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INTRODUCTION

In interpreting suttas, we have to take account of the circumstances under which they were spoken and the persons to whom they were addressed. During the course of his long ministry, the Buddha had to adjust his teaching to people with different capacities and needs. He taught those given to reckless behavior to abandon their self-defeating ways and engage in wholesome actions that yield pleasant fruits. He taught those inclined to resign themselves to fate that present effort determines our present quality of life as well as our future destiny. He taught those convinced that personal existence ceases with bodily death that living beings survive the breakup of the body and re-arise in accordance with their kamma. He taught those not yet ripe enough for higher attainments to aspire for rebirth among the devas, the celestial beings, and to enjoy the bliss and glory of the heavens.

A blissful heavenly rebirth, however, is not the final purpose for which the Buddha taught the Dhamma. At best it is only a temporary waystation. The ultimate goal is the cessation of suffering, and the bliss of the heavens, no matter how blissful, is not the same as the cessation of suffering. According to the Buddha’s teaching, all states of existence within the round of rebirths, even the heavens, are transient, unreliable, bound up with pain. Thus the ultimate aim of the Dhamma is nothing short of liberation, which means total release from the round of birth and death.

What lies beyond the round of rebirths is an unconditioned state called Nibbāna. Nibbāna transcends the conditioned world, yet it can be attained within conditioned existence, in this very life, and experienced as the extinction of suffering. The Buddha realized Nibbāna through his enlightenment, and for the next forty-five years of his life he endeavored to help others realize it for themselves. The realization of Nibbāna comes with the blossoming of wisdom and brings perfect peace, untarnished happiness, and the stilling of the mind’s compulsive drives. Nibbāna is the destruction of thirst, the thirst of craving. It is also the island of safety amid the raging currents of old age, sickness, and death.

To guide his spiritually mature disciples toward Nibbāna, the Buddha had to steer them beyond the blissful rewards that could be won in a future life by performing wholesome deeds. He did so through the “world-transcending” facets of his teaching, those aspects designed to lead disciples beyond the “triple world” of sense-sphere existence, form-sphere existence, and formless existence. Again and again throughout the discourses, the Buddha offered an uncompromising, razor-sharp exposure of the dangers inherent in all conditioned states of being. He sounded a clear warning signal that all states of existence are perilous and fraught with pain. He insisted, unambiguously, that the one hope of lasting security lies in complete purification and liberation of the mind. He presented a path that cuts through ignorance and craving in their entirety and dispels attachment even to the most refined states of meditative absorption.

In his “graduated discourse on the Dhamma,” given to introduce receptive newcomers to his teaching, the Buddha regularly began by discussing such practices as giving and moral discipline. He would extol the beauty of such virtues as generosity, harmlessness, honesty, and self-restraint, explaining how such meritorious deeds lead to the joys of a heavenly rebirth. At this point, he would reveal “the danger, degradation, and defilement in sensual pleasures and the blessings of renunciation.” Having thus gradually “ripened” the minds of his audience, he would next expound the doctrine distinctive of his own teaching, the Four Noble Truths: suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path. When the Buddha himself taught the Four Noble Truths, his purpose was not to give his listeners an introductory course in “basic Buddhism,” but to awaken in them the “vision of the Dhamma,” the first direct realization of the transcendent truth that sets the disciple on the irreversible path to liberation.

Though we sometimes read in the suttas that disciples attained their first experience of awakening merely by listening to the Buddha preach, this does not mean that the Dhamma is easy to understand. Such disciples could penetrate the truth with such apparent ease because their faculties were mature, perhaps too because they had accumulated sufficient supporting conditions from previous lives. But by its very nature, the world-transcending Dhamma goes against the grain of the mundane mind. The Buddha describes the Dhamma as “subtle, deep, and difficult to see,” and one of the things that makes it so difficult to see is its thesis that the highest happiness cannot be won by yielding to the longings of the heart but only by subduing them. This thesis runs utterly counter to the thought, attitudes, and actions of people fully immersed in the world. As long as we are infatuated with the seductive lures of sensual enjoyment, as long as we take delight in being this or becoming that, we will regard the sublime Dhamma as a mystery and a puzzle. The Buddha therefore realized that the first major challenge he would face in establishing his world-transcending Dhamma was to break the grip that sensual pleasure and worldly attachment have upon the mind. He had to knock the mind out of its accustomed ruts and set it moving in an altogether different direction. He had to steer his disciples away from the lures of sensuality and worldly attachment and guide them toward disenchantment, complete dispassion, and awakening.

The requirements of this task drew upon all the Buddha’s skills as a teacher. It demanded that he make ample use of his ability to precisely adjust his teaching to the mental proclivities of the people who came to him for instruction. It demanded that he speak up frankly and candidly, even when candor bred resentment. It demanded that he enter the fray of debate, even though he much preferred the peace of seclusion. It demanded that he use similes, metaphors, and parables whenever concrete illustrations could give his arguments stronger appeal. It demanded that he uphold his principles strongly whether his adversaries were hostile ascetics or miscreant monks within the ranks of his own order (see the opening sections of MN 22 and MN 38, not included in this anthology). That the Buddha succeeded so well in fulfilling this difficult task is counted among his truly wonderful and marvelous accomplishments. This is a point to which Text VI,1 bears eloquent testimony.

The Buddha’s task at this stage in the unfolding of his doctrine is to impart to us a radically new education in the art of seeing. To follow the Buddha in the direction he wants to lead us, we have to learn to see beneath the surface glitter of pleasure, position, and power that usually enthralls us, and at the same time, to learn to see through the deceptive distortions of perception, thought, and views that habitually cloak our vision. Ordinarily, we represent things to ourselves through the refractory prism of subjective biases. These biases are shaped by our craving and attachments, which they in turn reinforce. We see things that we want to see; we blot out things that threaten or disturb us, that shake our complacency, that throw into question our comforting assumptions about ourselves and our lives. To undo this process involves a commitment to truth that is often unsettling, but in the long run proves exhilarating and liberating.

The education that the Buddha imparts to us brings about a deepening of our perspective on the world. To help us transform our understanding and deepen our perspective on the world, he offers us three standpoints from which we can appraise the values by which we order our lives. These three standpoints also represent three “moments” or steps in an unfolding process of insight that starts from our commonsense attitudes and moves strategically toward higher knowledge, enlightenment, and release. The three moments are: gratification (assāda), danger (ādīnava), and escape (nissaraṇa). In Texts VI,2(1)–(3), this scheme is applied to the world as a whole. Elsewhere in the Nikāyas, the scheme is applied more specifically to the four material elements (SN 14:31–33), the five aggregates (SN 22:26–28), and the six internal and external sense bases (SN 35:13–18). The Buddha underscores the importance of this scheme with the bold pronouncement that until he was able to fully evaluate the world (or, in the texts referred to just above, the elements, aggregates, and sense bases) in this way, he did not claim that he had attained the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment.

In advancing systematically through this scheme, one begins by recognizing the indubitable fact that such worldly phenomena as sense objects, forms, and feelings give us some degree of gratification. This gratification consists in the pleasure and joy (sukha-somanassa) we experience when we succeed in fulfilling our desires. Once we acknowledge this fact, we can then probe deeper by asking whether such pleasure and joy are entirely satisfactory. If we address this question with utter honesty, in a dispassionate frame of mind, we will realize that such pleasure and joy are far from satisfactory. To the contrary, they are saddled with drawbacks and defects ranging from the trifling to the catastrophic, defects that we perpetually hide from ourselves so that we can continue unhindered in our quest for gratification. This is their danger, the second moment or step of observation. The most pervasive danger lurking behind the innocent façade of our worldly pleasures is their inherent nature of being impermanent (anicca), bound up with suffering and discontent (dukkha), and subject to inevitable change and decay (vipariṇāmadhamma).

The third moment, the moment of escape, follows from the second. “Escape” here is not escapism, a word that implies an anxious attempt to avoid facing one’s problems by pretending they don’t exist and losing oneself in distractions. True escape is quite the opposite: the sanest, most rational, most judicious course of action we can take when we accurately recognize a genuine danger. It is our search for an exit from a burning building, our visit to the doctor when we’re beset by a persistent fever, our decision to give up smoking when we understand how it jeopardizes our health. Once we see that the objects of our attachment are flawed, beset with hidden dangers, we then realize that the way of escape lies in dropping our attachment to them. This is “the removal of desire and lust, the abandoning of desire and lust” (chandarāga-vinaya, chandarāga-pahāna) referred to in the texts.

The Pāli commentators, not surprisingly, connect these three moments with the Four Noble Truths. “Gratification” implies the second noble truth, for pleasure and joy arouse craving, the origin of suffering. “Danger” is the truth of suffering itself. And “escape” is the truth of the cessation of suffering, which also implies the Noble Eightfold Path, the fourth truth, the way to the cessation of suffering.

In Text VI,3 the Buddha uses this threefold scheme to make a detailed appraisal of three major objects of attachment: sensual pleasures, bodily form, and feelings. The major portion of the sutta is devoted to an examination of the dangers in sensual pleasures. It begins with a close-up view of the tribulations that a “clansman”—a young householder pursuing the ancient Indian counterpart of a professional career—might undergo in his quest for sensual gratification. As the discourse unfolds, the scope of the examination widens from the personal to the collective, encompassing the broader social and political consequences of this quest. It reaches its climax in striking images of the warfare and human devastation that follow from the frenzied mass drive for sensual gratification. “Form” is the physical body. The Buddha begins his treatment of form by asking the monks to consider a beautiful young girl. He then traces the progressive stages of her physical decay, through old age, sickness, death, and the eventual disintegration of the corpse until it is reduced to powdered bone. To show the danger in “feeling,” the Buddha selects the feelings of a meditating monk in the jhānas, the meditative absorptions, the most refined mundane experiences of pleasure and peace. He points out that even these lofty feelings are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and subject to change.

Although the following texts do not explicitly apply the threefold scheme, its underlying presence is obvious. Emphasis falls on the aspect of danger. The two texts presented in section 4 again accentuate the pitfalls in sensual pleasures, but do so differently from the text of the preceding section. In Text VI,4(1), the Buddha appears in dialogue with a pompous householder who imagines that he has “cut off all worldly affairs.” To dispel his complacency, the Buddha uses a series of similes that expose the deceptiveness of sensual pleasures to show him what the “cutting off of affairs” means in his own system of training. The use of similes prevails in Text VI,4(2) as well, which pits the Buddha against a hedonist named Māgandiya. The Buddha here contends that sensual pleasures seem to be pleasurable only through a distortion of perception, but when seen rightly are like the fire in a burning charcoal pit—”painful to touch, hot, and scorching.” This passage includes some of the most powerful similes in the Nikāyas, and there can be little doubt that the Buddha has not used them lightly.

The use of imagery also figures prominently in Text VI,5, whose theme is the transience of human life. Buddhist literature frequently advises us to contemplate the certainty of death and the uncertainty of the time of its arrival. This recommendation is not made to induce an attitude of chronic morbidity but to help us break our infatuation with life and develop detachment. For this reason, recollection of death has become one of the most important subjects of Buddhist meditation. The Buddha elsewhere says that the recollection of death “when developed and cultivated, gains a foothold in the Deathless and culminates in the Deathless” (AN 7:46; IV 47–48). Here the transience of life is underscored by counting up the number of days, seasons, and even meals in a single life.

Text VI,6 is an excerpt from the Raṭṭhapāla Sutta, which recounts the life of the disciple the Buddha called “the foremost of those who have gone forth out of faith.” Raṭṭhapāla was a young man from a well-established family who was so deeply stirred upon hearing the Buddha preach that he at once decided to embrace the homeless life of a monk. The Buddha asked him to obtain his parents’ permission, but his parents, being strongly attached to their only son, adamantly refused to give their consent. Raṭṭhapāla thereupon lay down on the ground and refused to eat or drink, determined to die right there or receive the going forth. His parents finally relented and permitted him to become a monk on the condition that he later return to visit them. Years later, when he visited his parents, they tried to entice him back to the household life, but since he had already attained arahantship he was now beyond any possibility of disrobing. After leaving their home, he went to the royal pleasure garden, where he gave a discourse to King Koravya on “four summaries of the Dhamma.” This discourse conveys his profound insights into the depth and universality of suffering, explaining in simple and lucid words why he, like countless other capable men and women in the prime of life, chose to leave the comforts of the household for the uncertainties of the homeless state.

Craving for sensual pleasures is one trap that keeps beings bound to the round of rebirths. Another major trap is attachment to views. Thus, to clear the path to Nibbāna, the Buddha not only had to dispel infatuation with sensual pleasures but also to expose the danger in views. This is the theme of section 7.

The most dangerous of wrong views are those that deny or undermine the foundations of ethics. Text VI,7(1) draws together a number of perils posed by this type of wrong view; prominent among them is rebirth in the lower realms. Views also lead to one-sided, biased interpretations of reality that we cling to as accurate and complete. People who cling tenaciously to their own views of a particular situation often come into conflict with those who view the same situation in a different light. Views thus give rise to conflicts and disputes. Perhaps no text in all of world literature has depicted this danger in dogmatic clinging more succinctly than the famous parable of the blind men and the elephant, included here as Text VI,7(2).

Text VI,7(3) draws a contrast between the pair of distorted views known as eternalism (sassatavāda) and annihilationism (ucchedavāda), also called, respectively, the view of existence (bhavadiṭṭhi) and the view of nonexistence (vibhavadiṭṭhi). Eternalism affirms an eternal component in the individual, an indestructible self, and an eternal ground of the world, such as an all-powerful creator God. Annihilationism denies that there is any survival beyond death, holding that the individual comes to a complete end with the demise of the physical body. Eternalism, according to the Buddha, leads to delight in existence and binds beings to the cycle of existence. Annihilationism is often accompanied by a disgust with existence that, paradoxically, binds its adherents to the same existence that they loathe. As we will see below, the Buddha’s teaching of dependent origination avoids both these futile ends (see IX, pp. 356–57).

Text VI,8 highlights a particular problem posed by eternalist views. Such views can inspire meditators to attain states of deep meditative bliss, which they interpret as union with a divine reality or realization of an eternal self. From the perspective of the Buddha’s teaching, however, such attainments merely create the karmic potential for rebirth into a realm in which that meditative experience becomes the fundamental condition of consciousness. In other words, the attainment of these states in the human realm generates rebirth into the corresponding planes in the realm of subtle form or the formless realm. While many religions point to a divine realm as the final answer to the human predicament, the Buddha’s teaching holds that these worlds offer no final outlet from the impermanence and misery of saṃsāra.

The text cited here shows that certain meditators attain the four “divine abodes” and take rebirth in the corresponding planes of the brahma world, where they might abide even for as long as five hundred great eons. Eventually, however, they must inevitably pass away and may then fall into the unfortunate realms of rebirth. Similar texts not included here (AN 3:114, 4:124) say the same respectively about realms of rebirth corresponding to the jhānas and the formless attainments.

The two suttas that constitute the final section of this chapter again take up the unsatisfactoriness and insecurity of conditioned existence, reinforcing their message with dramatic imagery. In Text VI,9(1), the Buddha declares that the amount of tears we have shed while wandering through the round of rebirths is greater than the water in the four great oceans. In Text VI,9(2), he tells a group of thirty monks that the amount of blood they have shed when they were slaughtered and executed in the round of rebirths is greater than the water in the four great oceans. According to the compilers of the sutta, the impact of this discourse upon the thirty monks was so powerful that all attained full liberation on the spot.

1. FOUR WONDERFUL THINGS

“Monks, on the manifestation of the Tathāgata, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One, four wonderful and marvelous things appear. What four?

“People for the most part delight in attachment, take delight in attachment, rejoice in attachment. But when the Dhamma of nonattachment is taught by the Tathāgata, people wish to listen to it, lend an ear, and try to understand it. This is the first wonderful and marvelous thing that appears on the manifestation of the Tathāgata, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One.

“People for the most part delight in conceit, take delight in conceit, rejoice in conceit. But when the Dhamma is taught by the Tathāgata for the abolition of conceit, people wish to listen to it, lend an ear, and try to understand it. This is the second wonderful and marvelous thing that appears on the manifestation of the Tathāgata, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One.

“People for the most part delight in restlessness, take delight in restlessness, rejoice in restlessness. But when the Dhamma of peace is taught by the Tathāgata, people wish to listen to it, lend an ear, and try to understand it. This is the third wonderful and marvelous thing that appears on the manifestation of the Tathāgata, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One.

“People for the most part live in ignorance, are blinded by ignorance, fettered by ignorance. But when the Dhamma is taught by the Tathāgata for the abolition of ignorance, people wish to listen to it, lend an ear, and try to understand it. This is the fourth wonderful and marvelous thing that appears on the manifestation of a Tathāgata, an Arahant, a Perfectly Enlightened One.

“On the manifestation of the Tathāgata, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One, these four wonderful and marvelous things appear.”

(AN 4:128; II 131–32)

2. GRATIFICATION, DANGER, AND ESCAPE

(1) Before My Enlightenment

“Before my enlightenment, O monks, while I was still a bodhisatta, it occurred to me: ‘What is the gratification in the world, what is the danger in the world, what is the escape from the world?’ Then it occurred to me: ‘Whatever pleasure and joy there is in the world, this is the gratification in the world; that the world is impermanent, bound up with suffering, and subject to change, this is the danger in the world; the removal and abandoning of desire and lust for the world, this is the escape from the world.’

“So long, monks, as I did not directly know, as they really are, the gratification in the world as gratification, its danger as danger, and the escape from the world as escape, for so long I did not claim to have awakened to the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment in this world with its devas, Māra, and Brahmā, in this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its devas and humans.

“But when I directly knew all this, then I claimed to have awakened to the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment in this world with … its devas and humans. The knowledge and vision arose in me: ‘Unshakable is the liberation of my mind; this is my last birth; there is now no renewed existence.’”

(AN 3:101 §§1–2; I 258–59)

(2) I Set Out Seeking

“O monks, I set out seeking the gratification in the world. Whatever gratification there is in the world, that I have found. I have clearly seen with wisdom just how far the gratification in the world extends.

“I set out seeking the danger in the world. Whatever danger there is in the world, that I have found. I have clearly seen with wisdom just how far the danger in the world extends.

“I set out seeking an escape from the world. Whatever escape there is from the world, that I have found. I have clearly seen with wisdom just how far the escape from the world extends.”

(AN 3:101 §3; I 259)

(3) If There Were No Gratification

“If, monks, there were no gratification in the world, beings would not become enamored with the world. But because there is gratification in the world, beings become enamored with it.

“If there were no danger in the world, beings would not become disenchanted with the world. But because there is danger in the world, beings become disenchanted with it.

“If there were no escape from the world, beings could not escape from it. But as there is an escape from the world, beings can escape from it.”

(AN 3:102; I 260)

3. PROPERLY APPRAISING OBJECTS OF ATTACHMENT

1. Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park.

2. Then, when it was morning, a number of monks dressed, and taking their bowls and outer robes, went into Sāvatthī for alms. Then they thought: “It is still too early to wander for alms in Sāvatthī. Suppose we went to the park of the wanderers of other sects.” So they went to the park of the wanderers of other sects and exchanged greetings with the wanderers. When this courteous and amiable talk was finished, they sat down at one side. The wanderers said to them:

3. “Friends, the ascetic Gotama describes the full understanding of sensual pleasures, and we do so too; the ascetic Gotama describes the full understanding of form, and we do so too; the ascetic Gotama describes the full understanding of feelings, and we do so too. What then is the distinction here, friends, what is the variance, what is the difference between the ascetic Gotama’s teaching of the Dhamma and ours, between his instructions and ours?”1

4. Then those monks neither approved nor disapproved of the wanderers’ words. Without doing either they rose from their seats and went away, thinking: “We shall come to understand the meaning of these words in the Blessed One’s presence.”

5. When they had wandered for alms in Sāvatthī and had returned from their almsround, after the meal they went to the Blessed One, and after paying homage to him, they sat down at one side and told him what had taken place. [The Blessed One said:]

6. “Monks, wanderers of other sects who speak thus should be questioned thus: ‘But, friends, what is the gratification, what is the danger, and what is the escape in the case of sensual pleasures? What is the gratification, what is the danger, and what is the escape in the case of form? What is the gratification, what is the danger, and what is the escape in the case of feelings?’ If they are questioned thus, wanderers of other sects will fail to account for the matter, and what is more, they will get into difficulties. Why is that? Because it is not their province. Monks, I see no one in the world with its devas, Māra, and Brahmā, in this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its devas and humans, who could satisfy the mind with a reply to these questions except for the Tathāgata or his disciple or one who has learned it from them.

[sensual pleasures]

7. (i) “And what, monks, is the gratification in the case of sensual pleasures? Monks, there are these five cords of sensual pleasure. What are the five? Forms cognizable by the eye that are wished for, desired, agreeable and likeable, connected with sensual desire, and provocative of lust. Sounds cognizable by the ear.… Odors cognizable by the nose.… Flavors cognizable by the tongue.… Tactile objects cognizable by the body that are wished for, desired, agreeable and likeable, connected with sensual desire, and provocative of lust. These are the five cords of sensual pleasure. Now the pleasure and joy that arise dependent on these five cords of sensual pleasure are the gratification in the case of sensual pleasures.

8. (ii) “And what, monks, is the danger in the case of sensual pleasures? Here, monks, on account of the craft by which a clansman makes a living—whether checking, accounting, calculating, farming, trading, husbandry, archery, the royal service, or whatever craft it may be—he has to face cold and heat; he is injured by contact with gadflies, mosquitoes, wind, sun, and creeping things; he risks death by hunger and thirst. Now this is a danger in the case of sensual pleasures, a mass of suffering visible in this present life, having sensual pleasures as its cause, source, and basis, the cause being simply sensual pleasures.

9. “If no property comes to the clansman while he works and strives and makes an effort thus, he sorrows, grieves, and laments, he weeps beating his breast and becomes distraught, crying: ‘My work is in vain, my effort is fruitless!’ Now this too is a danger in the case of sensual pleasures, a mass of suffering visible in this present life, having sensual pleasures as its cause, source, and basis, the cause being simply sensual pleasures.

10. “If property comes to the clansman while he works and strives and makes an effort thus, he experiences pain and grief in protecting it: ‘How shall neither kings nor thieves make off with my property, nor fire burn it, nor water sweep it away, nor unloved heirs make off with it?’ And as he guards and protects his property, kings or thieves make off with it, or fire burns it, or water sweeps it away, or unloved heirs make off with it. And he sorrows, grieves, and laments, he weeps beating his breast and becomes distraught, crying: ‘I no longer have my property!’ Now this too is a danger in the case of sensual pleasures, a mass of suffering visible in this present life, having sensual pleasures as its cause, source, and basis, the cause being simply sensual pleasures.

11. “Again, with sensual pleasures as the cause … kings quarrel with kings, khattiyas with khattiyas, brahmins with brahmins, householders with householders; mother quarrels with son, son with mother, father with son, son with father; brother quarrels with brother, brother with sister, sister with brother, friend with friend. And here in their quarrels, brawls, and disputes they attack each other with fists, clods, sticks, or knives, whereby they incur death or deadly suffering. Now this too is a danger in the case of sensual pleasures, a mass of suffering visible in this present life, having sensual pleasures as its cause, source, and basis, the cause being simply sensual pleasures.

12. “Again, with sensual pleasures as the cause … men take swords and shields and buckle on bows and quivers, and they charge into battle massed in double array with arrows and spears flying and swords flashing; and there they are wounded by arrows and spears, and their heads are cut off by swords, whereby they incur death or deadly suffering. Now this too is a danger in the case of sensual pleasures, a mass of suffering visible in this present life, having sensual pleasures as its cause, source, and basis, the cause being simply sensual pleasures.

13. “Again, with sensual pleasures as the cause … men take swords and shields and buckle on bows and quivers, and they charge slippery bastions, with arrows and spears flying and swords flashing; and there they are wounded by arrows and spears and splashed with boiling liquids and crushed under heavy weights, and their heads are cut off by swords, whereby they incur death or deadly suffering. Now this too is a danger in the case of sensual pleasures, a mass of suffering visible in this present life, having sensual pleasures as its cause, source, and basis, the cause being simply sensual pleasures.

14. “Again, with sensual pleasures as the cause … men break into houses, plunder wealth, commit burglary, ambush highways, seduce others’ wives, and when they are caught, kings have many kinds of torture inflicted on them … whereby they incur death or deadly suffering. Now this too is a danger in the case of sensual pleasures, a mass of suffering visible in this present life, having sensual pleasures as its cause, source, and basis, the cause being simply sensual pleasures.

15. “Again, with sensual pleasures as the cause … people indulge in misconduct of body, speech, and mind. Having done so, on the breakup of the body, after death, they are reborn in a state of misery, in a bad destination, in the lower world, in hell. Now this is a danger in the case of sensual pleasures, a mass of suffering in the life to come,2 having sensual pleasures as its cause, source, and basis, the cause being simply sensual pleasures.

16. (iii) “And what, monks, is the escape in the case of sensual pleasures? It is the removal of desire and lust, the abandonment of desire and lust for sensual pleasures. This is the escape in the case of sensual pleasures.

17. “That those ascetics and brahmins who do not understand as it really is the gratification as gratification, the danger as danger, and the escape as escape in the case of sensual pleasures, can either themselves fully understand sensual pleasures or instruct others so that they can fully understand sensual pleasures—that is impossible. That those ascetics and brahmins who understand as it really is the gratification as gratification, the danger as danger, and the escape as escape in the case of sensual pleasures, can themselves fully understand sensual pleasures and instruct others so that they can fully understand sensual pleasures—that is possible.

[form]

18. (i) “And what, monks, is the gratification in the case of form? Suppose there were a girl of the khattiya class or the brahmin class or of householder stock, in her fifteenth or sixteenth year, neither too tall nor too short, neither too thin nor too fat, neither too dark nor too fair. Is her beauty and loveliness then at its height?”—“Yes, venerable sir.”—“Now the pleasure and joy that arise in dependence on that beauty and loveliness are the gratification in the case of form.

19. (ii) “And what, monks, is the danger in the case of form? Later on one might see that same woman here at eighty, ninety, or a hundred years, aged, as crooked as a roof bracket, doubled up, supported by a walking stick, tottering, frail, her youth gone, her teeth broken, gray-haired, scanty-haired, bald, wrinkled, with limbs all blotchy. What do you think, monks? Has her former beauty and loveliness vanished and the danger become evident?”—“Yes, venerable sir.”—“Monks, this is a danger in the case of form.

20. “Again, one might see that same woman afflicted, suffering, and gravely ill, lying fouled in her own urine and excrement, lifted up by some and set down by others. What do you think, monks? Has her former beauty and loveliness vanished and the danger become evident?”—“Yes, venerable sir.”—“Monks, this too is a danger in the case of form.

21. “Again, one might see that same woman as a corpse thrown aside in a charnel ground, one, two, or three days dead, bloated, livid, and oozing matter. What do you think, monks? Has her former beauty and loveliness vanished and the danger become evident?”—“Yes, venerable sir.”—“Monks, this too is a danger in the case of form.

22–29. “Again, one might see that same woman as a corpse thrown aside in a charnel ground, being devoured by crows, hawks, vultures, dogs, jackals, or various kinds of worms … a skeleton with flesh and blood, held together with sinews … a fleshless skeleton smeared with blood, held together with sinews … a skeleton without flesh and blood, held together with sinews … disconnected bones scattered in all directions—here a hand-bone, there a foot-bone, here a thigh-bone, there a rib-bone, here a hip-bone, there a back-bone, here the skull … bones bleached white, the color of shells … bones heaped up … bones more than a year old, rotted and crumbled to dust. What do you think, monks? Has her former beauty and loveliness vanished and the danger become evident?”—“Yes, venerable sir.”—“Monks, this too is a danger in the case of form.

30. (iii) “And what, monks, is the escape in the case of form? It is the removal of desire and lust, the abandonment of desire and lust for form. This is the escape in the case of form.

31. “That those ascetics and brahmins who do not understand as it really is the gratification as gratification, the danger as danger, and the escape as escape in the case of form, can either themselves fully understand form or instruct others so that they can fully understand form—that is impossible. That those ascetics and brahmins who understand as it really is the gratification as gratification, the danger as danger, and the escape as escape in the case of form, can themselves fully understand form and instruct others so that they can fully understand form—that is possible.

[feelings]

32. (i) “And what, monks, is the gratification in the case of feelings? Here, monks, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a monk enters upon and dwells in the first jhāna, which is accompanied by thought and examination, with rapture and happiness born of seclusion. On such an occasion he does not choose for his own affliction, or for another’s affliction, or for the affliction of both. On that occasion he feels only feeling that is free from affliction. The highest gratification in the case of feelings is freedom from affliction, I say.

33–35. “Again, with the stilling of thought and examination, a monk enters upon and dwells in the second jhāna.… With the fading away as well of rapture … he enters upon and dwells in the third jhāna.… With the abandoning of pleasure and pain he enters upon and dwells in the fourth jhāna.… On such an occasion he does not choose for his own affliction, or for another’s affliction, or for the affliction of both. On that occasion he feels only feeling that is free from affliction. The highest gratification in the case of feelings is freedom from affliction, I say.

36. (ii) “And what, monks, is the danger in the case of feelings? Feelings are impermanent, suffering, and subject to change. This is the danger in the case of feelings.

37. (iii) “And what, monks, is the escape in the case of feelings? It is the removal of desire and lust, the abandonment of desire and lust for feelings. This is the escape in the case of feelings.

38. “That those ascetics and brahmins who do not understand as it really is the gratification as gratification, the danger as danger, and the escape as escape in the case of feelings, can either themselves fully understand feelings or instruct others so that they can fully understand feelings—that is impossible. That those ascetics and brahmins who understand as it really is the gratification as gratification, the danger as danger, and the escape as escape in the case of feelings, can themselves fully understand feelings and instruct others so that they can fully understand feelings—that is possible.”

That is what the Blessed One said. The monks were satisfied and delighted in the Blessed One’s words.

(MN 13: Mahādukkhakkhandha Sutta; I 84–90)

4. THE PITFALLS IN SENSUAL PLEASURES

(1) Cutting Off All Affairs

[The householder Potaliya asked the Blessed One:]

“Venerable sir, how is the cutting off of affairs3 in the Noble One’s discipline achieved entirely and in all ways? It would be good, venerable sir, if the Blessed One would teach me the Dhamma, showing me how the cutting off of affairs in the Noble One’s discipline is achieved entirely and in all ways.”

“Then listen, householder, and attend closely to what I shall say.”

“Yes, venerable sir,” Potaliya the householder replied. The Blessed One said this:

15. “Householder, suppose a dog, overcome by hunger and weakness, was waiting by a butcher’s shop. Then a skilled butcher or his apprentice would toss the dog a well-hacked, clean-hacked skeleton of meatless bones smeared with blood. What do you think, householder? Would that dog get rid of his hunger and weakness by gnawing such a well-hacked, clean-hacked skeleton of meatless bones smeared with blood?”

“No, venerable sir. Why is that? Because that was a skeleton of well-hacked, clean-hacked meatless bones smeared with blood. Eventually that dog would reap weariness and disappointment.”

“So too, householder, a noble disciple considers thus: ‘Sensual pleasures have been compared to a skeleton by the Blessed One; they provide much suffering and much despair, while the danger in them is still more.’ Having seen this thus as it really is with proper wisdom, he avoids the equanimity that is diversified, based on diversity, and develops the equanimity that is unified, based on unity,4 where clinging to the carnal things of the world utterly ceases without remainder.

16. “Householder, suppose a vulture, a heron, or a hawk seized a piece of meat and flew away, and then other vultures, herons, and hawks pursued it and pecked and clawed it. What do you think, householder? If that first vulture, heron, or hawk does not quickly let go of that piece of meat, wouldn’t it thereby incur death or deadly suffering?”

“Yes, venerable sir.”

“So too, householder, a noble disciple considers thus: ‘Sensual pleasures have been compared to a piece of meat by the Blessed One; they provide much suffering and much despair, while the danger in them is still more.’ Having seen this thus as it really is with proper wisdom … clinging to the carnal things of the world utterly ceases without remainder.

17. “Householder, suppose a man took a blazing grass torch and went against the wind. What do you think, householder? If that man does not quickly let go of that blazing grass torch, wouldn’t that blazing grass torch burn his hand or his arm or some other part of his body, so that he might incur death or deadly suffering because of that?”

“Yes, venerable sir.”

“So too, householder, a noble disciple considers thus: ‘Sensual pleasures have been compared to a grass torch by the Blessed One; they provide much suffering and much despair, while the danger in them is still more.’ Having seen this thus as it really is with proper wisdom … clinging to the carnal things of the world utterly ceases without remainder.

18. “Householder, suppose there were a charcoal pit deeper than a man’s height full of glowing coals without flame or smoke. Then a man came who wanted to live and not to die, who wanted pleasure and recoiled from pain, and two strong men seized him by both arms and dragged him toward that charcoal pit. What do you think, householder? Would that man twist his body this way and that?”

“Yes, venerable sir. Why is that? Because that man knows that if he falls into that charcoal pit, he will incur death or deadly suffering because of that.”

“So too, householder, a noble disciple considers thus: ‘Sensual pleasures have been compared to a charcoal pit by the Blessed One; they provide much suffering and much despair, while the danger in them is still more.’ Having seen this thus as it really is with proper wisdom… clinging to the carnal things of the world utterly ceases without remainder.

19. “Householder, suppose a man dreamed about lovely parks, lovely groves, lovely meadows, and lovely lakes, and on waking he saw nothing of them. So too, householder, a noble disciple considers thus: ‘Sensual pleasures have been compared to a dream by the Blessed One; they provide much suffering and much despair, while the danger in them is still more.’ Having seen this thus as it really is with proper wisdom … clinging to the carnal things of the world utterly ceases without remainder.

20. “Householder, suppose a man borrowed goods on loan—a fancy carriage and fine jewel earrings—and preceded and surrounded by those borrowed goods he went to the marketplace. Then people, seeing him, would say: ‘Sirs, that is a rich man! That is how the rich enjoy their wealth!’ Then the owners, whenever they saw him, would take back their things. What do you think, householder? Would that be enough for that man to become dejected?”

“Yes, venerable sir. Why is that? Because the owners took back their things.”

“So too, householder, a noble disciple considers thus: ‘Sensual pleasures have been compared to borrowed goods by the Blessed One; they provide much suffering and much despair, while the danger in them is still more.’ Having seen this thus as it really is with proper wisdom … clinging to carnal things of the world utterly ceases without remainder.

21. “Householder, suppose a dense grove not far from some village or town had a fruit-laden tree, none of whose fruit had fallen to the ground. Then a man came needing fruit, seeking fruit, wandering in search of fruit, and he entered the grove and saw the tree laden with fruit. Thereupon he thought: ‘This tree is laden with fruit but none of its fruit has fallen to the ground. I know how to climb a tree, so let me climb this tree, eat as much fruit as I want, and fill my bag.’ And he did so. Then a second man came needing fruit, seeking fruit, wandering in search of fruit, and taking a sharp axe, he too entered the grove and saw that tree laden with fruit. Thereupon he thought: ‘This tree is laden with fruit but none of its fruit has fallen to the ground. I do not know how to climb a tree, so let me cut this tree down at its root, eat as much fruit as I want, and fill my bag.’ And he did so. What do you think, householder? If that first man who had climbed the tree doesn’t come down quickly, when the tree falls, wouldn’t he break his hand or foot or some other part of his body, so that he might incur death or deadly suffering because of that?”

“Yes, venerable sir.”

“So too, householder, a noble disciple considers thus: ‘Sensual pleasures have been compared to fruits on a tree by the Blessed One; they provide much suffering and much despair, while the danger in them is still more.’ Having seen this thus as it really is with proper wisdom, he avoids the equanimity that is diversified, based on diversity, and develops the equanimity that is unified, based on unity, where clinging to the carnal things of the world utterly ceases without remainder.”

(from MN 54: Potaliya Sutta; I 364–66)

(2) The Fever of Sensual Pleasures

10. “Māgandiya, formerly when I lived the household life, I enjoyed myself, provided and endowed with the five cords of sensual pleasure: with forms cognizable by the eye … with sounds cognizable by the ear … with odors cognizable by the nose … with flavors cognizable by the tongue … with tactile objects cognizable by the body that are wished for, desired, agreeable, and likeable, connected with sensual desire and provocative of lust.5 I had three palaces, one for the rainy season, one for the winter, and one for the summer. I lived in the rains’ palace for the four months of the rainy season, enjoying myself with musicians, none male, and I did not go down to the lower palace.6

“On a later occasion, having understood as they really are the origin, the passing away, the gratification, the danger, and the escape in the case of sensual pleasures, I abandoned craving for sensual pleasures, I removed the fever of sensual pleasures, and I dwell without thirst, with a mind inwardly at peace. I see other people who are not free from lust for sensual pleasures being devoured by craving for sensual pleasures, burning with the fever of sensual pleasures, indulging in sensual pleasures, and I do not envy them, nor do I delight therein. Why is that? Because there is, Māgandiya, a delight apart from sensual pleasures, apart from unwholesome states, which surpasses even divine bliss.7 Since I take delight in that, I do not envy what is inferior, nor do I delight therein.

11. “Suppose, Māgandiya, a householder or a householder’s son was rich, affluent, and wealthy, and being provided and endowed with the five cords of sensual pleasure, he might enjoy himself with forms cognizable by the eye … with sounds cognizable by the ear … with odors cognizable by the nose … with flavors cognizable by the tongue … with tactile objects cognizable by the body that are wished for, desired, agreeable and likeable, connected with sensual desire and provocative of lust. Having conducted himself well in body, speech, and mind, on the breakup of the body, after death, he might be reborn in a good destination, in a heavenly world in the retinue of the Tāvatiṃsa devas; and there, surrounded by a group of nymphs in the Nandana Grove,8 he would enjoy himself provided and endowed with the five cords of divine sensual pleasure. Suppose he saw a householder or a householder’s son enjoying himself, provided and endowed with the five cords of [human] sensual pleasure. What do you think, Māgandiya? Would that young deva surrounded by the group of nymphs in the Nandana Grove, enjoying himself provided and endowed with the five cords of divine sensual pleasure, envy the householder or the householder’s son for the five cords of human sensual pleasure or would he be enticed by human sensual pleasures?”

“No, Master Gotama. Why not? Because divine sensual pleasures are more excellent and sublime than human sensual pleasures.”

12. “So too, Māgandiya, formerly when I lived the household life, I enjoyed myself, provided and endowed with the five cords of sensual pleasure: with forms cognizable by the eye … with tactile objects cognizable by the body that are wished for, desired, agreeable, and likeable, connected with sensual desire and provocative of lust. On a later occasion, having understood as they really are the gratification, the danger, and the escape in the case of sensual pleasures, I abandoned craving for sensual pleasures, I removed the fever of sensual pleasures, and I dwell without thirst, with a mind inwardly at peace. I see other people who are not free from lust for sensual pleasures being devoured by craving for sensual pleasures, burning with the fever of sensual pleasures, indulging in sensual pleasures, and I do not envy them nor do I delight therein. Why is that? Because there is, Māgandiya, a delight apart from sensual pleasures, apart from unwholesome states, which surpasses even divine bliss. Since I take delight in that, I do not envy what is inferior, nor do I delight therein.

13. “Suppose, Māgandiya, there was a leper with sores and blisters on his limbs, being devoured by worms, scratching the scabs off the openings of his wounds with his nails, cauterizing his body over a burning charcoal pit. Then his friends and companions, his kinsmen and relatives, would bring a physician to treat him. The physician would make medicine for him, and by means of that medicine the man would be cured of his leprosy and would become well and happy, independent, master of himself, able to go where he likes. Then he might see another leper with sores and blisters on his limbs, being devoured by worms, scratching the scabs off the openings of his wounds with his nails, cauterizing his body over a burning charcoal pit. What do you think, Māgandiya? Would that man envy that leper for his burning charcoal pit or his use of medicine?”

“No, Master Gotama. Why is that? Because when there is sickness, there is need for medicine, and when there is no sickness there is no need for medicine.”

14. “So too, Māgandiya, formerly when I lived the household life … [as in §12] … Since I take delight in that, I do not envy what is inferior, nor do I delight therein.

15. “Suppose, Māgandiya, there was a leper with sores and blisters on his limbs, being devoured by worms, scratching the scabs off the openings of his wounds with his nails, cauterizing his body over a burning charcoal pit. Then his friends and companions, his kinsmen and relatives, brought a physician to treat him. The physician would make medicine for him, and by means of that medicine the man would be cured of his leprosy and would become well and happy, independent, master of himself, able to go where he likes. Then two strong men would seize him by both arms and drag him toward a burning charcoal pit. What do you think, Māgandiya? Would that man twist his body this way and that?”

“Yes, Master Gotama. Why is that? Because that fire is indeed painful to touch, hot, and scorching.”

“What do you think, Māgandiya? Is it only now that that fire is painful to touch, hot, and scorching, or previously too was that fire painful to touch, hot, and scorching?”

“Master Gotama, that fire is now painful to touch, hot, and scorching, and previously too that fire was painful to touch, hot, and scorching. For when that man was a leper with sores and blisters on his limbs, being devoured by worms, scratching the scabs off the openings of his wounds with his nails, his faculties were impaired; thus, though the fire was actually painful to touch, he acquired a mistaken perception of it as pleasant.”

16. “So too, Māgandiya, in the past sensual pleasures were painful to touch, hot, and scorching; in the future sensual pleasures will be painful to touch, hot, and scorching; and now at present sensual pleasures are painful to touch, hot, and scorching. But these people who are not free from lust for sensual pleasures, who are devoured by craving for sensual pleasures, who burn with the fever of sensual pleasures, have faculties that are impaired; thus, though sensual pleasures are actually painful to touch, they acquire a mistaken perception of them as pleasant.9

17. “Suppose, Māgandiya, there was a leper with sores and blisters on his limbs, being devoured by worms, scratching the scabs off the openings of his wounds with his nails, cauterizing his body over a burning charcoal pit; the more he scratches the scabs and cauterizes his body, the fouler, more evil-smelling, and more infected the openings of his wounds would become, yet he would find a certain measure of satisfaction and enjoyment in scratching the openings of his wounds. So too, Māgandiya, people who are not free from lust for sensual pleasures, who are devoured by craving for sensual pleasures, who burn with the fever of sensual pleasures, still indulge in sensual pleasures; the more they indulge in sensual pleasures, the more their craving for sensual pleasures increases and the more they are burned by the fever of sensual pleasures, yet they find a certain measure of satisfaction and enjoyment in dependence on the five cords of sensual pleasure.”

(from MN 75: Māgandiya Sutta; I 504–8)

5. LIFE IS SHORT AND FLEETING

“Long ago, O monks, there lived a religious teacher named Araka, who was free of sensual lust. He had many hundreds of disciples, and this was the doctrine he taught to them:

“’Short is the life of human beings, O brahmins, limited and brief; it is full of suffering, full of tribulation. This one should wisely understand. One should do good and live a pure life; for none who is born can escape death.

“’Just as a dew drop on the tip of a blade of grass will quickly vanish at sunrise and will not last long; even so, brahmins, is human life like a dew drop. It is short, limited, and brief; it is full of suffering, full of tribulation. This one should wisely understand. One should do good and live a pure life; for none who is born can escape death.

“’Just as, when rain falls from the sky in thick drops, a bubble appearing on the water will quickly vanish and will not last long; even so, brahmins, is human life like a water bubble. It is short … for none who is born can escape death.

“’Just as a line drawn on water with a stick will quickly vanish and will not last long; even so, brahmins, is human life like a line drawn on water. It is short … for none who is born can escape death.

“’Just as a mountain stream, coming from afar, swiftly flowing, carrying along much flotsam, will not stand still for a moment, an instant, a second, but will rush on, swirl and flow forward; even so, brahmins, is human life like a mountain stream. It is short … for none who is born can escape death.

“’Just as a strong man might form a lump of spittle at the tip of his tongue and spit it out with ease; even so, brahmins, is human life like a lump of spittle. It is short … for none who is born can escape death.

“’Just as a piece of meat thrown into an iron pan heated all day will quickly burn up and will not last long; even so, brahmins, is human life like this piece of meat. It is short … for none who is born can escape death.

“’Just as, when a cow to be slaughtered is led to the shambles, whenever she lifts a leg she will be closer to slaughter, closer to death; even so, brahmins, is human life like cattle doomed to slaughter; it is short, limited, and brief. It is full of suffering, full of tribulation. This one should wisely understand. One should do good and live a pure life; for none who is born can escape death.’

“But at that time, O monks, the human lifespan was 60,000 years, and at 500 years girls were ready for marriage. In those days people had but six afflictions: cold, heat, hunger, thirst, excrement, and urine. Though people lived so long and had so few afflictions, that teacher Araka gave to his disciples such a teaching: ‘Short is the life of human beings.…’

“But nowadays, O monks, one could rightly say, ‘Short is the life of human beings …’; for today one who lives long lives for a hundred years or a little more. And when living for a hundred years, it is just for three hundred seasons: a hundred winters, a hundred summers, and a hundred rains. When living for three hundred seasons, it is just for twelve hundred months: four hundred winter months, four hundred summer months, and four hundred months of the rains. When living for twelve hundred months, it is just for twenty-four hundred fortnights: eight hundred fortnights of winter, eight hundred of summer, and eight hundred of the rains.

“And when living for twenty-four hundred fortnights, it is just for 36,000 days: 12,000 days of winter, 12,000 of summer, and 12,000 of the rains. And when living for 36,000 days, he eats just 72,000 meals: 24,000 meals in winter, 24,000 in summer, and 24,000 in the rains. And this includes the taking of mother’s milk and the times without food. These are the times without food: when agitated or grieved or sick, when observing a fast, or when not obtaining anything to eat.

“Thus, O monks, I have reckoned the life of a centenarian: the limit of his lifespan, the number of seasons, years, months, and fortnights, of days and nights, of his meals and foodless times.

“Whatever should be done by a compassionate teacher who, out of compassion, seeks the welfare of his disciples, that I have done for you. These are the roots of trees, O monks, these are empty huts. Meditate, monks, do not be negligent, or else you will regret it later. This is our instruction to you.”

(AN 7:70; IV 136–39)

6. FOUR SUMMARIES OF THE DHAMMA

26. The Venerable Raṭṭhapāla went to King Koravya’s Migācīra garden and sat down at the root of a tree to pass the day.

27. Then King Koravya addressed his gamekeeper thus: “Good gamekeeper, tidy up the Migācīra Garden so that we may go to the pleasure garden to see a pleasing spot.”—“Yes, sire,” he replied. Now while he was tidying up the Migācīra Garden, the gamekeeper saw the Venerable Raṭṭhapāla seated at the root of a tree for the day’s abiding. When he saw him, he went to King Koravya and told him: “Sire, the Migācīra Garden has been tidied up. The clansman Raṭṭhapāla is there, the son of the leading clan in this same Thullakoṭṭhita, of whom you have always spoken highly; he is seated at the root of a tree for the day’s abiding.”

“Then, good gamekeeper, enough of the pleasure garden for today. Now we shall go to pay respects to that Master Raṭṭhapāla.”

28. Then, saying: “Give away all the food that has been prepared there,” King Koravya had a number of state carriages prepared, and mounting one of them, accompanied by the other carriages, he drove out from Thullakoṭṭhita with the full pomp of royalty to see the Venerable Raṭṭhapāla. He drove thus as far as the road was passable for carriages, and then he dismounted from his carriage and went forward on foot with a following of the most eminent officials to where the Venerable Raṭṭhapāla was. He exchanged greetings with the Venerable Raṭṭhapāla, and when this courteous and amiable talk was finished, he stood at one side and said: “Here is an elephant rug. Let Master Raṭṭhapāla be seated on it.”

“There is no need, great king. Sit down. I am sitting on my own mat.”

King Koravya sat down on a seat made ready and said:

29. “Master Raṭṭhapāla, there are four kinds of loss. Because they have undergone these four kinds of loss, some people here shave off their hair and beard, put on the ochre robe, and go forth from the household life into homelessness. What are the four? They are loss through aging, loss through sickness, loss of wealth, and loss of relatives.

30. “And what is loss through aging? Here, Master Raṭṭhapāla, someone is old, aged, burdened with years, advanced in life, come to the last stage. He considers thus: ‘I am old, aged, burdened with years, advanced in life, come to the last stage. It is no longer easy for me to acquire new wealth or to augment wealth already acquired. Suppose I shave off my hair and beard, put on the ochre robe, and go forth from the household life into homelessness.’ Because he has undergone that loss through aging, he shaves off his hair and beard, puts on the ochre robe, and goes forth from the household life into homelessness. This is called loss through aging. But Master Raṭṭhapāla is now still young, a black-haired young man endowed with the blessing of youth, in the prime of life. Master Raṭṭhapāla has not undergone any loss through aging. What has he known, seen, or heard that he has gone forth from the household life into homelessness?

31. “And what is loss through sickness? Here, Master Raṭṭhapāla, someone is afflicted, suffering, and gravely ill. He considers thus: ‘I am afflicted, suffering, and gravely ill. It is no longer easy for me to acquire new wealth … into homelessness.’ Because he has undergone that loss through sickness … he goes forth from the household life into homelessness. This is called loss through sickness. But Master Raṭṭhapāla now is free from illness and affliction; he possesses a good digestion that is neither too cool nor too warm but medium. Master Raṭṭhapāla has not undergone any loss through sickness. What has he known, seen, or heard that he has gone forth from the household life into homelessness?

32. “And what is loss of wealth? Here, Master Raṭṭhapāla, someone is rich, affluent, and wealthy. Gradually his wealth dwindles away. He considers thus: ‘Formerly I was rich, affluent, and wealthy. Gradually my wealth has dwindled away. It is no longer easy for me to acquire new wealth … into homelessness.’ Because he has undergone that loss of wealth … he goes forth from the household life into homelessness. This is called loss of wealth. But Master Raṭṭhapāla is the son of the leading clan in this same Thullakoṭṭhita. Master Raṭṭhapāla has not undergone any loss of wealth. What has he known, seen, or heard that he has gone forth from the household life into homelessness?

33. “And what is loss of relatives? Here, Master Raṭṭhapāla, someone has many friends and companions, kinsmen and relatives. Gradually those relatives of his dwindle away. He considers thus: ‘Formerly I had many friends and companions, kinsmen and relatives. Gradually those relatives of mine have dwindled away. It is no longer easy for me to acquire new wealth … into homelessness.’ Because he has undergone that loss of relatives … he goes forth from the household life into homelessness. This is called loss of relatives. But Master Raṭṭhapāla has many friends and companions, kinsmen and relatives, in this same Thullakoṭṭhita. Master Raṭṭhapāla has not undergone any loss of relatives. What has he known, seen, or heard that he has gone forth from the household life into homelessness?

34. “Master Raṭṭhapāla, these are the four kinds of loss. Because they have undergone these four kinds of loss, some people here shave off their hair and beard, put on the ochre robe, and go forth from the household life into homelessness. Master Raṭṭhapāla has not undergone any of these. What has he known, seen, or heard that he has gone forth from the household life into homelessness?”

35. “Great king, there are four summaries of the Dhamma that have been taught by the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One. Knowing and seeing and hearing them, I went forth from the household life into homelessness. What are the four?

36. (1) “‘[Life in] any world is unstable, it is swept away’: this is the first summary of the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One. Knowing and seeing and hearing this, I went forth from the household life into homelessness.

(2) “‘[Life in] any world has no shelter and no protector’: this is the second summary of the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One who knows and sees.…

(3) “‘[Life in] any world has nothing of its own; one has to leave all and pass on’: this is the third summary of the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One who knows and sees.…

(4) “‘[Life in] any world is incomplete, insatiate, the slave of craving’: this is the fourth summary of the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One who knows and sees.…

37. “Great king, these are the four summaries of the Dhamma that have been taught by the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One. Knowing and seeing and hearing them, I went forth from the household life into homelessness.”

38. “Master Raṭṭhapāla said: ‘[Life in] any world is unstable, it is swept away.’ How should the meaning of that statement be understood?”

“What do you think, great king? When you were twenty or twenty-five years old, were you an expert rider of elephants, an expert horseman, an expert charioteer, an expert archer, an expert swordsman, strong in thighs and arms, sturdy, capable in battle?”

“I certainly was, Master Raṭṭhapāla. Sometimes I wonder if I had supernormal power then. I do not see anyone who could equal me in strength.”

“What do you think, great king? Are you now as strong in thighs and arms, as sturdy and as capable in battle?”

“No, Master Raṭṭhapāla. Now I am old, aged, burdened with years, advanced in life, come to the last stage; my years have turned eighty. Sometimes I mean to put my foot here and I put my foot somewhere else.”

“Great king, it was on account of this that the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One, said: ‘[Life in] any world is unstable, it is swept away’; and when I knew, saw, and heard this, I went forth from the household life into homelessness.”

“It is wonderful, Master Raṭṭhapāla, it is marvelous how well that has been expressed by the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One: ‘[Life in] any world is unstable, it is swept away.’ It is indeed so!

39. “Master Raṭṭhapāla, there exist in this court elephant troops and cavalry and chariot troops and infantry, which will serve to subdue any threats to us. Now Master Raṭṭhapāla said: ‘[Life in] any world has no shelter and no protector.’ How should the meaning of that statement be understood?”

“What do you think, great king? Do you have any chronic ailment?”

“I have a chronic wind ailment, Master Raṭṭhapāla. Sometimes my friends and companions, kinsmen and relatives, stand around me, thinking: ‘Now King Koravya is about to die, now King Koravya is about to die!’”

“What do you think, great king? Can you command your friends and companions, your kinsmen and relatives: ‘Come, my good friends and companions, my kinsmen and relatives. All of you present share this painful feeling so that I may feel less pain’? Or do you have to feel that pain yourself alone?”

“I cannot command my friends and companions, my kinsmen and relatives thus, Master Raṭṭhapāla. I have to feel that pain alone.”

“Great king, it was on account of this that the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One, said: ‘[Life in] any world has no shelter and no protector’; and when I knew, saw, and heard this, I went forth from the household life into homelessness.”

“It is wonderful, Master Raṭṭhapāla, it is marvelous how well that has been expressed by the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One: ‘[Life in] any world has no shelter and no protector.’ It is indeed so!

40. “Master Raṭṭhapāla, there exist in this court abundant gold coins and bullion stored away in vaults and lofts. Now Master Raṭṭhapāla said: ‘[Life in] any world has nothing of its own; one has to leave all and pass on.’ How should the meaning of that statement be understood?”

“What do you think, great king? You now enjoy yourself provided and endowed with the five cords of sensual pleasure, but can you be certain that in the life to come you will likewise enjoy yourself provided and endowed with these same five cords of sensual pleasure? Or will others take over this property, while you will have to pass on according to your actions?”

“I cannot be certain of what will happen in the life to come, Master Raṭṭhapāla. On the contrary, others will take over this property while I shall have to pass on according to my actions.”

“Great king, it was on account of this that the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One, said: ‘[Life in] any world has nothing of its own; one has to leave all and pass on’; and when I knew, saw, and heard this, I went forth from the household life into homelessness.”

“It is wonderful, Master Raṭṭhapāla, it is marvelous how well that has been expressed by the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One: ‘[Life in] any world has nothing of its own; one has to leave all and pass on.’ It is indeed so!

41. “Now Master Raṭṭhapāla said: ‘[Life in] any world is incomplete, insatiate, the slave of craving.’ How should the meaning of that statement be understood?”

“What do you think, great king? Do you reign over the rich Kuru country?”

“Yes, Master Raṭṭhapāla, I do.”

“What do you think, great king? Suppose a trustworthy and reliable man came to you from the east and said: ‘Please know, great king, that I have come from the east, and there I saw a large country, powerful and rich, very populous and crowded with people. There are plenty of elephant troops there, plenty of cavalry, chariot troops, and infantry; there is plenty of ivory there, and plenty of gold coins and bullion both unworked and worked, and plenty of women for wives. With your present forces you can conquer it. Conquer it then, great king.’ What would you do?”

“We would conquer it and reign over it, Master Raṭṭhapāla.”

“What do you think, great king? Suppose a trustworthy and reliable man came to you from the west … from the north … from the south … from across the sea and said: ‘Please know, great king, that I have come from across the sea, and there I saw a large country, powerful and rich.… Conquer it then, great king.’ What would you do?”

“We would conquer it too and reign over it, Master Raṭṭhapāla.”

“Great king, it was on account of this that the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One, said: ‘[Life in] any world is incomplete, insatiate, the slave of craving’; and when I knew, saw, and heard this, I went forth from the household life into homelessness.”

“It is wonderful, Master Raṭṭhapāla, it is marvelous how well that has been expressed by the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One: ‘[Life in] any world is incomplete, insatiate, the slave of craving.’ It is indeed so!”

(from MN 82: Raṭṭhapāla Sutta; II 65–82)

7. THE DANGER IN VIEWS

(1) A Miscellany on Wrong View

“Monks, I do not see even one other thing on account of which unarisen unwholesome qualities of mind arise and arisen unwholesome qualities of mind increase and expand so much as on account of wrong view.10 For one of wrong view, unarisen unwholesome qualities of mind arise and arisen unwholesome qualities of mind increase and expand.

“Monks, I do not see even one other thing on account of which unarisen wholesome qualities of mind do not arise and arisen wholesome qualities of mind diminish so much as on account of wrong view. For one of wrong view, unarisen wholesome qualities of mind do not arise and arisen wholesome qualities of mind diminish.

“Monks, I do not see even one other thing on account of which, with the breakup of the body, after death, beings are reborn in a state of misery, in a bad destination, in the lower world, in hell, so much as on account of wrong view. Possessing wrong view, with the breakup of the body, after death, beings are reborn in a state of misery, in a bad destination, in the lower world, in hell.

“Monks, for a person of wrong view, whatever bodily, verbal, or mental conduct he undertakes in accordance with that view, and whatever volition, aspiration, wish, and volitional formations he engenders in accordance with that view, all lead to what is undesirable, unwanted, and disagreeable, to harm and suffering. For what reason? Because the view is bad. Just as, when a seed of neem, bitter cucumber, or bitter gourd is planted in moist soil, it transforms any nutriment it obtains from the soil and the water into a fruit with a bitter, harsh, and disagreeable taste, even so is it for a person of wrong view. For what reason? Because the view is bad.”

(AN 1: xvii, 1, 3, 7, 9; I 30–32)

(2) The Blind Men and the Elephant

On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park. Now at that time a number of ascetics and brahmins, wanderers of other sects, were living around Sāvatthī. They held various views, beliefs, and opinions, and propagated various views. And they were quarrelsome, disputatious, wrangling, wounding each other with verbal darts, saying, “The Dhamma is like this, the Dhamma is not like that! The Dhamma is not like this, the Dhamma is like that!”

Then a number of monks entered Sāvatthī on almsround. Having returned, after their meal they approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, sat down to one side, and told him what they had seen. [The Blessed One said:]

“Monks, wanderers of other sects are blind and sightless. They do not know what is beneficial and harmful. They do not know what is the Dhamma and what is not the Dhamma, and thus they are so quarrelsome and disputatious.

“Formerly, monks, there was a king in Sāvatthī who addressed a man and asked him to round up all the persons in the city who were blind from birth. When the man had done so, the king asked the man to show the blind men an elephant. To some of the blind men he presented the head of the elephant, to some the ear, to others a tusk, the trunk, the body, a foot, the hindquarters, the tail, or the tuft at the end of the tail. And to each one he said, ‘This is an elephant.’

“When he reported to the king what he had done, the king went to the blind men and asked them, ‘Tell me, blind men, what is an elephant like?’

“Those who had been shown the head of the elephant replied, ‘An elephant, your majesty, is just like a water jar.’ Those who had been shown the ear replied, ‘An elephant is just like a winnowing basket.’ Those who had been shown the tusk replied, ‘An elephant is just like a plowshare.’ Those who had been shown the trunk replied, ‘An elephant is just like a plow pole.’ Those who had been shown the body replied, ‘An elephant is just like a storeroom.’ And each of the others likewise described the elephant in terms of the part they had been shown.

“Then, saying, ‘An elephant is like this, an elephant is not like that! An elephant is not like this, an elephant is like that!’ they fought each other with their fists. And the king was delighted. Even so, monks, are the wanderers of other sects blind and sightless, and thus they become quarrelsome, disputatious, and wrangling, wounding each other with verbal darts.”

(Ud 6:4; 67–69)

(3) Held by Two Kinds of Views

“Monks, held by two kinds of views, some devas and human beings hold back and some overreach; only those with vision see.

“And how, monks, do some hold back? Devas and human beings delight in existence, are delighted with existence, rejoice in existence. When the Dhamma is taught to them for the cessation of existence, their minds do not enter into it, acquire confidence in it, settle upon it, or resolve upon it. Thus, monks, do some hold back.

“And how, monks, do some overreach? Now some are troubled, ashamed, and disgusted by this very same existence and they rejoice in nonexistence, saying, ‘In as much as this self, good sirs, is annihilated and destroyed with the breakup of the body and does not exist after death, this is peaceful, this is excellent, this is just so!’ Thus, monks, do some overreach.

“And how, monks do those with vision see? Here, a monk sees what has come to be as having come to be. Having seen it thus, he practices the course for disenchantment, for dispassion, for the cessation of what has come to be. Thus, monks, do those with vision see.”

(It 49; 43–44)

8. FROM THE DIVINE REALMS TO THE INFERNAL

“Monks, there are these four kinds of persons found existing in the world. What four?

“Here, monks, some person dwells pervading one quarter with a mind imbued with loving-kindness, likewise the second quarter, the third, and the fourth. Thus above, below, across, and everywhere, and to all as to himself, he dwells pervading the entire world with a mind imbued with loving-kindness, vast, exalted, measureless, without hostility, without ill will. He relishes it, takes a liking to it, and is thrilled by it. If he is firm in it, resolves upon it, often dwells in it, and has not lost it when he dies, he is reborn in companionship with the devas of Brahmā’s company. The lifespan of those devas is an eon. The worldling remains there all his life, and when he has completed the entire lifespan of those devas, he goes to hell, to the animal realm, and to the domain of spirits. But the Blessed One’s disciple remains there all his life, and when he has completed the entire lifespan of those devas, he attains final Nibbāna in that very same state of existence. This is the difference, the disparity, the distinction between the instructed noble disciple and the uninstructed worldling, that is, with regard to destination and rebirth.

“Here, monks, some person dwells pervading one quarter with a mind imbued with compassion, likewise the second quarter, the third, and the fourth. Thus above, below, across, and everywhere, and to all as to himself, he dwells pervading the entire world with a mind imbued with compassion, vast, exalted, measureless, without hostility, without ill will. He relishes it, takes a liking to it, and is thrilled by it. If he is firm in it, resolves upon it, often dwells in it, and has not lost it when he dies, he is reborn in companionship with the devas of streaming radiance. The lifespan of those devas is two eons. The worldling remains there all his life, and when he has completed the entire lifespan of those devas, he goes to hell, to the animal realm, and to the domain of spirits. But the Blessed One’s disciple remains there all his life, and when he has completed the entire lifespan of those devas, he attains final Nibbāna in that very same state of existence. This is the difference, the disparity, the distinction between the instructed noble disciple and the uninstructed worldling, that is, with regard to destination and rebirth.

“Here, monks, some person dwells pervading one quarter with a mind imbued with altruistic joy, likewise the second quarter, the third, and the fourth. Thus above, below, across, and everywhere, and to all as to himself, he dwells pervading the entire world with a mind imbued with altruistic joy, vast, exalted, measureless, without hostility, without ill will. He relishes it, takes a liking to it, and is thrilled by it. If he is firm in it, resolves upon it, often dwells in it, and has not lost it when he dies, he is reborn in companionship with the devas of refulgent glory. The lifespan of those devas is four eons. The worldling remains there all his life, and when he has completed the entire lifespan of those devas, he goes to hell, to the animal realm, and to the domain of spirits. But the Blessed One’s disciple remains there all his life, and when he has completed the entire lifespan of those devas, he attains final Nibbāna in that very same state of existence. This is the difference, the disparity, the distinction between the instructed noble disciple and the uninstructed worldling, that is, with regard to destination and rebirth.

“Here, monks, some person dwells pervading one quarter with a mind imbued with equanimity, likewise the second quarter, the third, and the fourth. Thus above, below, across, and everywhere, and to all as to himself, he dwells pervading the entire world with a mind imbued with equanimity, vast, exalted, measureless, without hostility, without ill will. He relishes it, takes a liking to it, and is thrilled by it. If he is firm in it, resolves upon it, often dwells in it, and has not lost it when he dies, he is reborn in companionship with the devas of great fruit. The lifespan of those devas is five hundred eons. The worldling remains there all his life, and when he has completed the entire life-span of those devas, he goes to hell, to the animal realm, and to the domain of spirits. But the Blessed One’s disciple remains there all his life, and when he has completed the entire lifespan of those devas, he attains final Nibbāna in that very same state of existence. This is the difference, the disparity, the distinction between the instructed noble disciple and the uninstructed worldling, that is, with regard to destination and rebirth.

“These, monks, are the four kinds of persons found existing in the world.”

(AN 4:125; II 128–29)

9. THE PERILS OF SAṂSĀRA

(1) The Stream of Tears

“Monks, this saṃsāra is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. What do you think, monks, which is more: the stream of tears that you have shed as you roamed and wandered through this long course, weeping and wailing because of being united with the disagreeable and separated from the agreeable—this or the water in the four great oceans?”

“As we understand the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One, venerable sir, the stream of tears that we have shed as we roamed and wandered through this long course, weeping and wailing because of being united with the disagreeable and separated from the agreeable—this alone is more than the water in the four great oceans.”

“Good, good, monks! It is good that you understand the Dhamma taught by me in such a way. The stream of tears that you have shed as you roamed and wandered through this long course, weeping and wailing because of being united with the disagreeable and separated from the agreeable—this alone is more than the water in the four great oceans. For a long time, monks, you have experienced the death of a mother; as you have experienced this, weeping and wailing because of being united with the disagreeable and separated from the agreeable, the stream of tears that you have shed is more than the water in the four great oceans.

“For a long time, monks, you have experienced the death of a father … the death of a brother … the death of a sister … the death of a son … the death of a daughter … the loss of relatives … the loss of wealth … loss through illness; as you have experienced this, weeping and wailing because of being united with the disagreeable and separated from the agreeable, the stream of tears that you have shed is more than the water in the four great oceans. For what reason? Because, monks, this saṃsāra is without discoverable beginning…. It is enough to experience revulsion toward all formations, enough to become dispassionate toward them, enough to be liberated from them.”

(SN 15:3; II 179–80)

(2) The Stream of Blood

While the Blessed One was dwelling at Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove, thirty monks from Pāvā approached him—all forest dwellers, almsfood eaters, rag-robe wearers, three-robe users, yet all still with fetters.11 Having approached, they paid homage to the Blessed One and sat down to one side. Then it occurred to the Blessed One: “These thirty monks from Pāvā are all forest dwellers, almsfood eaters, rag-robe wearers, three-robe users, yet all are still with fetters. Let me teach them the Dhamma in such a way that while they are sitting in these very seats their minds will be liberated from the taints by nonclinging.”12

Then the Blessed One addressed those monks thus: “Monks!”

“Venerable sir!” those monks replied. The Blessed One said this:

“Monks, this saṃsāra is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. What do you think, monks, which is more: the stream of blood that you have shed when you were beheaded as you roamed and wandered through this long course—this or the water in the four great oceans?”

“As we understand the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One, venerable sir, the stream of blood that we have shed when we were beheaded as we roamed and wandered through this long course—this alone is more than the water in the four great oceans.”

“Good, good, monks! It is good that you understand the Dhamma taught by me in such a way. The stream of blood that you have shed as you roamed and wandered through this long course—this alone is more than the water in the four great oceans. For a long time, monks, you have been cows, and when as cows you were beheaded, the stream of blood that you shed is greater than the waters in the four great oceans. For a long time you have been buffalo, sheep, goats, deer, chickens, and pigs…. For a long time you have been arrested as burglars, highwaymen, and adulterers, and when you were beheaded, the stream of blood that you shed is greater than the water in the four great oceans. For what reason? Because, monks, this saṃsāra is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. For such a long time, monks, you have experienced suffering, anguish, and disaster, and swelled the cemetery. It is enough to become disenchanted with all formations, enough to become dispassionate toward them, enough to be liberated from them.”

This is what the Blessed One said. Elated, those monks delighted in the Blessed One’s statement. And while this exposition was being spoken, the minds of the thirty monks from Pāvā were liberated from the taints by nonclinging.

(SN 15:13; II 187–89)

_____________________

Notes:

1.Ps: “Full understanding” (pariññā) here means overcoming (samatikkama) or abandoning (pahāna). The wanderers of other sects identify the full understanding of sensual pleasures with the first jhāna, the full understanding of form with formless existence [the formless planes corresponding to the formless meditative attainments], and the full understanding of feelings with nonpercipient existence [a plane of existence in which perception is temporarily suspended]. The Buddha, on the other hand, describes the full understanding of sensual pleasures as the path to the stage of nonreturner, and the full understanding of both form and feelings as the path to arahantship.

2.Note that while the previous dangers in sensual pleasures were called “a mass of suffering in this present life” (sandiṭṭhiko dukkhakkhandho), this one is called “a mass of suffering in the life to come” (samparāyiko dukkhakkhandho).

3.Vohārasamuccheda. Vohāra can mean business transactions, designation, speech, and intentions. Ps says all four are relevant, since he thinks he has given up the business, designation, speech, and intentions of a householder.

4.Ps explains the “equanimity that is diversified, based on diversity” as that related to the five cords of sensual pleasure; the “equanimity that is unified, based on unity” as that based on the fourth jhāna.

5.Māgandiya was a philosophical hedonist who held that one should allow the five senses to enjoy their respective objects. He criticized the Buddha for advocating restraint and control of the senses. The Buddha is about to demonstrate the defects in sensual enjoyment.

6.Ps glosses nippurisa, “none male,” as meaning that they were all women. Not only the musicians, but all posts in the palace, including the door-keepers, were filled by women. His father had provided him with three palaces and the entourage of women in hopes of keeping him confined to the lay life and distracting him from thoughts of renunciation.

7.Ps: This is said referring to the attainment of the fruit of arahantship (arahatta-phala-samāpatti) based on the fourth jhāna.

8.The “Grove of Delight” in the Tāvatiṃsa heaven.

9.The expression viparītasaññā alludes to the “distorted perception” of perceiving pleasure in what is really painful. AN 4:49 speaks of four distortions of perception (saññāvipallāsa): perceiving the unattractive as attractive, the impermanent as permanent, the painful as pleasurable, and the selfless as a self. Sensual pleasures are painful because they arouse the painful defilements and because they bring painful fruits in the future.

10.What is intended here by wrong view (micchā diṭṭhi) are views that deny the foundations of morality, especially those views that reject a principle of moral causation or the efficacy of volitional effort.

11.Forest-dwelling and the rest are among the ascetic practices permitted by the Buddha. On the ten fetters, see pp. 374–75. Spk says that some among them were stream-enterers, some once-returners, and some nonreturners. None were worldlings, and none were arahants.

12.This means the attainment of arahantship.

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