Saṃyutta Nikāya
5. Mahā-Vagga
51. Iddhi-Pāda Saṃyutta
1. Cāpāla Vagga

The Book of the Kindred Sayings
5. The Great Chapter
51. Kindred Sayings on the Bases of Psychic Power^[1]
1. Cāpāla^[2]

Sutta 1

Aparā Suttaṃ

Neither Shore^[3]

Translated by F. L. Woodward
Edited by Mrs. Rhys Davids

Copyright The Pali Text Society
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[225]

[1][olds] THUS have I heard:

Once the Exalted One was staying near Sāvatthī.

Then the Exalted One addressed the monks,
saying:

'Monks."

"Yes, lord," replied those monks to the Exalted One.

The Exalted One said:

"Monks, these four bases of psychic power,^[4]
if cultivated and made much of,
conduce to going neither to the hither
nor to the further shore.

What are the four?

Herein a monk cultivates that basis of psychic power
of which the features are
desire,^[5]
together with the co-factors
of concentration
and struggle.

He cultivates that basis of psychic power
of which the features are
energy,
together with the co-factors
of concentration
and struggle.^[6]

He cultivates that basis of psychic power
of which the features are
thought,
together with the co-factors
of concentration
and struggle.

He cultivates that basis of psychic power
of which the [226] features are
investigation,
together with the co-factors
of concentration
and struggle.

These four bases of psychic power, monks,
if cultivated and made much of,
conduce to going neither to the hither
nor to the further shore."

 

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^[1] (Chanda-viriya-citta-vīmaṃsa) each + samādhi-padhāna (as sañkhāra).

^[2] This chapter is so called after the Cāpāla Shrine of § x below, q.v.

^[3] Text wrongly aparāpāraṃ ('to and fro going,' exactly the opposite of the intended meaning) for a-pārāparaṃ (a-pāra-apāra), 'no more of this or that shore,' the state of Arahant, Nibbāna. Cf. supra, text, 24, 81, 180 n. [Ed.: Note reads: "B^1-2 apārā°"]

^[4] Comy. [iddhi-pāda = iddhiyā-pādaṃ or iddhi-bhūtaṃ pādaṃ] refers to Vibh. 216; Vibh.A. 303; and VM. Cf. Dialog. ii, 110 n., iii, 214; S. i, 116, iii, 96. At D. iii, 221, citta-s. follows chanda-s.

^[5] Chando as 'will' or 'desire to do' (def. at Vibh. loc. cit., chandī-katā kattu-kamyatā kusalo dhamma-cchando). The word 'desire-to-do,' a notable reaching out after such a fit word as our 'will' had not emerged in the Nikāyas.

^[6] Padhāna. Cf. Dhs. 158 n., § 1366; Buddh. Psych. Eth., p. 358, called 'spiritual wrestlings,' or 'efforts' (as in Bk. V).