Saṃyutta Nikāya
3. Khandha Vagga
22. Khandha Saṃyutta
9. Thera Vagga
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
3. The Book Called the Khandhā-Vagga
Containing Kindred Sayings on the Elements of Sensory Existence and other Subjects
22. Kindred Sayings on Elements
9. The Elders
Sutta 88
Assaji Suttaṃ
Assaji
Translated by F. L. Woodward
Edited by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Copyright The Pali Text Society
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[1][bodh][than] Thus have I heard:—
Once the Exalted One was staying near Rājagaha,
in Great Grove,
at the Squirrels' Feeding-Ground.
On that occasion the venerable Assaji
was staying in Kassapa's Park,
being sick,
afflicted,
stricken with a sore disease.
Now the venerable Assaji called to his attendants, saying:
"Come hither, friends!
Go ye to the Exalted One, and,
in my name worshipping at the feet of the Exalted One,
say unto him:
'Lord, the brother Assaji is sick,
afflicted,
stricken with a sore disease.
He worships at the feet of the Exalted one.'
And thus do ye say:
'Well were it, lord,
if the Exalted One would visit brother Assaji,
out of compassion for him.'"
"Even so, friend,"
replied those brethren to the venerable Assaji,
and went to the Exalted One,
saluted him and sat down at one side.
So seated
those brethren said to the Exalted One:
"Lord, the brother Assaji is sick
afflicted,
stricken with a sore disease.
He worships at the feet of the Exalted one.
Well were it if the Exalted One
would visit brother Assaji
out of compassion for him."
The Exalted One consented by his silence.
Thereupon the Exalted One robed himself,
and taking bowl and robe,
went to visit the venerable Assaji.
Now the venerable Assaji saw the Exalted One coming,
while yet he was afar off,
and on seeing him
he stirred upon his bed.
Then said the Exalted One to the venerable Assaji:
"Enough, Assaji!
Stir not on your bed!
There are these seats made ready.
I will sit there."
And he sat down on a seat made ready.
So the Exalted One sat down
and said to the venerable Assaji:
'Well, Assaji, I hope you are bearing up.
I hope you are enduring.
Do your pains abate and not increase?
Are there signs of their abating and not increasing?"
"No, lord, I am not bearing up.
I am not enduring.
Strong pains come upon me.
They do not abate.
There is no sign of their abating,
but of their increasing."
"Have you any doubt, Assaji?
Have you any remorse?"
"Indeed, lord, I have no little doubt.
I have no little remorse."
"Have you not anything, Assaji,
wherein to reproach yourself as to morals?"
"Nay, lord, there is nothing
wherein I reproach myself as to morals."
"Then, Assaji, if that is so,
you must have some worry,
you must have something you regret."
"Formerly, lord, I kept trying to calm down my sickness,
but I am still much troubled[1] by my breathing.
I [107] cannot win balance of mind.
But though I cannot win balance of mind,
I say to myself:
'Yet I do not fall away.'"[2]
Bhk. Bodhi has rendered this more transparently with: 'Those ascetics and brahmins, Assaji, who regard concentration as the essence and identify concentration with asceticism, failing to obtain concentration, might think, 'Let us not fall away!" and then he notes the commentary which says (he translates): "In my Teaching that is not the essence; the essence is insight, path, and fruit."
— p.p.
"Those recluses and brahmins, Assaji,
who deem balance of mind as all in all,
they who reverence balance of mind, -
when they cannot win that balance of mind,
say to themselves:
'May we not fall away!'
§
Now as to this, what think you, Assaji?
Is body permanent or impermanent?"
"Impermanent, lord."
"That which is impermanent,
is it weal or woe?"
"Woe, lord."
"But that which is impermanent,
woeful,
unstable in nature,
is it right to regard it thus:
'This is mine,
this am I
this is the Self of me?'"
"Surely not, lord."
■
"Is feeling permanent or impermanent?"
"Impermanent, lord."
"That which is impermanent,
is it weal or woe?"
"Woe, lord."
"But that which is impermanent,
woeful,
unstable in nature,
is it right to regard it thus:
'This is mine,
this am I
this is the Self of me?'"
"Surely not, lord."
■
"Is perception permanent or impermanent?"
"Impermanent, lord."
"That which is impermanent,
is it weal or woe?"
"Woe, lord."
"But that which is impermanent,
woeful,
unstable in nature,
is it right to regard it thus:
'This is mine,
this am I
this is the Self of me?'"
"Surely not, lord."
■
"Are the activities permanent or impermanent?"
"Impermanent, lord."
"That which is impermanent,
is it weal or woe?"
"Woe, lord."
"But that which is impermanent,
woeful,
unstable in nature,
is it right to regard it thus:
'This is mine,
this am I
this is the Self of me?'"
"Surely not, lord."
■
"Is consciousness permanent or impermanent?"
"Impermanent, lord."
"That which is impermanent,
is it weal or woe?"
"Woe, lord."
"But that which is impermanent,
woeful,
unstable in nature,
is it right to regard it thus:
'This is mine,
this am I
this is the Self of me?'"
"Surely not, lord."
§
"Therefore, Assaji, every body whatever,
be it past,
future
or present,
be it inward or outward,
gross or subtle,
low or high,
far or near, -
every body should be thus regarded,
as it really is,
by right insight:
'This is not mine.
This I am not.
This is not the Self of me.'
■
Every feeling whatever,
be it past,
future
or present,
be it inward or outward,
gross or subtle,
low or high,
far or near, -
every feeling should be thus regarded,
as it really is,
by right insight:
'This is not mine.
This I am not.
This is not the Self of me.'
■
Every perception whatever,
be it past,
future
or present,
be it inward or outward,
gross or subtle,
low or high,
far or near, -
every perception should be thus regarded,
as it really is,
by right insight:
'This is not mine.
This I am not.
This is not the Self of me.'
■
Every activity whatever,
be it past,
future
or present,
be it inward or outward,
gross or subtle,
low or high,
far or near, -
every activity should be thus regarded,
as it really is,
by right insight:
'This is not mine.
This I am not.
This is not the Self of me.'
■
Every consciousness whatever,
be it past,
future
or present,
be it inward or outward,
gross or subtle,
low or high,
far or near, -
every consciousness should be thus regarded,
as it really is,
by right insight:
'This is not mine.
This I am not.
This is not the Self of me.'
§
Wherefore, Assaji, he who thus sees
conceives disgust at body,
at feeling,
at perception,
at the activities,
at consciousness.
Being disgusted
he is repelled by them;
by that repulsion he is released;
by that release he is set free;
knowledge arises:
in the freed man is the freed thing,
and he knows:
'Destroyed is rebirth;
lived is the righteous life;
done is the task;
for life in these conditions
there is no hereafter.'
§
If one feels a pleasant feeling,
he knows it as impermanent,
he knows it as not clung to,
he knows it has no lure for him.
If he feels a painful feeling,
he knows it is impermanent,
he knows it as not clung to,
he knows it has no lure for him.
If he feels a neutral[ed1] feeling,
he knows it is impermanent,
he knows it as not clung to,
he knows it has no lure for him.
■
If he feels a pleasant feeling,
he feels it as one who is unattached.
If he feels a painful feeling,
he feels it unattached.
If he feels a neutral feeling,
he feels it unattached.
■
[ed2]If he feels a feeling
that his bodily powers have reached their end,
he knows that he so feels.
If he feels a feeling
that life has reached its end,
he knows that he so feels.
He knows that when body breaks up,
henceforth,
when life has run its course,
all that he has felt,
all that had a lure for him
will grow cold.'[3]
[1] Kāya-sankhāre. Here 'the necessary conditions of body-life' (as vāci-sanihāro and mano-sankhāro are those of percept and concept). Explained by Comy. as assāsa-passāse, 'in- and out-breathing' By restraining these he would induce the fourth jhāna, involving loss of body-consciousness, but this cannot be done easily when attention has to be paid to body or pain.
[2] Comy., sāsanato, 'from the teachings.'
[3] Cf. the same passage at S. ii, 126, which ends with 'bodies will be left aside.'
[ed1] Woodward here has 'mental'.
[ed2] Here Woodward omits the simile. Bhk. Bodhi: "Just as, Assaji, an oil lamp burns in dependence on the oil and the wick, and with the exhaustion of the oil and the wick it is extinguished through lack of fuel, so too, Assaji, when a bhikkhu feels a feeling terminating with the body ... terminating with life ...
