Aṇguttara Nikāya
VIII. Navaka Nipāta
III. Satt'Āvāsa Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
VIII. The Book of the Nines
Chapter III: Spheres of Beings
Sutta 24
Satt'Āvāsa Suttaṃ
Beings
Translated from the Pali by E.M. Hare.
Copyright The Pali Text Society
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Once the Exalted One was dwelling near Savatthī, at Jeta Grove, in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
There he addressed the monks, saying: "Monks."
"Yes, lord," they replied; and the Exalted One said:
"Monks, there are these nine spheres of beings.[1]
Whiat nine?
[1] Monks, there are beings differing in body
and differing in perceptive power,
as for instance mankind,
some devas
and some in purgatory.
This is the first sphere of beings.
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[2] Monks, there are beings differing in body
and similar in perceptive power,
as for instance devas of the Brahma world,
reborn there after practising the first (musing here).
This is the second sphere of beings.
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[3] Monks, there are beings similar in body,
but differing in perceptive power,
as for instance the radiant devas.
This is the third sphere of beings.
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[4] Monks, there are beings similar in body
and similar in perceptive power,
as for instance the lustrous devas.
This is the fourth sphere of beings.
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[5] Monks, there are beings without perceptive power
and without feeling,
as for instance the unconscious devas.
This is the fifth sphere of beings.
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[6] Monks, there are beings who,
by wholly transcending the perception of form,
by the passing away of the perception of the sense-reaction
and by turning the attention away from the perceptions of the manifold,
attain to the sphere of infinite space, realizing:
Space is infinite.
This is the sixth sphere of beings.
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[7] Monks, there are beings who,
by having wholly transcended the sphere of infinite space,
attain to the sphere of infinite consciousness, realizing:
Consciousness is infinite.
This is the seventh sphere of beings.
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[8] Monks, there are beings who,
having wholly transcended the sphere of infinite consciousness,
attain to the sphere of nothingness, realizing:
There is nothing.
This is the eighth sphere of beings.
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[9] Monks, there are beings who,
having wholly transcended the sphere of nothingness,
attain to the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception.
This is the ninth sphere of beings.
Monks, these are the nine spheres of beings."
[1] Cf. above, p. 22; D. iii, 263, 288; Khp. 2; Khp.A. 86.
