Aṇguttara-Nikāya
III. Tika Nipāta
XII. Āpāyika Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
or
More-Numbered Suttas
III. The Book of the Threes
XII. The Downfall
Sutta 114
Āneñja Suttaṃ,
The Sphere of Infinite Space
Translated from the Pali by
F.L. Woodward, M.A.
Copyright The Pali Text Society
Commercial Rights Reserved
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[1][pts][olds][than] Thus have I heard:
Once the Exalted One was dwelling near Sāvatthī.
There the Exalted One addressed the monks, saying:
"Monks."
"Yes, lord," they replied,
and the Exalted One said:
"Monks, these three sorts of person are found to exist in the world.
What three?
Herein, monks, a certain person,
by utterly transcending consciousness of form,
by the disappearance of consciousness of resistance,
by paying no heed to the diversity of consciousness,
regarding space as infinite,
reaches up to and abides in the sphere of infinite space.
He enjoys it, longs for it and finds happiness therein.
Established therein,
given thereto,
generally spending his time therein
and not falling away therefrom,
when he makes an end
he is reborn in the company
of the Devas who have reached the sphere of infinite space.
■
Now, monks, the life of those Devas is 20,000 cycles.
Therein the ordinary man stays
and spends his lifetime according to the life-span of those Devas:
then he goes to Purgatory or to the womb of an animal or to the Realm of Ghosts.
■
But a disciple of the Exalted One,
after staying [246] there
and spending his lifetime according to the life-span of those Devas,
finally passes away in that very state.
■
Such, monks, is the distinction,
the specific feature,[1]
the difference between the educated Ariyan disciple
and the uneducated ordinary man
in the matter of destiny and rebirth.
§
[2][pts][olds] Again, monks, here we have a certain person who,
by utterly transcending the sphere of infinite space,
regarding consciousness as infinite,
reaches up to and abides in
the sphere[2] of infinite consciousness.
He enjoys it, longs for it and finds happiness therein.
Established therein,
given thereto,
generally spending his time therein
and not falling away therefrom,
when he makes an end
he is reborn in the company
of the Devas who have reached the sphere of infinite consciousness.
■
Now, monks, the life of those Devas is 40,000 cycles.
Therein the ordinary man stays
and spends his lifetime according to the life-span of those Devas:
then he goes to Purgatory or to the womb of an animal or to the Realm of Ghosts.
■
But a disciple of the Exalted One,
after staying there
and spending his lifetime according to the life-span of those Devas,
finally passes away in that very state.
■
Such, monks, is the distinction,
the specific feature,
the difference between the educated Ariyan disciple
and the uneducated ordinary man
in the matter of destiny and rebirth.
§
[3][pts][olds] Again, monks, we have a certain person who, by utterly transcending the sphere of infinite consciousness, with the idea of 'nothing at all exists,' reaches up to and abides in the sphere of nothingness.
He enjoys it, longs for it and finds happiness therein.
Established therein,
given thereto,
generally spending his time therein
and not falling away therefrom,
when he makes an end
he is reborn in the company
of the Devas who have reached the sphere of nothingness.
■
Now the life-span of those Devas is 60,000 cycles.
Therein the ordinary man stays
and spends his lifetime according to the life-span of those Devas:
then he goes to Purgatory or to the womb of an animal or to the Realm of Ghosts.
■
But a disciple of the Exalted One,
after staying there
and spending his lifetime according to the life-span of those Devas,
finally passes away in that very state.
■
Such, monks, is the distinction,
the specific feature,
the difference between the educated Ariyan disciple
and the uneducated ordinary man
in the matter of destiny and rebirth.
These, monks, are the three sorts of person found existing in the world."
[1] Cf. supra, text 199. Here Comy. has adhippāyāsa = akhika-payogo.
[2] Text should read viññāṇ'ānañc-.
