Saṃyutta Nikāya
3. Khandha Vagga
22. Khandha Saṃyutta
10. Puppha 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
10. On Flowers
Sutta 101
Vāsi-Jaṭ'Opama (or Nāvā) Suttaṃ
Adze-Handle[1] (or The Ship)
Translated by F. L. Woodward
Edited by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Copyright The Pali Text Society
Commercial Rights Reserved
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[1][than][bodh] Thus have I heard:
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:
"By knowing, brethren, by seeing
is, I declare,
the destruction of the āsavas,
not by not knowing,
by not seeing.
And by knowing what, brethren,
by seeing what,
is there destruction of the āsavas?
Thus:
"Such is body,
such is the arising of body,
such is the ceasing of body.
By thus knowing, brethren,
by thus seeing
is there destruction of the āsavas.
"Such is feeling,
such is the arising of feeling,
such is the ceasing of feeling.
By thus knowing, brethren,
by thus seeing
is there destruction of the āsavas.
"Such is perception,
such is the arising of perception,
such is the ceasing of perception.
By thus knowing, brethren,
by thus seeing
is there destruction of the āsavas.
"Such are the activities,
such is the arising of the activities,
such is the ceasing of the activities.
By thus knowing, brethren,
by thus seeing
is there destruction of the āsavas.
Such is consciousness,
such is the arising of consciousness,
such is the ceasing of consciousness."
By thus knowing, brethren,
by thus seeing
is there destruction of the Ãsavas.
§
Suppose, brethren,
in a brother who lives neglectful of self-training
there should arise this wish:
'0 that my heart were freed without grasping
from the āsavas.'
Yet for all that
his heart is not freed from the āsavas.
What is the cause of that?
[130] It must be said that it is
his neglect of self-training.[2]
Self-training in what?
In the Four Earnest Contemplations,
in the Four Best Efforts,
in the Four Ways of Will-Power,
In the Five Controlling Faculties,
in the Five Powers,
in the Seven Limbs of Wisdom,
in the Ariyan Eightfold Path.
■
Just as if, brethren,
some eight
or ten
or dozen hen's eggs
are not fully sat upon,
not fully warmed,
not fully brooded over[3]
by the hen.
Then suppose that in that hen
there arise such a wish as this:
'0 that my chicks
with foot and claw
or mouth and beak
might break through the eggshells
and so be safely hatched.'
Yet for all that
those chicks are not made fit
to break up the eggshells
with foot and claw
or mouth and beak,
and so be safely hatched.
What is the cause of that?
It is because those eight
or ten
or dozen hen's eggs, brethren,
have not been fully sat upon,
fully warmed,
fully brooded over
by the hen.
■
Even so, brethren,
if in a brother who lives neglectful of self-training
there should arise this wish:
'0 that my heart were freed from the āsavas
without grasping,'
yet is his heart not freed from the āsavas
without grasping.
What is the cause of that?
It must be said:
'It is his lack of self-training.'
Training in what?
In the Four Earnest Contemplations,
in the Four Best Efforts,
in the Four Ways of Will-Power,
In the Five Controlling Faculties,
in the Five Powers,
in the Seven Limbs of Wisdom,
in the Ariyan Eightfold Path.
■
Just as if, brethren,
when some eight
or ten
or dozen hen's eggs
are fully sat upon,
fully warmed,
fully brodded over
by the hen,
such a wish as this
would not arise in her:
'0 that my chicks
with foot and claw,
with mouth and beak
might break through the eggshells
and so be safely hatched,'
and those chicks
would yet be made fit
to break up the eggshells
with foot and claw
or mouth and beak,
and so be safely hatched.
What is the cause of that?
It is because, brethren,
those eight
or ten
or dozen hen's eggs
have been fully sat upon,
fully warmed,
fully brooded over
by the hen.
■
Even so, brethren,
in the brother who dwells attentive [131] to self-training
there would not arise
such a wish as this:
'0 that my heart were freed from the āsavas
without grasping,'
and yet his heart is freed from them.
What is the cause of that?
It must be said it is
his attention to self-training.
Training in what?
In the Four Earnest Contemplations,
in the Four Best Efforts,
in the Four Ways of Will-Power,
In the Five Controlling Faculties,
in the Five Powers,
in the Seven Limbs of Wisdom,
in the Ariyan Eightfold Path.
§
Just as if, brethren,
when a carpenter[4]
or carpenters apprentice
looks upon his adze-handle
and sees thereon
his thumb-mark
and his finger-marks
he does not thereby know:
'Thus and thus much of my adze-handle
has been worn away to-day,
thus much yesterday,
thus much at other times.'
But he knows the wearing away of it
just by its wearing away.
Even so, brethren,
the brother who dwells attentive to self-training
has not this knowledge:
'Thus and thus much of the āsavas
has been worn away to-day,
thus much yesterday,
and thus much at other times,'
but he knows the wearing away of them
just by their wearing away.
§
Just as, brethren, in a sea-faring vessel,
rigged with masts and stays[5]
and stranded on the bank for six months
owing to the failure of water[6]
in the dry season,
its rigging is spoiled by wind and sun:
then, overstrung by a shower[7] in the rainy season,
it is easily weakened
and rots away.
Even so, brethren,
in a brother who dwells attentive to self-training
the fetters are easily weakened and rot away.
[1] Vāsijataṇ. Cf. Vin. iv, 168. The whole section occurs at A. iv, 126-7.
[2] Bhāvanā.
[3] Paribhāvitāni, 'covered by the wings of the hen.' Cf. M. i, 104, and Dialog.. 1, 86, n. [?]
[4] Comy., reading palagaṇḍo for text phalagaṇḍo, says 'carpenter' or 'knot-planer.' At A. iv, 127 the text also reads palagaṇḍo.
[6] Text, udake pariyādāya. S. v, 51 reads pariyenāya (? for pariyāyena, vicissim).
[7] Text has bandhanāni pavussakena meghena abhippavattāni; but S. v, 21 and A. iv, 127, read vuṭṭhāni, followed by Pāli Dict., wrongly I think; for this would mean 'the rigging had rained.' I take abhippavattāni to mean 'much twisted round, warped,' which would be the result of a wetting.
