Majjhima Nikāya
III. Upari-Paṇṇāsa
2. Anupada Vagga
Sacred Books of the Buddhists
Volume VI
Dialogues of the Buddha
Part V
Further Dialogues of the Buddha
Volume II
Translated from the Pali
by Lord Chalmers, G.C.B.
Sometime Governor of Ceylon
London
Humphrey Milford
Oxford University Press
1927
Public Domain
Sutta 111
Anupada Suttaɱ
The Complete Course
[1][pts][than][ntbb][olds][upal] THUS have I heard:
Once when the Lord was staying at Sāvatthī in Jeta's grove in Anāthapiṇḍika's pleasaunce, the Lord addressed the Almsmen as follows: -
Sāriputta, Almsmen, has learning and understanding.
Sāriputta's understanding is vast and extensive,
joyous and swift,
acute and penetrating.
For a whole fortnight continuously
he had unbroken insight into the Doctrine,
with the following experiences therefrom. -
Divested of lusts
and of wrong dispositions,
Sāriputta developed and dwelt in the First Ecstasy
and all its zest and satisfaction, -
a state bred of aloofness,
not divorced from observation and reflection.
All the concomitants of the First Ecstasy -
thought and reason,
zest and satisfaction,
unity of heart and mind,
contact,
feeling,
perception,
thinking,
heart,
zeal,
decision,
energy,
mindfulness,
poise and mentality, -
all these qualities were his;
he saw all these in turn arise,
play their part
and pass away.
There came to him the knowledge
that thus all of these were not,
but came to be,
and make themselves known
by coming to be.
So without any leaning to these qualities
or aversion from them,
without dependence on them,
and without being enamoured of them,
he lived detached and separate,
with his heart untrammelled.
He knew well that beyond all this
there was a further refuge, -
to be found,
he thought to himself,
by growth.
Again, by laying to rest observation and reflection,
he developed and dwelt
in that inward tranquillity
and focussing of heart [26],
beyond observation and reflection,
which is bred of rapt concentration
and is the Second Ecstasy
with all its zest and satisfaction.
All the concomitants of the Second Ecstasy -
inward tranquillity,
zest and satisfaction,
unity of heart and mind,
contact,
feeling,
perception,
thinking,
heart,
zeal,
[171] decision,
energy,
mindfulness,
poise and mentality -
all these qualities were his;
he saw all these in turn arise,
play their part
and pass away.
There came to him the knowledge
that thus all of these were not,
but came to be,
and make themselves known
by coming to be.
So without any leaning to these qualities
or aversion from them,
without dependence on them,
and without being enamoured of them,
he lived detached and separate,
with his heart untrammelled.
He knew well that beyond all this
there was a further refuge, -
to be found,
he thought to himself,
by growth.
Again,
Sāriputta losing the passion for satisfaction,
dwelt in neutrality,
mindful and alive to everything,
feeling in his frame
that ease which the Noble Ones mean
when they say: -
He that has poise and mindfulness
lives at ease;
and so he developed the Third Ecstasy.
All the concomitants of the Third Ecstasy -
poise and content
and mindfulness and alertness,
unity of heart and mind,
contact,
feeling,
perception,
thinking,
heart,
zeal,
decision,
energy,
poise and mentality, -
all these qualities were there continuously
he saw all these in turn arise,
play their part
and pass away.
There came to him the knowledge
that thus all of these were not,
but came to be,
and make themselves known
by coming to be.
So without any leaning to these qualities
or aversion from them,
without dependence on them,
and without being enamoured of them,
he lived detached and separate,
with his heart untrammelled.
He knew well that beyond all this
there was a further refuge, -
to be found,
he thought to himself,
by growth.
Again, by discarding ease and unease,
by the disappearance
of both pleasant and unpleasant emotions,
Sāriputta developed
and dwelt in
the Fourth Ecstasy
in perfect poise and mindfulness.
All those concomitants of the Fourth Ecstasy -
poise,
feelings neither of ease nor of unease,
superiority thereto
and cessation of all interest therein,
unalloyed mindfulness,
unity of heart,
contact,
feeling,
perception,
thinking,
heart,
zeal,
decision,
energy,
poise and mentality, -
all these qualities were his;
he saw all these in turn arise,
play their part
and pass away.
There came to him the knowledge
that thus all of these were not,
but came to be,
and make themselves known
by coming to be.
So without any leaning to these qualities
or aversion from them,
without dependence on them,
and without being enamoured of them,
he lived detached and separate,
with his heart untrammelled.
He knew well that beyond all this
there was a further refuge, -
to be found,
he thought to himself,
[27] by growth.
Again, by rising at every point
above all perceptions of form,
by the disappearance of awareness of sensory reaction,
and by dismissing from his mind
perception of differences,
Sāriputta, reaching the idea of the infinity of space,
developed and dwelt in the Realm of Infinite Space.
All those concomitants
of the Realm of Infinite Space -
perception of the infinity of space,
unity of heart,
contact,
feeling,
perception,
thinking,
heart,
zeal,
decision,
energy,
poise and mentality, -
all these qualities were his;
he saw all these in turn arise,
play their part
and pass away.
There came to him the knowledge
that thus all of these were not,
but came to be,
and make themselves known
by coming to be.
So without any leaning to these qualities
or aversion from them,
without dependence on them,
and without being enamoured of them,
he lived detached and separate,
with his heart untrammelled.
He knew well that beyond all this
there was a further refuge, -
to be found,
he thought to himself,
by growth.
Again, by rising at every point
above the realm of infinite space,
Sāriputta, reaching the idea of infinity of mind,
developed and dwelt in
the Realm of Infinite Mind.
All those concomitants
of the Realm of Infinite Mind -
perception of the infinity of mind,
unity of heart,
contact,
feeling,
perception,
thinking,
heart,
zeal,
decision,
energy,
poise and mentality, -
all these qualities were his;
he saw all these in turn arise,
play their part
and pass away.
There came to him the knowledge
that thus all of these were not,
but came to be,
and make themselves known
by coming to be.
So without any leaning to these qualities
or aversion from them,
without dependence on them,
and without being enamoured of them,
he lived detached and separate,
with his heart untrammelled.
He knew well that beyond all this
there was a further refuge, -
to be found,
he thought to himself,
by growth.
[28] Again, by rising at every point
above the realm of infinity of mind,
Sāriputta, reaching the idea that nothing exists,
developed and dwelt in
the Realm of [172] Naught.
All those concomitants
of the Realm of Naught -
perception of the realm of naught,
unity of heart,
contact,
feeling,
perception,
thinking,
heart,
zeal,
decision,
energy,
poise and mentality, -
all these qualities were his;
he saw all these in turn arise,
play their part
and pass away.
There came to him the knowledge
that thus all of these were not,
but came to be,
and make themselves known
by coming to be.
So without any leaning to these qualities
or aversion from them,
without dependence on them,
and without being enamoured of them,
he lived detached and separate,
with his heart untrammelled.
He knew well that beyond all this
there was a further refuge, -
to be found,
he thought to himself,
by growth.
Again, by rising at every point
above the Realm of Naught,
Sāriputta developed and dwelt in
the realm of Neither-Perception-nor-Non-perception.
Mindful, he moved in this new attainment;
and, moving with mindfulness in this new attainment,
his vision of the old qualities,
now extinguished and changed,
told him that all of these were not,
but came to be,
and made themselves known
by coming to be.
So without any leaning to these qualities
or aversion from them,
without dependence on them,
and without being enamoured of them,
Sāriputta lived detached and separate,
with his heart untrammelled;
he knew that beyond all this
there was a sure refuge,
and he thought that it was to be found by growth.
Again, by rising at every point
above the realm ol Neither-Perception-nor-Non-perception,
Sāriputta developed and dwelt in
the extinction of feeling and perception.
When he had seen this by understanding,
his Cankers were shed.
Mindful, he moved in this new attainment;
and, moving with mindfulness in this new attainment,
his vision of the old qualities,
now extinguished and changed,
told him that all of these were not,
but came to be,
and made themselves known
by coming to be.
So, without any leaning to those qualities
or aversion from them,
without dependence on them
and without being enamoured of them,
Sāriputta lived detached and separate,
with his heart untrammelled.
He knew now that there was no further refuge beyond,
nor was it to be found in growth.
To describe Sāriputta aright is to describe aright him who has risen to mastery [29] and perfection in Noble virtue,
in Noble concentration,
in Noble perception,
in Noble Deliverance.
To describe Sāriputta aright
is to describe aright the Lord's own begotten son,
born of his mouth,
begotten and created by the Doctrine,
heir of the Doctrine
not of the flesh.
Sāriputta,
[173] Almsmen, is consummate
in rolling onwards the peerless wheel of the Doctrine
which the Truth-finder first set a-rolling.
Thus spoke the Lord.
Glad at heart,
those Almsmen rejoiced in what the Lord had said.
