Middle Discourses: The Middle Fifty

ฉบับแปลอังกฤษ · Sutta Piṭaka — The Basket of Discourses · Volume 13 · 627 pages

Summarized by AI from the full volume (106 topics) — click to jump to where each topic begins.

Page 1–11 MN 51 Kandaraka Sutta, Part 1: The Four Kinds of Individuals At Campā, the wanderer Kandaraka praises the silent, disciplined Sangha, and the Buddha explains that it contains both perfected arahants and trainees established in the four kinds of mindfulness meditation. Pessa the elephant trainer's son remarks that humans are far harder to read than animals, since people's bodily, verbal, and mental behavior often diverge, unlike the obvious behavior of a beast. The Buddha then sets out four types of people: those who mortify themselves through extreme asce
Page 12–17 MN 51 Kandaraka Sutta, Part 2: The Training and Awakening of the Harmless One The Buddha describes in detail the gradual path of the monk who mortifies neither themselves nor others: going forth, keeping ethical precepts such as abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and divisive or harsh speech, being content with robes and almsfood, restraining the six senses, and maintaining mindfulness in every daily activity. Retreating to a secluded place, the monk abandons the five hindrances and attains the four absorptions (jhānas) in succession. From this d
Page 18–23 MN 52 The Wealthy Citizen (Dasama of Aṭṭhakanāgara) The wealthy householder Dasama travels to see Venerable Ānanda and asks whether there is a single quality taught by the Buddha that, when practiced diligently, frees a monk's mind and ends the defilements. Ānanda answers by describing eleven "doors to the deathless": the four absorptions and the four divine abidings (love, compassion, rejoicing, equanimity) plus the first three formless attainments, each of which, when reflected on as impermanent and conditioned, can lead either to full liberati
Page 24–32 MN 53 A Trainee (Sekha Sutta) At a newly built town hall of the Sakyans of Kapilavatthu, the Buddha gives a Dhamma talk and then, with a sore back, asks Ānanda to continue teaching about the "practicing trainee" while he rests. Ānanda explains that such a disciple is accomplished in ethics, guards the sense doors, eats in moderation, is dedicated to wakefulness, possesses seven good qualities (faith, conscience, prudence, learning, energy, mindfulness, and wisdom), and can enter the four absorptions at will. He compares the
Page 33–40 MN 54 With Potaliya the Householder, Part 1: The Eight Things That Cut Off Business The retired householder Potaliya meets the Buddha in a forest grove and takes offense at being addressed as "householder," believing he has already renounced worldly affairs by handing his estate to his children. The Buddha counters that this is not the same as truly "cutting off business" in the Noble One's training, and then teaches the eight qualities that constitute genuine renunciation: giving up killing, stealing, lying, backbiting, greed, blaming and insulting, anger, and arrogance. Each
Page 41–47 MN 54 With Potaliya the Householder, Part 2: The Similes of Sensual Danger The Buddha completes his teaching to Potaliya with a chain of vivid similes illustrating the danger of sensual pleasures: a starving dog gnawing a fleshless bone, a bird carrying meat pursued by other birds, a man walking against the wind with a blazing torch, a person dragged toward a pit of glowing coals, a dream of lovely gardens that vanishes on waking, borrowed finery reclaimed by its true owners, and a fruit tree felled by one greedy climber while another still clings to its branches. Each
Page 48–53 MN 55 With Jīvaka The physician Jīvaka asks the Buddha about a rumor that animals are specially slaughtered so the Buddha can eat their meat. The Buddha denies this, explaining that meat may not be eaten if it was seen, heard, or suspected to have been killed specifically for a monk, but is otherwise allowable. He describes how a monk who lives on almsfood, having developed the four divine abidings of love, compassion, rejoicing, and equanimity, eats without craving or attachment and so causes no harm, and states
Page 54–60 MN 56 With Upāli (opening: the debate over rods and deeds) Near Nāḷandā, the Buddha questions the Jain ascetic Dīgha Tapassī about which kind of harmful "rod" - physical, verbal, or mental - the Jain teacher considers most blameworthy for doing evil; Tapassī affirms three times that it is the physical rod. The Buddha then explains that he himself speaks of "deeds" rather than "rods," and states three times that he considers the mental deed the most blameworthy, not the physical or verbal one. When Tapassī reports this exchange to the Jain leader and the
Page 61–78 With Upāli (MN 56, continued) — Upāli's Conversion and the Jain Teacher's Fury Upāli returns and, still loyal to the Jains, argues that the physical rod (bodily action) is far more blameworthy than mental action, but the Buddha methodically dismantles this through examples about a dying ascetic's rebirth, unintentional harm to creatures, and the vastly greater destructive power of a mind wielding psychic malevolence against a whole city like Nāḷandā. Upāli is won over, takes threefold refuge, and instructs his gatekeeper to bar Jain monks and welcome the Buddha's followers
Page 79–86 The Ascetic Who Behaved Like a Dog (MN 57) Puṇṇa, a cow-ascetic, and Seniya, a naked dog-ascetic who eats food off the ground and curls up like a dog, ask the Buddha where such animal-observance practices lead after death. Reluctantly, the Buddha explains that fully and consistently practicing an animal's behavior leads to rebirth among that animal, but if combined with the wrong view of wishing thereby to reach heaven, it leads to hell instead — a teaching that reduces both ascetics to tears, not from offense but recognition of their wa
Page 87–93 With Prince Abhaya (MN 58) The Jain leader Nātaputta coaches Prince Abhaya to trap the Buddha with a dilemma: whether he would ever say something others dislike, aiming to catch him out over his stern prediction of Devadatta's fate. Abhaya invites the Buddha to a meal and poses the question, but the Buddha replies that the matter isn't a simple yes-or-no. Using the vivid image of a father who would forcibly and even painfully remove a stone lodged in his baby's throat out of sympathy, the Buddha explains that he speaks tr
Page 94–99 The Many Kinds of Feeling (MN 59) The chamberlain Pañcakaṅga and the monk Udāyī argue over whether the Buddha taught two kinds of feeling (pleasant and painful, with neutral feeling counted as a subtle form of pleasure) or three (pleasant, painful, and neutral), and neither can convince the other. Ānanda relays the dispute to the Buddha, who says both men are correct in their own context, since he has taught feeling analyzed in different ways — as two, three, five, six, eighteen, thirty-six, or a hundred and eight kinds — and wa
Page 100–104 A Sure Bet (MN 60), Part 1 — The Wager on an Afterlife Arriving at the Kosalan village of Sālā, the Buddha finds the local brahmins and householders have no teacher they trust, and offers them the "sure bet" teaching as a reliable guide even without confirmed faith in any one teacher. He sets out the first of several head-on doctrinal contradictions: some ascetics deny any fruit of good and bad deeds or any afterlife, while others affirm both. The Buddha shows that betting on the reality of an afterlife and moral consequence is the only safe wager —
Page 106–111 A Sure Bet (MN 60), Part 2 — The Wager on the Efficacy of Action The Buddha presents a second pair of contradictory doctrines: an amoralist view claiming that no evil whatsoever results even from mass slaughter, torture, or theft, and no merit results even from generosity and self-restraint, set against the opposing view that such deeds genuinely produce evil or merit. Applying the same sure-bet reasoning, he shows that assuming actions have real moral consequences is the wiser bet, since the ethically committed person is praised in this life and reborn well
Page 112–122 A Sure Bet (MN 60), Part 3 — Causality, Formless Attainments, and the Four Kinds of Ascetic Practice The Buddha extends the sure-bet analysis to a third dispute, between fatalists who claim beings are corrupted or purified without cause and have no real power or agency, and those who affirm genuine causality, again favoring the view that safeguards ethical effort. He briefly applies the same reasoning to disputed claims about whether wholly formless meditative states exist and whether continued existence can be totally brought to an end, recommending an open, non-dogmatic stance that still lead
Page 123–125 Middle Discourses 61: Advice to Rāhula at Ambalaṭṭhikā — On Lying The Buddha visits his young son Rāhula at Ambalaṭṭhikā and, using a nearly-empty water pot, teaches him that a person who is not ashamed to tell a deliberate lie has thrown away whatever remains of their ascetic integrity. He turns the pot upside down and shows it empty and hollow to illustrate how vacant such a person's spiritual life becomes. He then compares a battle elephant that still protects its trunk to one that has thrown all caution to the wind, warning that once someone is willing to
Page 126–133 Middle Discourses 61: The Mirror of Reflection — Checking Actions of Body, Speech, and Mind The Buddha asks Rāhula what a mirror is for, and answers that in the same way every deed of body, speech, and mind should be examined by repeated checking. He lays out a threefold discipline: before acting, check whether the intended deed will hurt oneself or others and abandon it if so; while acting, check again and stop if it is harmful; and after acting, review the deed, confessing and restraining oneself if it caused harm, or resting content and continuing to train if it did not. This same t
Page 134–138 Middle Discourses 62: The Longer Advice to Rāhula — Not-Self and the Five Elements While walking with the Buddha for alms, Rāhula is told to see all form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness — past, future, present, near or far — as not self. Rāhula turns back to meditate instead of going for alms, and Sāriputta advises him to develop mindfulness of breathing. When Rāhula later asks the Buddha how to do this, the Buddha instead first teaches him to contemplate the four (and then a fifth) elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space, each defined by internal bodily
Page 139–142 Middle Discourses 62: Meditating Like the Elements and Mindfulness of Breathing The Buddha teaches Rāhula to meditate like earth, water, fire, wind, and space, each of which remains unmoved and undisgusted whether clean or unclean things are thrown upon it, so that pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not overwhelm the mind. He then adds meditations on love, compassion, rejoicing, and equanimity to give up ill will, cruelty, discontent, and aversion, plus meditation on ugliness and on impermanence to give up lust and the conceit "I am." Finally he gives the full sixteen-st
Page 143–148 Middle Discourses 63: The Shorter Discourse With Māluṅkyaputta — The Undeclared Points and the Poisoned Arrow Venerable Māluṅkyaputta grows frustrated that the Buddha has never declared his position on speculative questions such as whether the cosmos is eternal or finite, or whether a realized one exists after death, and resolves to demand straight answers or quit the training. The Buddha points out he never promised to settle these questions before Māluṅkyaputta ordained, so it is foolish to make robing under him conditional on their answer. He then gives the famous simile of a man shot by a poisoned a
Page 151–152 Middle Discourses 63: Why the Cosmological Views Are Undeclared The Buddha explains that holding any position on these speculative views — that the cosmos is or isn't eternal, finite or infinite, or that a realized one does or doesn't exist after death — does not itself end rebirth, aging, death, or sorrow, so debating them is not what matters. He explicitly lists what he has left undeclared, because such views are not beneficial or relevant to the spiritual path and do not lead to disillusionment, peace, or awakening. In contrast he declares only the four n
Page 154–157 Middle Discourses 64: The Longer Discourse With Māluṅkya — The Five Lower Fetters and the Simile of the Infant The Buddha asks the mendicants if they remember the five lower fetters (substantialist view, doubt, misapprehension of precepts, sensual desire, ill will) as he taught them, and Māluṅkyaputta answers confidently. The Buddha rebukes this as a shallow, conceptual understanding, using the simile of a baby who has no concept of "self" or "sensual pleasure" yet still carries the underlying tendencies to these fetters — showing the fetters run deeper than intellectual views. At Ānanda's request the Bu
Page 158–159 Middle Discourses 64: The Heartwood and the Ganges — Similes for the Need to Practice The Buddha stresses that there is a definite path and practice needed to see, know, and abandon the five lower fetters, and that it cannot be done any other way, just as one cannot reach a tree's heartwood without first cutting through its bark and softwood. He then gives the simile of the Ganges in flood: a feeble person who tries to swim across by sheer arm strength fails, representing a mind that does not settle and gain confidence when taught the cessation of substantial reality, while a str
Page 160–162 Middle Discourses 64: The Path That Ends the Five Lower Fetters The Buddha lays out the actual path: a mendicant enters each of the four absorptions (and then the formless attainments of infinite space, infinite consciousness, and nothingness), contemplating the phenomena present in each state as impermanent, suffering, and not-self, then turning the mind toward the deathless element of extinguishment. Doing so either ends the defilements outright or, short of that, guarantees spontaneous rebirth in a pure abode with no return to this world, thereby eliminat
Page 163–167 Middle Discourses 65: With Bhaddāli — Refusing the One-Meal Rule The Buddha recommends eating only one meal a day as conducive to health and comfort, but Venerable Bhaddāli openly refuses to attempt it, and again refuses a compromise of eating part of the meal and saving the rest, so that for three months he avoids facing the Buddha directly. Prompted by fellow mendicants to make amends before the Buddha sets out wandering again, Bhaddāli confesses his mistake. The Buddha accepts the confession, noting that recognizing and correcting an error is itself growth
Page 168–172 Middle Discourses 65: Fulfilling the Training — The Path to the Three True Knowledges The Buddha contrasts a mendicant who fails to fulfill the training and, even after seeking seclusion, is reprimanded by teacher, companions, deities, and conscience without gaining any real attainment, against one who fulfills the training and progresses unreproached through the four absorptions to the three true knowledges: recollection of past lives, seeing beings pass on according to their deeds, and the ending of defilements culminating in full liberation. Bhaddāli then asks why some monks w
Page 173–178 Middle Discourses 65: Disciplining Offenders and the Simile of the Thoroughbred Colt The Buddha explains that the Saṅgha presses hard on monks who are defensive, evasive, and unrepentant about their many offenses, but goes easy on those who cooperate and on monks who get by on mere faith, protecting their fragile devotion the way one would protect a person's only remaining eye. He then explains that training rules multiply and enlightenment becomes rarer as the Saṅgha grows large and defiling influences appear, prompting the Teacher to legislate against them. Recalling that Bhad
Page 179–180 Middle Discourses 66: The Simile of the Quail — Udāyī's Reflection on Giving Up Wrong-Time Meals While meditating, Venerable Udāyī reflects on how much suffering the Buddha has spared the mendicants and how much happiness he has given them, and reports this to the Buddha. He recounts how mendicants were initially upset at being told to give up eating at the wrong time of day and later at night, since the night meal was considered the tastier of the two, but complied out of love and respect for the Buddha. He illustrates the real dangers of the old practice with a vivid story of wandering fo
Page 182–186 Middle Discourses 66: The Quail's Vine and the Elephant's Harness — Bonds Strong and Weak The Buddha explains that when small-minded people are told to give something up, they resent it as excessive strictness and cling on, so that even a trivial restriction becomes for them a strong, unbreakable bond — like a vine that easily traps a small quail. But when good-hearted people are asked to give something up, they let it go without resentment and live free and relaxed, so the same restriction is for them as flimsy as a harness that a powerful bull elephant snaps with a mere twist of it
Page 187–191 MN 66 The Simile of the Quail (concluded): Weak Bonds and the Four Kinds of Individuals The Buddha uses the simile of a wealthy householder who gives up vast possessions to become a mendicant to show that what looks like a heavy sacrifice is, for a truly willing renunciant, only a weak and rotten bond, easily let go. He then describes to Udāyī four types of people distinguished by how they handle memories and thoughts of past attachments: some tolerate such thoughts, some suppress them, some let them pass quickly through vigilant mindfulness, and one type is simply free because att
Page 193–197 MN 67 At Cātumā: The Saṅgha Dismissed and Restored Five hundred mendicants led by Sāriputta and Moggallāna arrive at Cātumā and make such a racket settling in that the Buddha, likening them to fishermen hauling in a catch, dismisses the entire Saṅgha from his presence. The local Sakyans persuade the wandering monks to wait nearby while they intercede, using the image of young seedlings and a calf needing to stay close to what nurtures them; the divinity Sahampati appears and makes the identical appeal. Their pleas restore the Buddha's confidence
Page 199–202 MN 67 At Cātumā: The Four Dangers of Going Forth The Buddha explains in detail the four dangers a person who goes forth should expect, using the image of dangers in water. The danger of waves is anger and resentment felt when newly ordained companions instruct a proud gentleman in proper conduct. The danger of gharials (crocodiles) is gluttony, the frustration of no longer being able to eat whatever one likes whenever one likes. The danger of whirlpools is the pull of the five kinds of sensual stimulation, seen when an unguarded mendicant envi
Page 203–206 MN 68 At Naḷakapāna: Satisfied with the Spiritual Life At Naḷakapāna the Buddha asks the assembled mendicants whether a group of well-known young gentlemen who went forth in his name, including Anuruddha, Bhaddiya, and Ānanda, are satisfied with the spiritual life; when the general Saṅgha stays silent three times, he puts the question directly to Anuruddha and his companions, who affirm they are satisfied and confirm they went forth to end suffering, not to escape debt, crime, or hardship. The Buddha then distinguishes those whose minds are still oc
Page 207–213 MN 68 At Naḷakapāna: Declaring the Rebirths of Disciples Asked why he declares where deceased disciples have been reborn, the Buddha explains it is never for flattery, fame, or gain, but so that faithful people who hear of a departed monk's, nun's, layman's, or laywoman's attainment recollect that person's faith, ethics, and wisdom and are inspired to apply their own minds toward the same goal. He then works through a long repeating formula covering monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen, describing each rank of attainment that might be declared after deat
Page 214–220 MN 69 With Gulissāni: Standards for a Wilderness Monk When a boorish wilderness mendicant named Gulissāni comes to stay among the Saṅgha, Sāriputta uses the occasion to lay out at length what any wilderness monk who visits the community should uphold, so that his solitary practice is not brought into disrepute. The list covers showing respect to fellow monks, sitting considerately, knowing the supplementary monastic rules, keeping proper hours for entering villages, avoiding entanglement with families, avoiding restlessness and loose talk, being ea
Page 221–224 MN 70 At Kīṭāgiri: The Dispute over Eating at Night Traveling through the land of the Kāsis, the Buddha tells the mendicants that abstaining from eating at night keeps him healthy and comfortable, and instructs them to do the same. At Kīṭāgiri, however, the mendicants who follow Assaji and Punabbasuka refuse, arguing that eating at dusk and daybreak also leaves them healthy, and that they see no reason to give up a present comfort for a future benefit. Unable to persuade them, other mendicants report the dispute to the Buddha, who summons the rec
Page 225–228 MN 70 At Kīṭāgiri: Feelings, Skillful Qualities, and the Work of Diligence The Buddha corrects the mistaken view that any experience whatsoever, pleasant, painful, or neutral, automatically causes unskillful qualities to decline; instead he teaches that some feelings of each kind foster unskillful states and others foster skillful ones, and only his direct knowledge of which is which justifies telling mendicants which feelings to cultivate and which to abandon. He then clarifies that not all mendicants still have work to do through diligence: the fully perfected, who h
Page 229–235 MN 70 At Kīṭāgiri: The Seven Individuals and the Path of Gradual Training The Buddha classifies practitioners into seven types ranked by their combination of meditative attainment and liberating insight: one freed both ways, one freed by wisdom, a direct witness, one attained to view, one freed by faith, a follower of teachings, and a follower by faith, explaining for each whether they still have work to do through diligence. He then declares that enlightenment is never achieved all at once but only through a gradual sequence of faith, approaching a teacher, listening
Page 236–239 MN 71 To Vacchagotta on the Three Knowledges The wanderer Vacchagotta visits the Buddha at Vesālī and asks whether it is true that the Buddha claims constant, unbroken all-knowing and all-seeing awareness; the Buddha denies this is an accurate account of his teaching. Instead, he says the correct description is that he possesses the three knowledges: recollection of his own many past lives in detail, clairvoyant vision of other beings passing away and being reborn according to their deeds, and the direct realization of freedom from all def
Page 240–245 MN 72 With Vacchagotta on Fire: The Undetermined Questions At Sāvatthī, Vacchagotta puts to the Buddha the classic set of ten metaphysical questions debated by the wanderers of the day: whether the cosmos is eternal or not, finite or infinite, whether the soul and body are the same or different, and whether a Realized One exists, does not exist, both, or neither after death. The Buddha rejects every one of these positions as his view. Pressed on why, he explains that each conviction is a thicket, a desert, a twist, and a fetter of views, bound up with s
Page 246–249 The Fire Simile and the Unfathomable Realized One (concluding MN 72, With Vacchagotta on Fire) The wanderer Vacchagotta admits confusion over why the Buddha will not answer questions about whether a Realized One exists after death. The Buddha replies with the simile of a fire that has gone out: just as it is meaningless to ask which direction an extinguished fire has gone, since it burned dependent on fuel and simply ceases when the fuel runs out, it is meaningless to ask whether an enlightened being is reborn or not, since such a being is freed from all reckoning in terms of form, feelin
Page 250–257 MN 73 The Longer Discourse With Vacchagotta — Skillful and Unskillful, and the Four Assemblies Vacchagotta returns and asks the Buddha for a brief teaching on what is skillful and unskillful, and the Buddha gives the roots of greed, hate and delusion versus contentment, love and understanding, along with the ten courses of unskillful and skillful action. Vacchagotta then challenges the Buddha on whether any of his monk, nun, layman or laywoman disciples have actually realized freedom of heart and mind, and the Buddha affirms that many hundreds in each of the four assemblies have succeeded
Page 258–262 MN 73 continued — Serenity, Discernment, and Vacchagotta's Enlightenment Shortly after his ordination, Vacchagotta asks the Buddha for further guidance, and the Buddha tells him to further develop serenity and discernment, which will open the way to whichever of the six kinds of direct knowledge he wishes to realize: psychic powers, clairaudience, reading others' minds, recollecting past lives, clairvoyant perception of beings' rebirth according to their deeds, and the ending of the defilements. Vacchagotta puts this into practice and, living alone and diligent, soon
Page 263–266 MN 74 With Dīghanakha — The Debate on Views The wanderer Dīghanakha, also called Aggivessana, declares to the Buddha that his doctrine is 'nothing is acceptable to me.' The Buddha points out the irony that this is itself a view being clung to, and lays out three positions ascetics and brahmins hold: that everything is acceptable, that nothing is acceptable, or that some things are acceptable and some are not. He shows how a sensible person reflects that obstinately clinging to any one of these three views only leads to argument, dispute,
Page 267–269 MN 74 continued — Body, Feeling, and the Double Enlightenment of Sāriputta and Dīghanakha The Buddha instructs Dīghanakha to see the body as impermanent, diseased, and not-self in order to give up desire and attachment to it, then analyzes the three feelings — pleasant, painful, and neutral — as impermanent, conditioned, and liable to cease. He teaches that a disciple who sees this grows disillusioned, loses desire, and is freed, no longer siding with or disputing against anyone. While fanning the Buddha during this teaching, Venerable Sāriputta reflects on this universal letting-go
Page 270–274 MN 75 With Māgaṇḍiya — The 'Baby-Killer' Accusation Seeing the grass mat prepared for the Buddha, the wanderer Māgaṇḍiya calls the Buddha a 'baby-killer' in conversation with a brahmin host, insisting he would say the same to the Buddha's face because of a dream he had. Having overheard this with clairaudience, the Buddha confronts Māgaṇḍiya directly and explains that the accusation stems from his teaching that the six senses, which naturally crave pleasing objects, should be restrained. He then questions Māgaṇḍiya about whether someone who has u
Page 275–281 MN 75 continued — The Buddha's Renunciation and the Leprosy Simile The Buddha describes his own former life of luxury with three palaces and how he came to see through sensual pleasure's gratification and drawbacks, comparing his resulting freedom from craving to a god in a heavenly garden who would never envy or return to human pleasures. He develops an extended simile of a person with leprosy who compulsively cauterizes their sores over hot coals and mistakes the resulting itch-relief for pleasure, showing how beings with 'impaired faculties' mistake inherent
Page 282–287 MN 75 continued — The Blind Man Simile and Māgaṇḍiya's Awakening The Buddha tells an extended three-part simile of a person blind from birth who is tricked into taking a dirty rag for fine white cloth, illustrating how those without insight accept teachings on faith without truly seeing, and how a person whose sight is later cured recognizes the earlier deception and lets go of the false object. Applying this to Māgaṇḍiya, the Buddha explains that true insight into the five grasping aggregates reveals how grasping drives the entire chain of continued existenc
Page 288–292 MN 76 With Sandaka — The First Way That Negates the Spiritual Life Near Kosambī, Venerable Ānanda visits the wanderer Sandaka's noisy assembly, which falls respectfully silent at his approach. Sandaka asks Ānanda to explain his teacher's doctrine, and Ānanda introduces the Buddha's teaching on 'four ways that negate the spiritual life' and 'four kinds of unreliable spiritual life.' He then describes the first negating view: a nihilist teacher who denies any fruit of good or bad deeds, any afterlife, or any accomplished ascetic, holding that all beings are simpl
Page 293–298 MN 76 continued — The Second, Third, and Fourth Ways That Negate the Spiritual Life Ānanda describes three more teachers whose doctrines negate the spiritual life: one who claims no evil results from violence, killing, or theft and no good results from generosity or virtue; one who denies any cause for the corruption or purification of beings, teaching that everything unfolds through blind fate; and one who teaches a materialist doctrine of seven eternal, uncreated 'substances' including the soul, none of which can truly affect or be affected by another, so that no one really k
Page 300–304 MN 76 continued — The Four Kinds of Unreliable Spiritual Life Having finished the four teachings that negate the spiritual life, Ānanda turns to the Buddha's teaching on four kinds of 'unreliable' spiritual life: a teacher who falsely claims constant, all-encompassing omniscience yet is exposed by mundane errors like walking into obstacles or needing to ask directions; a teacher who relies purely on oral tradition and scriptural transmission, a mix of well-learned truth and error; a teacher who relies purely on logic and reasoning, likewise a mix of sound
Page 305–309 With Sandaka (MN 76, concluded): the path to liberation and how many are freed The Buddha's teaching to Ānanda continues: a follower who trains under a genuine teacher progresses through the four absorptions and then the three true knowledges — recollecting many past lives, seeing beings reborn according to their deeds, and understanding the ending of defilements. Ānanda then explains that a fully awakened mendicant can never again kill, steal, have sex, lie, or hoard possessions, and that the knowledge of one's own liberation is not held constantly in mind but recalled on
Page 310–317 The Longer Discourse with Sakuludāyī (MN 77), part 1: which teacher truly wins loyalty The Buddha visits the noisy monastery of the wanderer Sakuludāyī in Rājagaha, who hushes his assembly on seeing him approach. Their conversation turns to a debate ascetics had recently held about which famous teacher of the day commands genuine loyalty from disciples; several, including Pūraṇa Kassapa and the Jain leader, are recalled being publicly contradicted and abandoned by their own students, while the Buddha's disciples are remembered as reverently silent even in a huge crowd, and speak o
Page 318–321 The Longer Discourse with Sakuludāyī (MN 77), part 2: the Buddha refutes the superficial reasons The Buddha methodically dismantles each of Udāyī's five proposed reasons for his disciples' devotion. He points out that some of his own disciples eat far less than he does, wear rougher rag-robes, subsist on plainer gleaned almsfood, sleep at the roots of trees, and keep to more remote seclusion than he sometimes does himself. If loyalty depended on such ascetic austerities, he argues, those stricter disciples would have every reason to abandon him rather than the reverse. This clears away the
Page 322–341 The Longer Discourse with Sakuludāyī (MN 77), part 3: the five genuine qualities and the full graduated path The Buddha reveals the five real reasons for his disciples' loyalty: his complete ethical conduct, his knowledge and vision that never overstate what he actually knows and sees, his unmatched wisdom that anticipates every objection, his ability to give satisfying answers grounded in the four noble truths, and above all the entire graduated training he has laid out for his disciples. This last point is unpacked at great length through vivid similes — bathing powder soaked with water, a spring-fed
Page 342–345 With Uggāhamāna Samaṇamaṇḍikāputta (MN 78), part 1: the baby who is 'invincible' The chamberlain Pañcakaṅga visits the wanderer Uggāhamāna, who claims that anyone who does no bad deed by body, speech, or livelihood, and thinks no bad thought, thereby counts as a supremely accomplished 'invincible ascetic.' Unconvinced, Pañcakaṅga brings the claim to the Buddha, who points out the absurdity: a newborn baby, incapable of any bodily, verbal, or mental misconduct simply because it has no concept of body, speech, thought, or livelihood, would by this bare negative definition also
Page 346–351 With Uggāhamāna Samaṇamaṇḍikāputta (MN 78), part 2: the ten qualities of a true invincible ascetic The Buddha lays out his own account of the true 'invincible ascetic': ten qualities built on deep understanding of skillful and unskillful behavior and thought. He traces unskillful bodily and verbal conduct and wrong livelihood back to a mind driven by greed, hatred, and delusion, and unskillful thoughts of sensuality, malice, and cruelty back to perception, showing how each is abandoned through sustained effort and stilled through the absorptions. The same analysis is then applied to skillful
Page 352–356 The Shorter Discourse With Sakuludāyī (MN 79), part 1: dependent origination versus a vague doctrine On another visit to Sakuludāyī's monastery, the Buddha and Udāyī discuss why an assembly listens attentively only when its own teacher is speaking. Udāyī recounts an encounter with a Jain ascetic who claims constant, all-encompassing knowledge but grows evasive and hostile when questioned about the first beginning of things. Rather than address speculative questions about ultimate origins or ends, the Buddha offers to teach the principle of dependent origination — 'when this exists, this comes t
Page 357–362 The Shorter Discourse With Sakuludāyī (MN 79), part 2: exposing the empty doctrine of 'ultimate splendor' The Buddha exposes the emptiness of Udāyī's claimed 'ultimate splendor' with the simile of a man infatuated with a woman he has never seen or heard of, then leads him through a graduated comparison of brightness — a beryl gem, a firefly, an oil lamp, a bonfire, the morning star, the full moon, the midday sun — revealing that what Udāyī calls 'ultimate' is duller than a mere firefly, while the Buddha knows of luminous gods that outshine the sun yet still refuses to call any of them 'ultimate.' Ud
Page 363–366 MN 79 With Sakuludāyī (concluding section) — The Finer Things and a Thwarted Ordination The Buddha continues his dialogue with the wanderer Sakuludāyī, clarifying that mendicants do not follow him merely to be reborn in an 'absolutely happy world,' but for things far finer: meeting a Buddha, abandoning the five hindrances, attaining the four absorptions, and gaining the higher knowledges culminating in the ending of the defilements and full liberation. Deeply moved by this teaching, Sakuludāyī declares his faith in the Buddha, the teaching, and the Saṅgha, and asks to be ordained.
Page 367–373 MN 80 With Vekhanasa — What Is the Ultimate Splendor? The wanderer Vekhanasa (Kaccāna) repeatedly proclaims to the Buddha that there is an 'ultimate splendor' beyond compare, but cannot describe what it actually is. Using the simile of a man infatuated with an unseen 'finest lady in the land,' the Buddha shows that such a claim has no demonstrable basis. Through a graduated series of comparisons — a beryl gem, a firefly, an oil lamp, a bonfire, the morning star, the full moon, the sun — the Buddha demonstrates that worldly splendor is only ever a m
Page 374–380 MN 81 With Ghaṭīkāra (Part 1) — Ghaṭīkāra Drags Jotipāla to See the Buddha Kassapa Prompted by Ānanda's question about why he smiled at a certain spot, the Buddha recounts a past-life story from the era of the previous Buddha, Kassapa. Kassapa's devoted lay supporter, the potter Ghaṭīkāra, repeatedly and increasingly forcefully urges his skeptical friend Jotipāla to come see the Buddha, finally grabbing him by the hair — an act so startling from a lowborn potter that Jotipāla realizes it must be serious and agrees to go. After hearing Kassapa Buddha teach, Jotipāla wishes to g
Page 381–387 MN 81 With Ghaṭīkāra (Part 2) — King Kikī and the Potter's Extraordinary Virtue The narrative (Buddha Kassapa speaking to King Kikī of Kāsi) describes Ghaṭīkāra's remarkable virtue: he lives strictly ethically, has renounced money and digging the earth, gives away his pottery for free to whoever leaves food in exchange, and will never return to this world after death. Several episodes show Ghaṭīkāra's blind parents unknowingly giving the Buddha food or the grass roof of his workshop for the Buddha's leaking hut, and Ghaṭīkāra rejoicing rather than minding the loss; he even
Page 388–396 MN 82 With Raṭṭhapāla (Part 1) — Going Forth Against His Parents' Wishes In the Kuru country, the wealthy young gentleman Raṭṭhapāla resolves to go forth after hearing the Buddha teach, but his parents refuse permission, unable to bear losing their only child. Raṭṭhapāla lies on the bare ground and refuses to eat, declaring he will either die there or go forth; despite pleas from his parents and friends, he stays silent and resolute until his parents finally relent, on the condition that he visit them once ordained. He receives ordination from the Buddha, and through
Page 397–402 MN 82 With Raṭṭhapāla (Part 2) — Return Home and the Verses on the Painted Body With the Buddha's permission, Venerable Raṭṭhapāla returns to visit his family, but his own father fails to recognize him and abuses him as a fake ascetic; he is only recognized when a servant girl pours out leftover porridge for him and notices his hands, feet, and voice. His father then tries to lure him back to lay life with a mountain of gold and his former wives, but Raṭṭhapāla refuses both, speaking pointed verses comparing the beautified body to a painted puppet or makeup box that can onl
Page 403–414 MN 82 With Raṭṭhapāla (Part 3) — The Four Summaries of the Teaching King Koravya visits Raṭṭhapāla and asks why he went forth despite having none of the four usual triggers for renunciation — old age, sickness, loss of wealth, or loss of relatives. Raṭṭhapāla answers with four summaries the Buddha taught: the world is unstable and swept away, has no shelter or savior, has no true owner, and is insatiable, the slave of craving. He proves each point using episodes from the king's own life — his vanished youthful strength, his inability to share his pain with kin,
Page 415–423 MN 83 About King Maghadeva — The Lineage of 84,000 Renunciant Kings The Buddha smiles at a spot near Mithilā and tells Ānanda the story of King Maghadeva, an ancient righteous king who, on seeing his first grey hair as a sign of the 'messengers of the gods,' handed the throne to his son and went forth to devote himself to the four divine meditations of love, compassion, rejoicing, and equanimity, later being reborn in a heavenly realm. He instituted this as a family tradition, urging each successor not to be the one who breaks the good custom, and it was kept by
Page 425–427 Conclusion of the Maghadeva Sutta (MN 83) — Founding a New Good Practice King Nimi is escorted back to Mithilā by Sakka's charioteer and continues ruling justly, eventually going forth and being reborn in a heavenly realm after developing the four divine meditations. His son Kaḷāra Janaka breaks the family tradition of renunciation, becoming the "final man" who lets the lineage of good practice lapse. The Buddha reveals that he himself was King Maghadeva in that past life, and explains that the old practice only led to rebirth in the heavens, not to true liberation.
Page 429–439 Middle Discourses 84: With Madhurā — Refuting Brahmin Claims of Superiority King Avantiputta asks Venerable Mahākaccāna about the brahmin claim that only brahmins are the purest, best class, born from the mouth of the Divinity. Mahākaccāna dismantles this through a series of reasoned examples: wealth-based deference shows practical rank ignores birth class, karmic result (good or bad rebirth) depends on one's ethical conduct regardless of caste, criminal punishment falls on wrongdoers of any class equally, and going forth as an ascetic erases caste distinctions altogeth
Page 440–443 Middle Discourses 85 (Part 1): With Prince Bodhi — The Invitation and the Cloth Prince Bodhi invites the Buddha and the Saṅgha to a meal at his newly built longhouse, the Pink Lotus, which has never been used by anyone. He has the entry spread with white cloth as a mark of honor, but the Buddha refuses to step onto it out of compassion for future generations, since such extravagance could become an expected standard. Ananda has the cloth folded away, and after the Buddha eats, Prince Bodhi shares his view that "pleasure is not gained through pleasure; pleasure is gained thr
Page 444–461 Middle Discourses 85 (Part 2): With Prince Bodhi — The Buddha's Quest and Awakening The Buddha recounts his own spiritual quest: leaving home, studying under Āḷāra Kālāma (who taught the dimension of nothingness) and then Uddaka son of Rāma (who taught neither-perception-nor-non-perception), and finding both attainments inadequate since neither led to full liberation. Three similes about drilling fire from wet or dry wood clarify that only a mind free of sensual desire can achieve awakening. He then describes his extreme ascetic practices — breath restraint that caused violent
Page 462–476 Middle Discourses 85 (Part 3): With Prince Bodhi — Deciding to Teach and the Five Ascetics After awakening, the Buddha hesitates to teach because the Dhamma is profound and beings are attached to worldly pleasures, until the divinity Sahampati begs him to teach for the sake of those with "little dust in their eyes." Surveying the world with the simile of lotuses at different stages of emerging from a pond, the Buddha agrees, but discovers his former teachers Āḷāra Kālāma and Uddaka have both recently died. He instead seeks out and successfully teaches the group of five ascetics at Isi
Page 477–487 Middle Discourses 86: With Aṅgulimāla — Taming the Murderous Bandit Despite warnings that the bandit Aṅgulimāla murders travelers and wears their fingers as a necklace, the Buddha walks alone down the road toward him. When Aṅgulimāla cannot catch up with the calmly walking Buddha despite chasing him, the Buddha declares that he himself has "stopped" — having renounced all violence — while Aṅgulimāla has not; moved by this teaching, Aṅgulimāla throws away his weapons and is ordained on the spot. King Pasenadi, intent on hunting down the bandit, is astonished to l
Page 488 Aṅgulimāla's Verses of Transformation (concluding verses) This page contains the closing verses spoken by the reformed murderer-turned-monk Aṅgulimāla, concluding the preceding sutta about him. He recounts how he was once a notorious bandit with blood on his hands, but found refuge in the Buddha and thereby eradicated the craving that binds one to further existence. He acknowledges that the painful results of his past deeds have already struck him, so he now eats free of debt, and he contrasts fools who are negligent with the wise who guard diligence a
Page 489–497 MN 87: Born From the Beloved (Piyajātika Sutta) A grieving householder whose only child has died refuses to eat or work, and angrily rejects the Buddha's statement that loved ones are a source of sorrow, lamentation, and distress. Word of this disagreement travels to the royal court, where Queen Mallikā sides with the Buddha, angering King Pasenadi, who sends a brahmin messenger to confirm what was actually said. The Buddha explains through vivid stories of people driven mad by grief over lost parents, children, and spouses, and the tragic ta
Page 498–505 MN 88: The Foreign Cloth (Bāhitika Sutta) King Pasenadi encounters Venerable Ānanda and, impressed that his half-formed question is answered before he can finish asking it, questions him about what kind of bodily, verbal, and mental behavior is faulted by sensible ascetics and brahmins. Ānanda walks the king through a chain of definitions, showing that blameworthy conduct is ultimately whatever harms oneself or others and causes unskillful qualities to grow, while praiseworthy conduct does the opposite. Delighted with the answer, the ki
Page 506–516 MN 89: Shrines to the Teaching (Dhammacetiya Sutta) While out driving, King Pasenadi is struck by the sight of peaceful tree roots that remind him of the Buddha, and he sets off to visit him at the Sakyan town of Medaḷumpa, greeting him with unusually deep physical reverence. Asked why he shows such devotion, the king delivers an extended personal testimony of everything that convinces him the Buddha is truly awakened: the harmony and joy of the monastic Saṅgha compared to the constant strife among families and rulers, ascetics who remain haggard
Page 517–527 MN 90: At Kaṇṇakatthala (Kaṇṇakatthala Sutta) King Pasenadi visits the Buddha to clarify a rumor that he claims no ascetic or brahmin can ever be omniscient, and the Buddha corrects the misquotation, explaining he only denied that anyone could know and see everything simultaneously in a single act of cognition. The conversation turns to whether the four social classes (aristocrats, brahmins, peasants, menials) differ spiritually, and the Buddha teaches the five factors that support meditation - faith, health, honesty, energy, and wisdom - a
Page 528–531 MN 91a: Brahmāyu Sends His Pupil Uttara to Investigate the Buddha This opens the long Brahmāyu Sutta: the aged brahmin Brahmāyu, 120 years old and a master of the Vedas and the marks of a great man, hears that the Buddha is wandering in the Videhan lands with a large Saṅgha. Rather than go himself, he sends his own accomplished pupil Uttara to verify whether the ascetic Gotama truly lives up to his reputation. Brahmāyu instructs Uttara in detail on the thirty-two marks of a great man, explaining that anyone possessing them becomes either a world-conquering mon
Page 531–538 MN 91b: Uttara's Report on the Buddha's Marks and Perfect Conduct Uttara reaches the Buddha and scrutinizes his body, but cannot confirm two hidden marks; the Buddha uses psychic power to reveal his sheathed genitals and demonstrates the length of his tongue, satisfying Uttara that all thirty-two marks are present. Uttara then quietly follows the Buddha for seven months to observe his everyday behavior before returning to report to Brahmāyu. His report is an extraordinarily detailed inventory of the Buddha's physical marks and his flawless deportment in every
Page 539–547 MN 91c: Brahmāyu Meets the Buddha and Attains the Dhamma Eye The Buddha himself arrives at Mithilā, and Brahmāyu, after sending a respectful message ahead, comes to meet him in person, personally verifying the two remaining marks when the Buddha again reveals them. In verse, Brahmāyu asks what makes someone a true brahmin, knowledge-master, sage, and awakened one, and the Buddha's answer on liberation from rebirth so moves him that he prostrates and declares his name in devotion. The Buddha then gives him a graduated teaching culminating in the four noble
Page 548 MN 92: With Sela (opening) This is the opening of the next sutta, With Sela, at the point where the chunk ends. The Buddha is wandering with a very large Saṅgha of 1,250 mendicants in the land of the Aṅguttarāpans and arrives at their town of Āpaṇa. The matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya hears of the Buddha's excellent reputation and his arrival nearby, setting up the encounter that the rest of the sutta will develop.
Page 549–557 MN 92 With Sela (continued): Keṇiya's Feast and Sela's Conversion The matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya, after three requests, secures the Buddha's consent to feed him and 1,250 mendicants and organizes elaborate preparations. The brahmin teacher Sela, hearing that the famed 'awakened one' has arrived, is astonished, since the epithet is nearly impossible to find, and goes with his three hundred students to inspect the Buddha for the thirty-two marks of a great man. Doubting two of the marks, he sees them confirmed when the Buddha uses psychic power to reveal them, a
Page 558–572 MN 93 With Assalāyana: Debating the Purity of the Brahmin Caste Five hundred visiting brahmins pressure the young scholar Assalāyana to debate the Buddha, who teaches that all four social classes can attain purification, against the brahmin claim of being uniquely pure and born from Brahmā's own mouth. The Buddha dismantles this claim point by point: brahmin women menstruate and give birth like anyone else; foreign lands like Greece and Persia have only two classes with mobility between them; the same good or bad deeds bring the same rebirth in heaven or hel
Page 573–580 MN 94 With Ghoṭamukha, Part 1: The Four Kinds of Mortification The brahmin Ghoṭamukha tells the elder monk Udena that he doubts a genuine renunciate life exists. Udena presents four types of people: those who mortify themselves, those who mortify others, those who mortify both, and those who mortify neither — the last living free of craving, at ease, and 'with self become divine.' Ghoṭamukha approves only of the last type, reasoning that everyone wants happiness and none should be tormented, and Udena notes this type is typically found among those who have
Page 582–590 MN 94 With Ghoṭamukha, Part 2: The Gradual Training and Going for Refuge Udena describes at length the fourth individual, who neither mortifies self nor others: one who goes forth on hearing the Buddha's teaching, undertakes ethical precepts, restrains the senses, practices mindfulness, attains the four absorptions, and develops the three true knowledges — recollecting past lives, seeing how beings are reborn according to their deeds, and ending the defilements — culminating in liberation. Deeply moved, Ghoṭamukha declares his belief in the spiritual path and wishes
Page 591–598 MN 95 With Caṅkī, Part 1: Caṅkī Decides to Visit the Buddha The Buddha arrives at Opāsāda and the local brahmins and householders flock to see him because of his renowned qualities. The wealthy brahmin Caṅkī, holder of a royal land grant, is urged by five hundred visiting brahmins not to lower himself by visiting the ascetic Gotama, but instead argues back that the Buddha's superior birth, renunciation of wealth and family, ethical perfection, eloquence, and following among kings and gods make it fitting for Caṅkī to go to him. Caṅkī and the brahmins tra
Page 600–602 MN 95 With Caṅkī, Part 2: Kāpaṭika's Challenge and the Blind Men's Queue Kāpaṭika asks the Buddha whether the ancient Vedic hymns, transmitted by canonical authority, represent the sole truth as the brahmins claim. The Buddha shows that not a single brahmin, teacher, or even the ancient seers who composed the hymns ever personally verified this claim, comparing the brahmins' faith in the tradition to a line of blind men each holding the one in front, none of whom can see. When Kāpaṭika appeals instead to oral transmission, the Buddha lists five grounds — faith, perso
Page 603–607 MN 95 With Caṅkī, Part 3: Awakening to Truth and Attaining Truth The Buddha explains the stages beyond merely preserving truth. 'Awakening to truth' occurs when someone carefully scrutinizes a teacher for greed, hatred, and delusion, finds none, develops faith, listens to and reflects on the teaching, and strives to directly realize it with penetrating wisdom. 'Attainment of truth' comes from cultivating and repeatedly developing this same process. The Buddha then traces backward the chain of conditions that support arriving at truth — striving depends on wei
Page 608–609 Closing of the Discourse with Caṅkī (MN 95) — the chain to truth and going for refuge This short passage closes out the preceding discourse (With Caṅkī), setting out the chain of supportive conditions that lead to discovering truth: faith leads to approaching a teacher, approaching leads to paying homage, paying homage leads to actively listening, and so on toward the preservation, awakening to, and attainment of truth. The brahmin questioner then formally reviews each point he has asked the Buddha about, declaring that he endorses, accepts, and is satisfied with every answer. He
Page 610–614 MN 96 With Esukārī — the brahmins' four kinds of service and true worth The brahmin Esukārī visits the Buddha at Sāvatthī and describes the brahmanical doctrine of four prescribed kinds of service, whereby each class (brahmin, aristocrat, peasant, menial) may only serve certain others, with menials serving everyone. The Buddha rejects this as an unauthorized imposition, comparing it to forcing a poor person to pay for meat they never asked for. Instead, he lays down his own principle: one should serve another only if doing so makes one better, not worse, regardless
Page 615–622 MN 96 With Esukārī — the four kinds of wealth, the fire simile, and equal capacity for the path Esukārī next describes the brahmanical doctrine of four prescribed kinds of wealth (alms-living for brahmins, weapons for aristocrats, farming for peasants, and manual labor for menials), and the Buddha again dismisses this as unauthorized, teaching instead that a person's true wealth is the noble teaching itself, though people are conventionally classified by their family's customs, just as fire is named after whatever fuel it burns on. Using repeated questioning, the Buddha establishes that a
Page 623–629 MN 97 With Dhanañjāni — Sāriputta confronts a corrupt brahmin's excuses Venerable Sāriputta, wandering in the Southern Hills, learns from a visiting mendicant that the brahmin Dhanañjāni, a tax official in Rājagaha, has grown negligent — extorting both king and citizens and having remarried a faithless wife after his devout wife's death. On returning to Rājagaha, Sāriputta seeks Dhanañjāni out, who excuses his corrupt livelihood by claiming he must provide for parents, wife and children, servants, and various other dependents, and even fatten his own body. Sāriputta
Page 630–635 MN 97 With Dhanañjāni — principled livelihood is always possible, then his final illness Sāriputta continues the same line of questioning for each dependent (wife and children, servants, friends, relatives, guests, ancestors, deities, the king, and one's own body), each time getting Dhanañjāni to agree that principled, moral conduct is better than unprincipled conduct done for their sake, and pointing out that legitimate, profitable livelihoods exist that let a person provide for everyone without wrongdoing. Dhanañjāni approves of Sāriputta's reasoning and departs. Some time later h
Page 636–640 MN 97 With Dhanañjāni — the path to the Brahmā realm and Sāriputta's incomplete teaching Sāriputta visits the dying Dhanañjāni, who describes his agony in vivid images of drilling, tightening straps, cleaving, and burning. Sāriputta then leads him through a ranked comparison of realms from hell up through the various heavens to the "realm of divinity" (the Brahmā world), and seeing Dhanañjāni's attachment to that goal, teaches him the four divine abodes (boundless love, compassion, rejoicing, and equanimity) as a path to rebirth there. Dhanañjāni dies shortly after and is reborn in
Page 641–643 MN 98 With Vāseṭṭha — is one a brahmin by birth or by deeds? Two brahmin students, Vāseṭṭha and Bhāradvāja, debate whether brahmin status is determined by pure ancestry (Bhāradvāja's view) or by ethical conduct (Vāseṭṭha's view), and unable to resolve it, bring the question to the Buddha near Icchānaṅgala. Vāseṭṭha poses the question to the Buddha in verse, describing their impeccable Vedic training and asking him to settle the dispute. The Buddha begins his verse reply by cataloguing how plants, insects, animals, snakes, fish, and birds are all naturally
Page 644–649 MN 98 With Vāseṭṭha — no bodily marks define a brahmin, only deeds The Buddha argues that, unlike other species, human beings show no bodily feature that marks off one class from another — no distinction of birth can be found in hair, body parts, color, or voice — so class labels like farmer, trader, servant, or brahmin are merely names for occupations and conventions, not biological facts. In an extended verse sequence he redefines "brahmin" entirely in ethical and spiritual terms: one who has cut off attachment, fetters, anger, greed, and craving, who is pati
Page 650–653 MN 99 With Subha — laypeople, renunciates, and fruitful work The brahmin student Subha, staying in Sāvatthī, visits the Buddha and raises the brahmanical claim that only laypeople, not renunciates, succeed in the skillful teaching. The Buddha refuses to answer one-sidedly, saying that wrong practice fails for either group while right practice succeeds for either group. Subha then presses the related claim that lay life, having many duties, is more fruitful than renunciate life, which has few; the Buddha replies that fruitfulness depends on whether the eff
Page 654–659 MN 99 With Subha — the five brahmanical virtues and the parable of the blind queue Subha lists five things the brahmins prescribe for making merit: truth, fervor, chastity, recitation, and generosity, and the Buddha questions whether any living brahmin, any tutor back seven generations, or even the ancient hymn-composing seers ever claimed to know the results of these five things through their own direct insight — Subha admits none did. The Buddha compares the brahmins' unfounded claims to a queue of blind men each holding the one in front, none of whom can see. Subha grows an
Page 660–665 MN 99 With Subha — rapture beyond the senses, generosity, and the path to the Brahmā realm Using the image of a fire that needs no fuel, the Buddha describes the deeper rapture of meditative absorption (jhāna) as superior to rapture dependent on sensual stimulation, then turns to ranking the five brahmanical virtues, with Subha naming generosity as most fruitful; through further questioning the Buddha gets Subha to add a sixth ground of merit, giving born from sympathy rather than desire for status. The Buddha notes these five virtues are actually more often fulfilled by renunciates t
Page 666 Conclusion of MN 99 With Subha This brief passage closes the previous discourse (With Subha). The brahmin Jānussoṇi, riding out from Sāvatthī, meets the student Subha and asks what he thinks of the ascetic Gotama's wisdom. Subha replies that he is unqualified to judge someone of the Buddha's stature, and praises the Buddha as one who identifies the true prerequisites for developing a mind free of enmity and ill will, surpassing the brahmins' own prescriptions for merit-making. Deeply moved, Jānussoṇi gets down from his chario
Page 667–669 MN 100 With Saṅgārava — A Skeptical Brahmin Youth Meets the Buddha The devout laywoman Dhanañjānī, tripping and stumbling, spontaneously cries out homage to the Buddha, which offends the young, Veda-proficient brahmin student Saṅgārava, who dismisses the Buddha as a fake ascetic. When the Buddha later arrives in Caṇḍalakappa, Saṅgārava goes to question him, asking about ascetics and brahmins who claim to have reached the pinnacle of spiritual perfection in this very life. The Buddha replies that such claimants fall into three types: those who merely rely on ora
Page 670–674 MN 100 With Saṅgārava — Training Under Āḷāra Kālāma and Uddaka The Buddha recounts his own going-forth: dissatisfied with lay life, and despite his weeping parents' objections, he shaved his head, donned ocher robes, and left home in the prime of youth to seek the supreme peace. He first studied under Āḷāra Kālāma, quickly mastering and personally realizing the teaching up to the dimension of nothingness, and was even invited to co-lead the community, but recognized it did not lead to full disillusionment and awakening, only to a still-limited rebirth, so h
Page 675–683 MN 100 With Saṅgārava — The Three Similes and Extreme Austerities Arriving at Uruvelā, the Buddha settles by a pleasant river to strive further, and three similes occur to him: a wet, sap-filled log cannot be kindled whether in water or on dry land, but only a dry, withered log can catch fire — meaning that as long as desire for sensual pleasures is not internally abandoned, no amount of painful striving produces awakening, but once it is abandoned within, real progress becomes possible. He then describes pushing his body to agonizing extremes: crushing his mi
Page 685–687 MN 100 With Saṅgārava — The Middle Way and the First Two Knowledges Realizing that no one could have practiced more extreme austerities than he had without success, the Buddha recalls a childhood memory of spontaneously entering blissful jhāna while sitting under a tree, and recognizes this as the actual path to awakening, free from fear of a pleasure that has nothing to do with sensuality or unskillful states. Deciding his emaciated body cannot sustain that practice, he resumes eating solid food, causing his five ascetic companions to leave him in disgust as an
Page 688–689 MN 100 With Saṅgārava — Awakening and Saṅgārava's Conversion In the last watch of the night the Buddha gains the third knowledge, directly understanding the four noble truths regarding both suffering and the defilements, and his mind is fully freed from sensuality, craving for rebirth, and ignorance — the moment of full awakening. Saṅgārava, deeply impressed, asks whether gods exist; the Buddha affirms it, explaining that whether one says "gods survive" or "I have understood it through causes," any sensible listener reaches the same conclusion, and that t