Saṃyutta Nikāya
II. Nidāna Vagga
16. Kassapa Saṃyutta
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
II. The Book Called the Nidāna-Vagga
Containing Kindred sayings on Cause
and Other Subjects
16. Kindred Sayings on Kassapa
Sutta 9
Jhān-ā-bhiññā Suttaṃ
Jhāna and Super-Knowledge
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by F. L. Woodward
Originally Published by
The Pali Text Society
Public Domain
The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthī
at the Jeta Grove in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
And there the Exalted One addressed the brethren, saying:
"Brethren!"
"Master!" responded those brethren.
The Exalted One said:
"I, brethren,
according as I desire [can],
aloof from sense and evil,
attain to
and abide in First Jhāna,
wherein thought is applied and sustained,
which is born of solitude
and filled with zest and pleasant emotion.
Kassapa too, brethren, can
according as he desires,
aloof from sense and evil,
attain to
and abide in First Jhāna,
wherein thought is applied and sustained,
which is born of solitude
and filled with zest and pleasant emotion.
■
[1] [142] I, brethren,
according as I desire,
from the subsiding of thought applied and sustained,
[can] attain to
and abide in Second Jhāna,
which is inward tranquillizing,
uplifting of will,
where is no applying and sustaining of thought,
which is born of concentration
and filled with zest and pleasant emotion.
Kassapa too, brethren,
according as he desires,
from the subsiding of thought applied and sustained,
[can] attain to
and abide in Second Jhāna,
which is inward tranquillizing,
uplifting of will,
where is no applying and sustaining of thought,
which is born of concentration
and filled with zest and pleasant emotion.
■
I, brethren,
according as I desire,
from the fading out of zest,
[can] attain to
and abide in Third Jhāna,
abiding with even mind,
mindful and discerning,
aware in the body
of that pleasant emotion
whereof the Ariyans declare:
'Happy doth he abide with even, lucid mind!'
Kassapa too, brethren, can
according as he desires,
from the fading out of zest,
[can] attain to
and abide in Third Jhāna,
abiding with even mind,
mindful and discerning,
aware in the body
of that pleasant emotion
whereof the Ariyans declare:
'Happy doth he abide with even, lucid mind!'
■
I, brethren,
according as I desire,
from putting away both pleasant and painful emotion,
by the dying out
of the joy and sorrow I felt before,
[can] attain to
and abide in Fourth Jhāna,
that utterly pure lucidity
and indifference of mind,
wherein is neither happiness nor unhappiness.
Kassapa too, brethren, can
according as he desires,
from putting away both pleasant and painful emotion,
by the dying out
of the joy and sorrow he felt before,
[can] attain to
and abide in Fourth Jhāna,
that utterly pure lucidity
and indifference of mind,
wherein is neither happiness nor unhappiness.
■
I, brethren,
according as I desire,
by passing entirely beyond the awareness of visible shapes,
by the dying out of the awareness of resistances,
by paying no heed to the awareness of diversity,
[can] attain to
and abide in
the conceptual sense of space as infinite,
thinking:
'Infinite is space.'
Kassapa too, brethren, can
according as he desires,
by passing entirely beyond the awareness of visible shapes,
by the dying out of the awareness of resistances,
by paying no heed to the awareness of diversity,
[can] attain to
and abide in
the conceptual sense of space as infinite,
thinking:
'Infinite is space.'
■
I, brethren,
according as I desire,
when I have wholly passed beyond the sense of space as infinite,
[can] attain to
and abide in
the sense of consciousness as infinite, thinking
'Infinite is consciousness.'
Kassapa too, brethren, can
according as he desires,
when he has wholly passed beyond the sense of space as infinite,
[can] attain to
and abide in
the sense of consciousness as infinite, thinking
'Infinite is consciousness.'
■
I, brethren,
according as I desire,
when I have wholly passed beyond the sense of consciousness as infinite,
[can] attain to
and abide in
the sense of nothingness, thinking,
'There is nothing.'
Kassapa too, brethren, can
according as he desires,
when he has wholly passed beyond the sense of consciousness as infinite,
[can] attain to
and abide in
the sense of nothingness, thinking,
'There is nothing.'
■
I, brethren,
according as I desire,
when I have wholly passed beyond the sense of nothingness,
[can] attain to
and abide in
the sense of neither percipience nor non-percipience.
Kassapa too, brethren, can
according as he desires,
when he has wholly passed beyond the sense of nothingness,
[can] attain to
and abide in
the sense of neither percipience nor non-percipience.
■
[143] I, brethren,
according as I desire,
when I have passed wholly beyond the sense of neither percipience nor non-percipience,
[can] attain to
and abide in [that state in which there is]
ceasing of percipience and feeling.
Kassapa too, brethren, can
according as he desires,[2]
when he has passed wholly beyond the sense of neither percipience nor non-percipience,
[can] attain to
and abide in [that state in which there is]
ceasing of percipience and feeling.
§
I, brethren,
according as I desire,
enjoy manifold mystic power:[3]
Being one I become many,
being many I become one;
here visible
there invisible
I go without let or hindrance through wall,
through rampart,
through hill,
as if through air;
I dive into earth
and up again
as if in water;
I walk on water
without cleaving it
as on earth;
I travel seated cross-legged through air
as if I were a bird on the wing;
I can handle and stroke with the hand
this moon and sun,
mighty and powerful though they be;
I can control the body
even to Brahma world.
Kassapa too, brethren, can
according as he desires,
enjoy manifold mystic power:
Being one he becomes many,
being many he becomes one;
here visible
there invisible
he goes without let or hindrance through wall,
through rampart,
through hill,
as if through air;
he dives into earth
and up again
as if in water;
he walks on water
without cleaving it
as on earth;
he travels seated cross-legged through air
as if he were a bird on the wing;
he can handle and stroke with the hand
this moon and sun,
mighty and powerful though they be;
he can control the body
even to Brahma world.
■
I, brethren, according as I desire,
with with purified hearing of devas
passing that of men,
can hear sounds both of devas and of men
whether far or near.
Kassapa too, brethren, can
according as he desires,
with with purified hearing of devas
passing that of men,
can hear sounds both of devas and of men
whether far or near.
■
I, brethren,
according as I desire,
know in mind
the mind[4] of other beings,
other persons,
I know the passionate heart as passionate,
the dispassionate heart as dispassionate,
I know the heart of hate as hating,
the heart of amity as amiable;
I know the dull heart as dull,
the intelligent heart as intelligent;
I know the confused mind as confused,
the intent mind as tense,
the lofty mind as such,
the mean mind as mean,
the far-seeing mind as far-seeing mind,
the cramped vision as cramped vision,
the concentrated mind as concentrated mind,
the desultory mind as desultory mind,
the freed mind as freed,
the bound mind as bound.
Kassapa, brethren
according as he desires,
knows in mind
the mind of other beings,
other persons,
he knows the passionate heart as passionate,
the dispassionate heart as dispassionate,
he knows the heart of hate as hating,
the heart of amity as amiable;
he knows the dull heart as dull,
the intelligent heart as intelligent;
he knows the confused mind as confused,
the intent mind as tense,
the lofty mind as such,
the mean mind as mean,
the far-seeing mind as far-seeing mind,
the cramped vision as cramped vision,
the concentrated mind as concentrated mind,
the desultory mind as desultory mind,
the freed mind as freed,
the bound mind as bound.
■
I, brethren,
according as I desire,
can remember my divers former lives,
that is to say,
one birth,
or two,
or three,
or four,
or five births,
or ten,
twenty,
thirty,
forty,
fifty births,
or a hundred,
a thousand
or even a hundred thousand,
or [144] even more than one seon of involution
or more than one aeon of evolution,
or more than one of both involution and evolution:
'Such an one was I by name,
of such a clan,
of such a social status,
so was I nourished,
such happy and painful experiences were mine,
so did the span of life end,
deceasing thence
so did I come to be,
there too was I such by name,
of such a clan,
of such a social station,
so was I nourished,
such happy and painful experiences were mine,
so did the span of life end,
deceasing thence
so did I come to be here:'
I can thus call to mind
in circumstance
and detail
my former lives.
Kassapa, brethren
according as he desires,
can remember his divers former lives,
that is to say,
one birth,
or two,
or three,
or four,
or five births,
or ten,
twenty,
thirty,
forty,
fifty births,
or a hundred,
a thousand
or even a hundred thousand,
or even more than one seon of involution
or more than one aeon of evolution,
or more than one of both involution and evolution:
'Such an one was I by name,
of such a clan,
of such a social status,
so was I nourished,
such happy and painful experiences were mine,
so did the span of life end,
deceasing thence
so did I come to be,
there too was I such by name,
of such a clan,
of such a social station,
so was I nourished,
such happy and painful experiences were mine,
so did the span of life end,
deceasing thence
so did I come to be here:'
he can thus call to mind
in circumstance
and detail
his former lives.
■
I, brethren,
according as I desire,
can behold with purified deva-vision
past that of man,
beings as they decease
and come to be
mean or excellent,
fair or foul,
I can know them going
according to their deeds
to weal or woe,
thinking:
'Lo! these good people
whose deeds were evil,
whose speech was evil,
whose thoughts were evil,
abusers of Ariyans,
having wrong views
and undertaking the acts that [come from] wrong views -
they at the breaking up of the body,
after death
have come to be
in the Waste,
the Woeful Way,
the Downfall,
hell.
Lo! those good people
whose deeds were good,
whose speech was good,
whose thoughts were good,
who abused not Ariyans,
of right views
and who undertook the acts that [come from] right views -
they at the breaking up of the body,
after death
have come to be in a good destiny,
in a bright world.'
Thus do I behold beings
with pure deva-sight
passing that of men,
how they decease,
and come to be
mean or excellent,
fair or foul,
I know them
as going according to their actions
to weal or woe.
Kassapa, brethren,
according as he desires,
can behold with purified deva-vision
past that of man,
beings as they decease
and come to be
mean or excellent,
fair or foul,
he can know them going
according to their deeds
to weal or woe,
thinking:
'Lo! these good people
whose deeds were evil,
whose speech was evil,
whose thoughts were evil,
abusers of Ariyans,
having wrong views
and undertaking the acts that [come from] wrong views -
they at the breaking up of the body,
after death
have come to be
in the Waste,
the Woeful Way,
the Downfall,
hell.
Lo! those good people
whose deeds were good,
whose speech was good,
whose thoughts were good,
who abused not Ariyans,
of right views
and who undertook the acts that [come from] right views -
they at the breaking up of the body,
after death
have come to be in a good destiny,
in a bright world.'
Thus does he behold beings
with pure deva-sight
passing that of men,
how they decease,
and come to be
mean or excellent,
fair or foul,
he knows them
as going according to their actions
to weal or woe.
■
And I, brethren,
by the withering of the intoxicants,
have entered into
and abide in
that sane and immune[5] emancipation of will,
that emancipation of insight
which I have come thoroughly to know
and to realize for myself
even in this present life.
[145] Kassapa too, brethren,
by the withering of the intoxicants,
has entered into
and abides in
that sane and immune emancipation of will,
emancipation of insight
which he has come thoroughly to know
and to realize for himself
even in this present life."
[1] The formulas are repeated in full for Kassapa. [Ed.: expanded here.] On the Jhānas cf. my Buddhist Psychology, pp. 107-19.
[2] Thus far the four Rūpa-Jhānas and four Arūpa-Jhānas. Now follow the six Super-knowledges (abhiññā).
[3] Cf. above, p. 86 f.
[4] Or, 'know by will the will' (ceto).
[5] Anāsava. Being cleansed of the Āsava poisons, he is both healthy and not liable to be re-infected. Cf. Pss. of the Brethren, passim.
