| Tipiṭaka / Tipiṭaka (English) |
Mula-pariyaya-sutta
How States of Consciouness Originate
[1] Thus have I heard. Once when the Lord was staying at Ukkattha in the Subhaga grove under the great sal-tree, he addressed the Almsmen, saying: — Almsmen! Lord, said they in answer.
Then said the Lord: — I will expound to you how all states of consciousness originate; listen with attention and I will speak. Yes, sir, said they in response to the Lord, who then spoke as follows:
Take the case of an uninstructed every-day man, who takes no count of the Noble and is unversed and untrained in Noble Doctrine; who takes no count of the Excellent1 and is unversed and untrained in Excellent Doctrine. Such a man (simply) perceives earth as earth and, so perceiving it, conceives ideas of earth, ideas of — in earth, from earth, my earth; and is content with 'earth.' And why? — I say it is because he does not comprehend it.
So too he perceives water as water, and, so perceiving it, conceives ideas of water, ideas of — in water, from water, my water; — and is content with 'water.' And why? — I say it is because he does not comprehend it.
In just the same way originate his ideas about
(1) fire, (2) air,
[2] (3) creatures, (4) gods, (5) Pajapati2, (6) Brahma, (7) Abhassara deities, (8) Subhakinna deities, (9) Vehapphala deities, (10) Abhibhu,
[3] (11) the Realm of Infinite Space, (12) the Realm of Infinite Mind, (13) the Realm of Naught, (14) the Realm of neither perception nor non-perception, (15) what is seen, (16) what is heard, (17) what is sensed,3 (18) what is discerned,4 (19) unity, (20) multiplicity, (21) universality, and (22) Nirvana.
[4] Then too there is the Almsman who is still under training and has not yet won Arahatship, but lives in earnest yearning for utter immunity from the four Attachments. He recognizes earth as
earth; but, having so recognized it, — ah! let him not conceive ideas of earth, ideas of — in earth, from earth, my earth; let him not rest content with 'earth.' And why? — I say it is because he must bring himself to comprehend it.
[Here follow similar paragraphs about water, fire, air... etc.... and (22) Nirvana.]
Then there is the Almsman who is an Arahat,5 in whom the Cankers6 are no more, who has greatly lived, whose task is done, who has shed his burthens and has won his weal, whose bonds to life are now no more, who by utter knowledge has found final Deliverance. He too recognizes earth as earth; but, having so recognized it, he conceives no ideas of earth, in earth, from earth, my earth; nor does he rest content with 'earth.' And why? — I say it is because he has come to comprehend it.
So too he recognizes water and the rest of these things; he recognizes Nirvana as Nirvana, but, having so recognized it, he conceives no ideas of Nirvana, no ideas of — in Nirvana, from Nirvana, my Nirvana; nor does he rest content with 'Nirvana.' And why? — I say it is because he has come to comprehend it.
The Almsman who is an Arahat, in whom... (etc., as in preceding paragraph, down to) ...
[5] nor does he rest content with 'earth,' or ' water' and so forth. And why? — Because, say I, by the extirpation of lusts he is freed from lusts; because by the extirpation of hate he is freed from hate; because by the extirpation of delusion he is freed from delusion.
The Truth-finder7 too, the Arahat all-enlightened, also recognizes earth as earth; but, having so recognized it, he conceives no ideas of earth, no ideas of — in earth — from earth — my earth; nor is he content with 'earth,' or with 'water' and so forth.
[6] And why? — Because, say I, he has comprehended it to the full.8
The Truth-finder too... (etc., as in preceding paragraph, down to)... And why? — Because, having seen pleasure to be the root of Ill, he sees how continuing existence entails rebirths and that whatever has continuing existence is dogged by decay and death. Therefore it is, say I, that by extirpating all cravings, by lusting not after them, but by destroying and abandoning and renouncing them all, the Truth-finder has become all-enlightened, with utter enlightenment.
Thus spoke the Lord. Glad at heart, those Almsmen rejoiced in what the Lord had said.
Footnotes
1. The Noble and the Excellent (synonymous terms according to Buddhaghosa) are simply Arahats (M. I, 280, 402, etc.), and are not to be restricted (as Bu.) to Buddhas, Pacceka Buddhas, and the (chief) disciples of Buddhas.
2. Identified by Bu. as Mara. For the following classes of beings, see the 33rd Sutta of the Digha Nikaya, and cf. Sutta No. 49 infra.
3. Interpreted as representing the three other senses of smell, taste and touch. Cf. Dialogues of the Buddha III, 127, n. 2.
4. I.e., grasped by the mind (manasa) as a sixth sense.
5. Lit. worshipful. See Dial. Ill, 3, et seq., for the history of this word, — used of non-Buddhists in Sutta 84 (II. 86). Cf. infra p. 175.
6. For the four asavas (of pleasure, continuing existence, and ignorance, with error superadded), see e.g. D. II, 84. (In our 2nd Sutta, as at the end of Suttas Nos. 4 and 9, the asavas are three in number, i.e. without the outlook of error superadded.)
The asavas, so called (says Bu.) because they flow, would seem to be running sores, or neoplasms of character, with their metastases of evil, like physical cancers. I have called them 'cankers,' because of the metaphorical connotation which attaches to this word, though not to ' cancer.'
7. For this rendering of tathagata see J.R.A.S., 1898, Buddhist Psychological Ethics (2nd edit., p. 270, n. 6), and Dialogues I, 40, 263, etc. Just as Jina is a title of the Buddha, so tathagata is a synonym of the Jain titthakara, or ford-maker (S.B.E. XLV, p. 320), — both terms being pre-buddhistic, like arahant, bhagavant, etc.
At e.g. M. I, 140 tathagata is used as a synonym of arahat. Cf. D. I, 27 (hoti tathagato param marana), on which Bu. says: satto tathagato ti adhippeto.
8. Reading parinnat-antam, with Bu. (M.A. I, 52).
*Majjhima Nikaya 1, translated by Lord CHALMERS
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
