Jeta Grove,
Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
There the The Lucky Man said this to the beggars:
"Beggars!"
"Bhante!" they replied, and the Lucky Man said:
"Taking up, beggars:
not freedom,
not taking up:
freedom.
The Four Sticking-Points of Sense-Consciousness
Taking up form, beggars,
sense-consciousness having got standing,
might stand —
with a foothold in form,
standing on form,
watered by pleasure,
it might flourish,
grow,
increase.[1]
Taking up sensation, beggars,
sense-consciousness having got stuck,
might stand —
planted in sensation,
standing on sensation,
watered by pleasure,
it might flourish,
grow,
increase.
Taking up perception, beggars,
sense-consciousness having got stuck,
might stand —
planted in perception,
standing on perception,
watered by pleasure,
it might flourish,
grow,
increase.
Taking up own-making, beggars,
sense-consciousness having got stuck,
might stand —
planted in own-making,
standing on own-making,
watered by pleasure,
it might flourish,
grow,
increase.
Taking up sense-consciousness, beggars,
sense-consciousness having got stuck,
might stand —
planted in own-making,
standing on own-making,
watered by pleasure,
it might flourish,
grow,
increase.
He who, beggars, would say:
'I will point out —
other than through form
other than through sensation
other than through perception
other than through own-making
other than through sense-consciousness —
the getting or
the going or
the ceasing or
the flourishing or
the growth or
the increase of sense-consciousness' —
this is not anywhere to be seen.
If beggars, a beggar has let go of
lust for the characteristic of form
with lust let go,
there is no foothold
for the sticking of consciousness.
If beggars, a beggar has let go of
lust for the characteristic of sensation
with lust let go,
there is no foothold
for the sticking of consciousness.
If beggars, a beggar has let go of
lust for the characteristic of perception
with lust let go,
there is no foothold
for the sticking of consciousness.
If beggars, a beggar has let go of
lust for the characteristic of own-making
with lust let go,
there is no foothold
for the sticking of consciousness.
If beggars, a beggar has let go of
lust for the characteristic of sense-consciousness
with lust let go,
there is no foothold
for the sticking of consciousness.
This consciousness,
without even a minuscule foothold for sticking,
without growth,
without on-going own-making and free,
stuck on its own-freedom,
stuck on its own self-contentment,
with its own self-contentment not unsatisfied,
in and of itself thoroughly cool,
knows:
'Left behind is rebirth,
lived the godly life,
done is duty's doing,
there is no further it'n-n-at'n.'"
[1] At this point The Burmese has ||la|| meaning 'etcetera' and indicating that what should be inserted is a similar passage for both 'vedana, and sannā. Woodward and the PTS Pāḷi omit the repetition.
Of Related Interest:
