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Sutta NipÄta 5.7 Sutta NipÄta 5.6Anthology of Discourses 5.7
UpasÄ«vamÄį¹avapucchÄ UpasÄ«vaās QuestionsThe Questions of UpasÄ«va
āEko ahaį¹ sakka mahantamoghaį¹, āAlone, Sakyan, with nothing to rely on,āAlone and independent, O Sakyan,ā
(iccÄyasmÄ upasÄ«vo) (UpasÄ«va)said Venerable UpasÄ«va,
Anissito no visahÄmi tÄrituį¹; I canāt venture across the great flood.āI am not able to cross the great flood.
Ärammaį¹aį¹ brÅ«hi samantacakkhu, Tell me, All-around Eye,Tell me a support, All-seer, At Kaį¹ha Upaniį¹£ad 2.17, the ultimate āsupportā is the syllable om.
Yaį¹ nissito oghamimaį¹ tareyyaį¹ā. the support to rely on for crossing over this flood.ādepending on which I may cross this flood.ā
āÄkiƱcaƱƱaį¹ pekkhamÄno satimÄ, āMindfully focused on nothingness,āNothingnessā here is the dimension of nothingness, one of the four formless absorptions, reached (after surmounting the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness) by focusing on the perception āthere is nothing.ā MN 26 says Äįø·Ära KÄlÄma, the Bodhisattaās first teacher, had mastered this level and took it to be the highest attainment; the Bodhisatta left him on realizing it wasnāt true liberation. Even so, the dimension of nothingness can serve as a basis for the insight that does lead to liberation ā see Sn 5:14 (snp5.15) and AN 9:36 below, and on using the formless attainments to cross the flood more generally, see MN 52, MN 106, MN 111, and AN 9:36.āMindfully contemplating nothingness,ā
(upasÄ«vÄti bhagavÄ) (the Buddha)replied the Buddha,
NatthÄ«ti nissÄya tarassu oghaį¹; relying on āThere isnāt,ā you should cross over the flood.ādepending on the perception āthere is nothingā, cross the flood. NatthÄ«ti abbreviates natthi kiƱcÄ«āti, which marks the dimension of nothingness.
KÄme pahÄya virato kathÄhi, Abandoning sensuality, abstaining from conversations,Giving up sensual pleasures, refraining from chatter, Niddesa explains kathÄhi as either ādoubtsā (truncated kathaį¹
kathÄ), or ātalksā. Elsewhere (paį¹i)virato is commonly used with speech and never, to my knowledge, with doubt.
Taį¹hakkhayaį¹ nattamahÄbhipassaā. keep watch for the ending of craving, night & day.āwatch day and night for the ending of craving.ā Nattamaha (āday and nightā) is a unique expression that draws on the Vedic nakta.
āSabbesu kÄmesu yo vÄ«tarÄgo, āOne free from passion for all sensualityāOne who is free of desire for sensual pleasures,ā
(iccÄyasmÄ upasÄ«vo) (UpasÄ«va)said Venerable UpasÄ«va,
ÄkiƱcaƱƱaį¹ nissito hitvÄ maƱƱaį¹; relying on nothingness, letting go of all else,ādepending on nothingness, all else left behind,
SaƱƱÄvimokkhe parame vimutto, released in the highest emancipation of perception:freed in the ultimate liberation of perception: Accept textās vimutto against Niddesaās (a)dhimutto (Cnd 10:22.2). Here, the meditator has already attained the dimension of nothingness, which is the highest of the attainments āwith perceptionā (SN 14.11:5.1). Adhimutta would imply that they are āintent onā realizing the next attainment, as for example MN 105:13.4.
Tiį¹į¹he nu so tattha anÄnuyÄyÄ«ā. Does he stay there unaffected?āmight they remain there without traveling on?ā
āSabbesu kÄmesu yo vÄ«tarÄgo, āOne free from passion for all sensualityāOne free of desire for sensual pleasures,ā
(upasÄ«vÄti bhagavÄ) (the Buddha)replied the Buddha,
ÄkiƱcaƱƱaį¹ nissito hitvÄ maƱƱaį¹; relying on nothingness, letting go of all else,ādepending on nothingness, all else left behind,
SaƱƱÄvimokkhe parame vimutto, released in the highest emancipation of perception:freed in the ultimate liberation of perception:
Tiį¹į¹heyya so tattha anÄnuyÄyÄ«ā. He stays there unaffected.āthey might remain there without traveling on.ā
āTiį¹į¹he ce so tattha anÄnuyÄyÄ«, āIf, All-around Eye, he stays there,āIf they were to remain there without traveling on, In this verse, tiį¹į¹he, sÄ«tisiyÄ, and cavetha are all optatives.
PÅ«gampi vassÄnaį¹ samantacakkhu; unaffected for many years,even for myriad years, All-seer, PÅ«ga is explained by the Niddesa as thousands of years or eons, a meaning also found at Pv 42:9.2. The BhÄgavata PurÄį¹a has varį¹£a-pÅ«ga in the same sense (2.5.34, 4.12.43).
Tattheva so sÄ«tisiyÄ vimutto, right there would he be cooled & released?and, being freed, were to grow cool right there,
Cavetha viƱƱÄį¹aį¹ tathÄvidhassaā. Would his consciousness be like that?āFollowing the Thai editionās bhavetha viƱƱÄį¹aį¹ tathÄvidhassa (āwould the consciousness of one of that sort beā), reading tathÄvidhassa as a fusion of tathÄvidhaį¹ (āof that sortā) and assa (āhisā). The Burmese and Sri Lankan editions instead read cavetha (āwould fall/dieā) for bhavetha (āwould beā); tathÄvidhassa could also be read as a straightforward genitive, which combined with cavetha would give āWould the consciousness of such a one fall?āwould the consciousness of that sort pass away?ā
āAccÄ« yathÄ vÄtavegena khittÄ, āAs a flame overthrown by the force of the windāAs a flame tossed by a gust of wind,ā
(upasÄ«vÄti bhagavÄ) (the Buddha)replied the Buddha,
Atthaį¹ paleti na upeti saį¹
khaį¹; goes to an end that cannot be classified,For more on this image in light of early Buddhist theories of fire, see The Mind Like Fire Unbound, chapter 1.ācomes to an end and cannot be reckoned; Compare the stock idiom saį¹
khampi na upeti at eg. SN 20.2:1.7; also Snp 1.12:3.4. Also compare na pamÄį¹ameti at Iti 69:4.3.
Evaį¹ munÄ« nÄmakÄyÄ vimutto, so the sage freed from the name-bodyāName-bodyā (nÄma-kÄya) refers to mental activities of every sort.so too, a sage freed from the set of mental phenomena NÄmakÄya appears here and at DN 15:20.2 meaning the āsetā of mental phenomena known as ānameā.
Atthaį¹ paleti na upeti saį¹
khaį¹ā. goes to an end that cannot be classified.ācomes to an end and cannot be reckoned.ā
āAtthaį¹
gato so uda vÄ so natthi, āOne who has reached the end: Does he not exist,āOne who has disappearedādo they not exist?
UdÄhu ve sassatiyÄ arogo; or is he for eternity free from dis-ease?Or are they free from disease for eternity?
Taį¹ me munÄ« sÄdhu viyÄkarohi, Please, sage, declare this to mePlease, sage, answer me clearly,
TathÄ hi te vidito esa dhammoā. as this phenomenon has been known by you.āfor truly you understand this matter.ā
āAtthaį¹
gatassa na pamÄį¹amatthi, āOne who has reached the end has no criterionOn what ācriterionā means here, see The Mind Like Fire Unbound, chapter 1; on the TathÄgata as indescribable more generally, see Skill in Questions, chapter 8 and appendix 4.āOne who has disappeared cannot be defined,ā
(upasÄ«vÄti bhagavÄ) (the Buddha)replied the Buddha.
Yena naį¹ vajjuį¹ taį¹ tassa natthi; by which anyone would say thatāfor him it doesnāt exist.Following the Sri Lankan editionās vajjÄ (āhe/one would sayā) over the Thaiās irregular vajju or the Burmeseās vajjaį¹ (āthey would sayā); vajjÄ fits the meter better, nothing in the dialogue up to this point suggests a āthey,ā and the parallel line at SN 1:20 also reads vajjÄ in the major editions. Read as āone would say,ā the Buddhaās answer addresses how such a person would appear to an outside observer; read as āhe would say,ā it addresses how the person would describe his own experience. Either way, thereās no standpoint ā from within or without ā from which one could rightly say the person doesnāt exist, or that he exists eternally free from disease.āThey have nothing by which others might describe them.
Sabbesu dhammesu samohatesu, When all phenomena are done away with,This is one of the passages where unbinding is treated not as a phenomenon (dhamma) in its own right but as the ending of phenomena; see AN 3:137, note 1.When all things have been eradicated,
SamÅ«hatÄ vÄdapathÄpi sabbeāti. all means of speaking are done away with as well.āeradicated, too, are all ways of speech.ā
UpasÄ«vamÄį¹avapucchÄ chaį¹į¹hÄ«. UpasÄ«vaās Questions, the sixth.