1.
Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Savatthi in
Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's Park. There he addressed the Bhikkhus thus:
"Bhikkhus." -- "Venerable sir," they replied. The Blessed
One said this:
2. "Bhikkhus, only
here is there a recluse, only here a second recluse, only here a third recluse,
only here a fourth recluse. The doctrines of others are devoid of recluses: that
is how you should rightly roar your lion's roar.[1]
3. "It is
possible, Bhikkhus, that wanderers of other sects might ask: 'But on the
strength of what (argument) or with the support of what (authority) do the
venerable ones say thus?' Wanderers of other sects who ask thus may be answered
in this way: 'Friends, four things have been declared to us by the Blessed One
who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened; on seeing these in
ourselves we say thus: "Only here is there a recluse, only here a second
recluse, only here a third recluse, only here a fourth recluse. The doctrines of
others are devoid of recluses." What are the four? We have confidence in
the Teacher, we have confidence in the Dhamma, we have fulfilled the precepts,
and our companions in the Dhamma are dear and agreeable to us whether they are
lay folk or those gone forth. These are the four things declared to us by the
Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened, on seeing
which in ourselves we say as we do.'
4. "It is
possible, Bhikkhus, that wanderers of other sects might say thus: 'Friends, we
too have confidence in the Teacher, that is, in our Teacher; we too have
confidence in the Dhamma, that is, in our Dhamma; we too have fulfilled the
precepts, that is, our precepts; our companions in the Dhamma are dear and
agreeable to us too whether they are lay folk or those gone forth. What is the
distinction here, friends, what is the variance, what is the difference between
you and us?'
5. "Wanderers of
other sects who ask thus may be answered in this way: 'How then, friends, is the
goal one or many?' Answering rightly, the wanderers of other sects would answer
thus: 'Friends, the goal is one, not many.'[2] -- 'But, friends, is that goal
for one affected by lust or free from lust?' Answering rightly, the wanderers of
other sects would answer thus: 'Friends, that goal is for one free from lust,
not for one affected by lust.' -- 'But, friends, is that goal for one affected
by hate or free from hate?' Answering rightly, they would answer: 'Friends, that
goal is for one free from hate, not for one affected by hate.' -- 'But, friends,
is that goal for one affected by delusion or free from delusion?' Answering
rightly, they would answer: 'Friends, that goal is for one free from delusion,
not for one affected by delusion.' -- 'But, friends, is that goal for one
affected by craving or free from craving?'
Answering rightly, they would answer: 'Friends, that goal is for one free
from craving, not for one affected by craving.' -- 'But, friends, is that goal
for one affected by clinging or free from clinging?' Answering rightly, they
would answer: 'Friends, that goal is for one free from clinging, not for one
affected by clinging.' -- 'But, friends, is that goal for one who has vision or
for one without vision?' Answering rightly, they would answer: 'Friends, that
goal is for one with vision, not for one without vision.' -- 'But, friends, is
that goal for one who favors and opposes, or for one who does not favor and
oppose?' Answering rightly, they would answer: 'Friends, that goal is for one
who does not favor and oppose, not for one who favors and opposes.'[3] -- 'But,
friends is that goal for one who delights in and enjoys proliferation, or for
one who does not delight in and enjoy proliferation?' Answering rightly, they
would answer: 'Friends, that goal is for one who does not delight in and enjoy
proliferation, not for one who delights in and enjoys proliferation.'[4]
6. "Bhikkhus,
there are these two views: the view of being and the view of non-being. Any
recluses or Brahmins who rely on the view of being, adopt the view of being,
accept the view of being, are opposed to the view of non-being. Any recluses or
Brahmins who rely on the view of non-being, adopt the view of non-being, accept
the view of non-being, are opposed to the view of being.[5]
7. "Any recluses
or Brahmins who do not understand as they actually are the origin, the
disappearance, the gratification, the danger and the escape[6] in the case of
these two views are affected by lust, affected by hate, affected by delusion,
affected by craving, affected by clinging, without vision, given to favoring and
opposing, and they delight in and enjoy proliferation. They are not freed from
birth, aging and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair; they
are not freed from suffering, I say.
8. "Any recluses
or Brahmins who understand as they actually are the origin, the disappearance,
the gratification, the danger and the escape in the case of these two views are
without lust, without hate, without delusion, without craving, without clinging,
with vision, not given to favoring and opposing, and they do not delight in and
enjoy proliferation. They are freed from birth, aging and death, from sorrow,
lamentation, pain, grief and despair; they are freed from suffering, I say.
9. "Bhikkhus,
there are these four kinds of clinging. What four? Clinging to sensual
pleasures, clinging to views, clinging to rules and observances, and clinging to
a doctrine of self.
10. "Though
certain recluses and Brahmins claim to propound the full understanding of all
kinds of clinging, they do not completely describe the full understanding of all
kinds of clinging.[7] They describe the full understanding of clinging to
sensual pleasures without describing the full understanding of clinging to
views, clinging to rules and observances, and clinging to a doctrine of self.
Why is that? Those good recluses and Brahmins do not understand these three
instances of clinging as they actually are. Therefore, though they claim to
propound the full understanding of all kinds of clinging, they describe only the
full understanding of clinging to sensual pleasures without describing the full
understanding of clinging to views, clinging to rules and observances, and
clinging to a doctrine of self.
11. "Though
certain recluses and Brahmins claim to propound the full understanding of all
kinds of clinging...they describe the full understanding of clinging to sensual
pleasures and clinging to views without describing the full understanding of
clinging to rules and observances and clinging to a doctrine of self. Why is
that? They do not understand two instances...therefore they describe only the
full understanding of clinging to sensual pleasures and clinging to views
without describing the full understanding of clinging to rules and observances
and clinging to a doctrine of self.
12. "Though
certain recluses and Brahmins claim to propound the full understanding of all
kinds of clinging...they describe the full understanding of clinging to sensual
pleasures, clinging to views, and clinging to rules and observances without
describing the full understanding of clinging to a doctrine of self. They do not
understand one instance...therefore they describe only the full understanding of
clinging to sensual pleasures, clinging to views, and clinging to rules and
observances without describing the full understanding of clinging to a doctrine
of self.[8]
13. "Bhikkhus, in
such a Dhamma and Discipline as that it is plain that confidence in the Teacher
is not rightly directed, that confidence in the Dhamma is not rightly directed,
that fulfillment of the precepts is not rightly directed, and that the affection
among companions in the Dhamma is not rightly directed. Why is that? Because
that is how it is when the Dhamma and Discipline is badly proclaimed and badly
expounded, un-emancipating, un-conducive to peace, expounded by one who is not
fully enlightened.
14. "Bhikkhus,
when a Tathágata, accomplished and fully enlightened, claims to propound the
full understanding of all kinds of clinging, he completely describes the full
understanding of all kinds of clinging: he describes the full understanding of
clinging to sensual pleasures, clinging to views, clinging to rules and
observances, and clinging to a doctrine of self.[9]
15. "Bhikkhus, in
such a Dhamma and Discipline as that it is plain that confidence in the Teacher
is rightly directed, that confidence in the Dhamma is rightly directed, that
fulfillment of the precepts is rightly directed, and that the affection among
companions in the Dhamma is rightly directed. Why is that? Because that is how
it is when the Dhamma and Discipline is well proclaimed and well expounded,
emancipating, conducive to peace, expounded by one who is fully enlightened.
16. "Now these
four kinds of clinging have what as their source, what as their origin, from
what are they born and produced? These four kinds of clinging have craving as
their source, craving as their origin, they are born and produced from
craving.[10] Craving has what as its source...? Craving has feeling as its
source...Feeling has what as its source...? Feeling has contact as its
source...Contact has what as its source...? Contact has the six fold base as its
source...The six fold base has what as its source...? The six fold base has
mentality-materiality as its source...Mentality-materiality has what as its
source...? Mentality-materiality has consciousness as its source...Consciousness
has what as its source...? Consciousness has formations as its
source...Formations have what as their source...? Formations have ignorance as
their source, ignorance as their origin; they are born and produced from
ignorance.
17. "Bhikkhus,
when ignorance is abandoned and true knowledge has arisen in a Bhikkhu, then
with the fading away of ignorance and the arising of true knowledge he no longer
clings to sensual pleasures, no longer clings to views, no longer clings to
rules and observances, no longer clings to a doctrine of self.[11] When he does
not cling, he is not agitated. When he is not agitated, he personally attains
Nirvana. He understands: 'Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what
had to be done has been done, there is no more coming to any state of
being.'"[12]
That is what the
Blessed One said. The Bhikkhus were satisfied and delighted in the Blessed One's
words.
1.
Comy. explains "lion's roar" (sihanada) as meaning a supreme
roar (setthanada), a fearless roar (abhitanada), and a roar which
cannot be confuted (appatinada). It adds: The roar about the existence of
these four types of recluse only here is the supreme roar. The absence of any
fear on account of others when one advances such a claim makes it a fearless
roar. As none of the rival teachers can rise up and say, "These recluses
also exist in our Dispensation," it is a roar which cannot be confuted.
2.
Comy.: Even though the adherents of other sects all declare Arhat-ship --
understood in a general sense as spiritual perfection -- to be the goal, they
point to other attainments as the goal in accordance with their views. Thus the
Brahmins declare the Brahma-world to be the goal, the great ascetics declare the
gods of Streaming Radiance, the wanderers the gods of Refulgent Glory, and the
Ajivakas the non-percipient state, which they posit to be "infinite
mind" (anantamanas)
3.
"Favoring and opposing" (anurodha-pativirodha): reacting with
attraction through lust and with aversion through hatred.
4.
Proliferation (papañca), according to Comy., generally means mental activity
governed by craving, conceit and views, but here only craving and views are
intended.
5.
The adoption of one view entailing opposition to the other links up with the
earlier statement that the goal is for one who does not favor and oppose.
6.
Comy. mentions eight conditions which serve as the origin (samudaya) of
these views: the five aggregates, ignorance, contact, perception, thought,
unwise attention, bad friends, and the voice of another. Their disappearance (atthangama)
is the path of stream-entry, which eradicates all wrong views. Their
gratification (assada) may be understood as the satisfaction of
psychological need to which the view caters, specifically the nurturing of
craving for being by the eternalist view and of craving for non-being by the
annihilationist view. Their danger (adinava) is the continued bondage
they entail, by obstructing the acceptance of right view, which leads to
liberation. And the escape from them (nissarana) is Nirvana.
7.
Comy. glosses full understanding (pariñña) here as overcoming (samatikkama),
with reference to the commentarial notion of pahanapariñña, "full
understanding as abandonment."
8.
This passage clearly indicates that the critical differentiating factor of the
Buddha's Dhamma is its "full understanding of clinging to a doctrine of
self." This means, in effect, that the Buddha alone is able to show how to
overcome all views of self by developing penetration into the truth of non-self (anattá).
9.
Comy.: The Buddha teaches how clinging to sense pleasures is abandoned by the
path of Arhat-ship, while the other three types of clinging are eliminated by the
path of stream-entry. The path of stream-entry eliminates the other three
clingings because these three are all forms of wrong view, and all wrong views
are overcome at that stage. Although the statement that clinging to sense
pleasures is abandoned by the path of Arhat-ship may sound strange, in view of
the fact that sensual desire is already eliminated by the non-returner, the Tika
(subcommentary) to the sutra explains that in the present context the word kama,
sense pleasure, should be understood to comprise all forms of greed, and the
subtler types of greed are only eliminated with the attainment of Arhat-ship.
10.
This passage is explained in order to show how clinging is to be abandoned.
Clinging is traced back, via the chain of dependent arising, to its root-cause
in ignorance, and then the destruction of ignorance is shown to be the means to
eradicate clinging.
11.
The Pali idiom, n'eva kamupadanam upadiyati, would have to be rendered
literally as "he does not cling to the clinging to sense pleasures,"
which may obscure the sense more than it illuminates it. The word upadana
in Pali is the object of its own verb form, while "clinging" in
English is not. The easiest solution is to translate directly in accordance with
the sense rather than to try to reproduce the idiom in translation.
12.
This is the stock canonical declaration of Arhat-ship.