Aṇguttara Nikāya
VIII. Navaka Nipāta
IV. Mahā Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
VIII. The Book of the Nines
Chapter IV: The Great Chapter
Sutta 38
Lokāyatika Brāhmaṇa Suttaṃ aka Nibbāna-Sukha Suttaṃ
The Brahmans
Translated from the Pali by E.M. Hare.
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Once the Exalted One was dwelling near Savatthī, at Jeta Grove, in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
Now two brahmans, skilled in metaphysics,[1] visited the Exalted One and,
after greeting him and exchanging the usual compliments,
sat down at one side.
So seated, they said this to him:
"Master Gotama, Parana Kassapa,[2] all-knowing, all-seeing,
professes unlimited knowledge and purview:
'Whether I walk, stand,
sleep or wake,
always,
ever,
knowledge and [288] purview are present!'
And he has thus declared:
'With infinite knowledge I abide
knowing, seeing a finite[3] world!'
■
Master Gotama, the Nigantha, Nataputta,
all-knowing, all-seeing,
also professes unlimited knowledge and purview:
'Whether I walk, stand,
sleep or wake,
always,
ever,
knowledge and purview are present!'
But he has thus declared:
'With infinite knowledge I abide
knowing, seeing an infinite world!'
Of these two talkers on knowledge, Master Gotama,
of these two who contradict each other -
which of the two speaks the truth,
which lies?"
"Enough, brahmans!
'Of these two talkers on knowledge,
of these two who contradict each other -
which of the two speaks the truth, which lies?' — Let be!
I will teach you Dhamma, brahmans;
listen,
pay heed,
I will speak!"
"Yes, sir," they rejoined;
and the Exalted One said:
§
"Imagine, brahmans, four men standing at the four corners of the world,
each endowed with supreme pace and speed,
with supreme length of stride -
as an[4] archer,
mighty with bow,
skilled, deft, a marksman,[5]
may wing with ease
a slender shaft across a palm-tree's shadow -
let such be their speed;
as western sea from eastern sea -
such their stride.
■
Now suppose the man standing at the eastern corner were to say:
'By walking I'll reach the end of the world!'
Though man's life-span were a hundred years
and he lived a hundred years
and walked for a hundred years -
save when eating, drinking, chewing, munching,
answering nature's calls
and dispelling fatigue by sleep[6]-
he would die or ever he reached the end of the world.
■
And suppose the man at the western corner were to say:
'By walking I'll reach the end of the world!'
Though man's life-span were a hundred years
and he lived a hundred years
and walked for a hundred years -
save when eating, drinking, chewing, munching,
answering nature's calls
and dispelling fatigue by sleep[7]-
he would die or ever he reached the end of the world.
■
And suppose the man at the northern corner were to say:
'By walking I'll reach the end of the world!'
Though man's life-span were a hundred years
and he lived a hundred years
and walked for a hundred years -
save when eating, drinking, chewing, munching,
answering nature's calls
and dispelling fatigue by sleep-
he would die or ever he reached the end of the world.
■
And suppose the man the man at the southern corner were to say:
'By walking I'll reach the end of the world!'
Though man's life-span were a hundred years
and he lived a hundred years
and walked for a hundred years -
save when eating, drinking, chewing, munching,
answering nature's calls
and dispelling fatigue by sleep-
he [289] would die or ever he reached the end of the world.
■
And why?
Not, brahmans, by such journeys[8]
do I say that the world's end
may be known, seen, reached;
yet I declare, brahmans,
that without reaching the end of the world
there is no ending of ill.
§
Brahmans, these five strands of sense-desire
are called the world
in the code of the Ariyan.
What five?
[9]Shapes, cognized by the eye,
longed for,
alluring,
pleasurable,
lovely,
bound up with passion and desire;
■
sounds, cognized by the ear,
longed for,
alluring,
pleasurable,
lovely,
bound up with passion and desire;
■
smells by the nose,
longed for,
alluring,
pleasurable,
lovely,
bound up with passion and desire;
■
tastes by the tongue,
longed for,
alluring,
pleasurable,
lovely,
bound up with passion and desire;
■
contacts, cognized by the touch,
longed for,
alluring,
pleasurable,
lovely,
bound up with passion and desire.
These are the five strands of sense-desire, brahmans,
that are called the world
in the code of the Ariyan.
§
Now consider, brahmans, the monk who,
aloof from sense desires,
aloof from evil ideas,
enters and abides in the first musing,
wherein applied and sustained thought works,
which is born of solitude
and is full of zest and ease;
he is said to have come to the world's end
and abide at the world's end.
■
And some say thus of him:
'This one is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
-◦-
I, too, say this of him:
'He is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
■
Then consider, brahmans,[10] the monk who
suppressing applied and sustained thought,
enters and abides in the second musing,
which is self-evolved,
born of concentration,
full of zest and ease,
free from applied and sustained thought,
wherein the mind becomes calm and one-pointed
he is said to have come to the world's end
and abide at the world's end.
■
And some say thus of him:
'This one is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
I, too, say this of him:
'He is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
-◦-
Then consider, brahmans, the monk who
free from the fervour of zest,
mindful and self-possessed,
enters and abides in the third musing,
and experiences in his being
that ease whereof the Ariyans declare:
"He that is tranquil and mindful dwells at ease,"
he is said to have come to the world's end
and abide at the world's end.
■
And some say thus of him:
'This one is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
I, too, say this of him:
'He is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
-◦-
Then consider, brahmans, the monk who
by putting away ease and by putting away ill,
by the passing away of happiness and misery he was wont to feel,
enters and abides in the fourth musing,
which is utter purity of mindfulness and poise
and is free of ease and ill
he is said to have come to the world's end
and abide at the world's end.
■
And some say thus of him:
'This one is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
I, too, say this of him:
'He is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
-◦-
Then consider, brahmans, the monk who
by passing wholly beyond perceptions of form,
by the passing away of the perceptions of sense-reactions,
unattentive to the perceptions of the manifold,
he enters and abides in the sphere of infinite space, thinking:
'Space is infinite'
he is said to have come to the world's end
and abide at the world's end.
■
And some say thus of him:
'This one is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
I, too, say this of him:
'He is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
—
Then consider, brahmans, the monk who
passing wholly beyond the sphere of infinite space,
enters and abides in the sphere of infinite consciousness, thinking:
'Consciousness is infinite'
he is said to have come to the world's end
and abide at the world's end.
■
And some say thus of him:
'This one is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
I, too, say this of him:
'He is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
-◦-
Then consider, brahmans, the monk who
passing wholly beyond the sphere of infinite consciousness,
enters and abides in the sphere of nothingness, thinking:
'There is nothing'
he is said to have come to the world's end
and abide at the world's end.
■
And some say thus of him:
'This one is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
I, too, say this of him:
'He is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
-◦-
Then consider, brahmans, the monk who
passing wholly beyond the sphere of nothingness,
enters and abides in the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception
he is said to have come to the world's end
and abide at the world's end.
■
And some say thus of him:
'This one is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
I, too, say this of him:
'He is still world-bound,
still not gone out from the world.'
-◦-
Now consider, brahmans, the monk who,
passing wholly beyond the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception,
enters and abides in the ending of perception and feeling
and by wisdom sees that the cankers are completely destroyed;
that monk is said to have come to the world's end
and abide at the world's end,
to have passed through the world's entanglement."[11]
[1] Lokāyatikā. Comy. lokāyatapāthakā; see Dial. i, 166 ff.
[3] Antavantaṃ. S.e. so, v.l. anantaṃ.
[4] Text and S.e., antavantena ... antavantaṃ; I read with v.l. anantena ... anantaṃ. If both are sabbaññū, sahbadassāvī their ñānaṃ must be anantaṃ.
[5] Cf. M. i, 82; S. i, 62; A. ii, 49; also K.S. ii, 178; J. iv, 211. Comy. observes that the shadow (chāyaṃ - both text and S.e. read chātiṃ with A. ii, but S. and M. otherwise) is a span and four fingers wide and so would be passed quickly. See, however, M. and S. translations.
[6] Katupāsano, √ās, sitting close to.
[7] This is stock; D. i, 70; ii, 95; M. i, 57; Mil. 378.
[8] Cf. S. iv. 93; A. ii. 50. Sandhāvanikāya; Comy. padasā dhāvanena; at A. and S. the word is gamanena, as above.
[9] Cf. above, p. 280.
[10] The text repeats much. [Ed. completely reconstructed here.]
[11] Visattikā; see DhS. trsl., § 1059; Expos. 468.
