The Sheaf of Barley

Copyright Bhikkhu Bodhi 2000, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Wisdom Publications, 2000)
This selection from The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saɱyutta Nikāya by Bhikkhu Bodhi is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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[201] [1257]

[1][pts][than] "Bhikkhus, suppose a sheaf of barley were set down at a crossroads.

Then six men would come along with flails in their hands and they would strike that sheaf of barley with the six flails.

Thus that sheaf of barley would be well struck, having been struck by the six flails.

Then a seventh man would come along with a flail in his hand and he would strike that sheaf of barley with the seventh flail.

Thus that sheaf of barley would be struck even still more thoroughly, having been struck by the seventh flail.

"So too, bhikkhus, the uninstructed worldling is struck in the eye by agreeable and disagreeable forms; struck in the ear by agreeable and disagreeable sounds; struck in the nose by agreeable and disagreeable odours; struck in the tongue by agreeable and disagreeable tastes; struck in the body by agreeable and disagreeable tactile objects; struck in the mind by agreeable and disagreeable mental phenomena.

If that uninstructed worldling sets his mind upon future renewed existence, then that senseless man is struck even still more thoroughly, just like the sheaf of barley struck by the seventh flail.

"Once in the past, bhikkhus, the devas and the asuras were arrayed for battle.

Then Vepacitti, lord of the asuras, addressed the asuras thus:

'Good sirs, if in this impending battle the asuras win and the devas are defeated, bind Sakka, lord of the devas, by his four limbs and neck and bring him to me in the city of the asuras.'

And Sakka, lord of the devas, addressed the Tavatiɱsa devas:

'Good sirs, if in this impending battle the devas win and the asuras are defeated, bind Vepacitti, lord of the asuras, by his four limbs and neck and bring him to me in Sudhamma, the assembly hall of the devas.'

"In that battle the devas won and the asuras were defeated.

[202] Then the Tavatiɱsa devas bound Vepacitti by his four limbs and neck and brought him to Sakka in Sudhamma, the assembly hall of the devas.

And there Vepacitti, lord of the asuras, was bound by his four limbs and neck.

"When it occurred to Vepacitti:

'The devas are righteous, the asuras are unrighteous; now right here I have gone to the city of the devas,'

he then saw himself freed from the bonds around his limbs and neck and he enjoyed himself furnished and endowed with the five cords of divine sensual pleasure.

But when it occurred to him:

'The asuras are righteous, the devas are unrighteous; now I will go there to the city of the asuras,'

then he saw himself bound by his four limbs and neck and he was deprived of the five cords of divine sensual pleasure.

"So subtle, bhikkhus, was the bondage of Vepacitti, but even subtler than that is the bondage of Māra.

In conceiving, one is bound by Māra; by not conceiving, one is freed from the Evil One.

"Bhikkhus, 'I am' is a conceiving; 'I am this' is a conceiving; 'I shall be' is a conceiving; 'I shall not be' is a conceiving; 'I shall consist of form' is a conceiving; 'I shall be formless' is a conceiving; 'I shall be percipient' is a conceiving; 'I shall be nonpercipient' is a conceiving; 'I shall be neither percipient nor nonpercipient' is a conceiving.

Conceiving is a disease, conceiving is a tumour, conceiving is a dart.