Other Translations: Deutsch , ру́сский язы́к , Srpski
From: , , ,
Saṁyutta Nikāya 12.19 Linked Discourses 12.19
2. Āhāravagga 2. Fuel
Bālapaṇḍitasutta The Astute and the Foolish The Wise Man and the FoolThe wise man [compared] with the fool.
Sāvatthiyaṁ viharati. At Sāvatthī. Ignorance is a cognitive defilement, craving an emotional defilement. Their pairing here shows that they work together, rather than being in a strict linear relationship as in the standard set of twelve links. Dependent origination is textually stated as a line, and pictorially as a circle. However in many ways, the best image is a spiral: twisting around like a coiling snake or like DNA, never exactly repeating yet never really new.At Sāvatthī.Near Sāvatthī the Exalted One said:—
“Avijjānīvaraṇassa, bhikkhave, bālassa taṇhāya sampayuttassa evamayaṁ kāyo samudāgato. “Mendicants, for a fool shrouded by ignorance and coupled to craving, this body has been produced. The phrase “shrouded by ignorance” describes beings roaming through transmigration (SN 15.1, AN 3.76, Iti 14). Nīvaraṇa ultimately stems from Vṛtra, the serpent who, by coiling around the mountain, both “shrouded” it in darkness, and “hindered” or blocked it. | The reading here is sampayutta (“coupled”) rather than saṁyojana (“fettered”) found elsewhere.“Bhikkhus, for the fool, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, this body has thereby originated.“For the fool, Monks, cloaked by ignorance and tied to craving, this body is formed in this way:
Iti ayañceva kāyo bahiddhā ca nāmarūpaṁ, itthetaṁ dvayaṁ, dvayaṁ paṭicca phasso saḷevāyatanāni, yehi phuṭṭho bālo sukhadukkhaṁ paṭisaṁvedayati etesaṁ vā aññatarena. So there is this duality: this body and external name and form. Contact depends on this duality. When contacted through one or other of the six sense fields, the fool experiences pleasure and pain. In the standard sequence, this corresponds to the emergence of consciousness with name and form in a new life. | For the unique phrase “this body and external name and form” (ayañceva kāyo bahiddhā ca nāmarūpaṁ), compare the stock phrase “this conscious body and all external stimuli” (saviññāṇake kāye bahiddhā ca sabbanimittesu, eg. SN 18.21:1.3). “Name and form” are that which is known, the labels and concepts as well as physical sense stimuli, all of which is felt as “external” to the knowing consciousness, the “lord of the city” seated in the central square (SN 35.245:9.7). For the body in the process of rebirth, compare Rig Veda 10.56. | The idiom etesaṁ vā aññatarena (“one or other”) takes the instrumental, so it applies to the six senses, not pleasure and pain.So there is this body and external name-and-form: thus this dyad. Dependent on the dyad there is contact. There are just six sense bases, contacted through which—or through a certain one among them—the fool experiences pleasure and pain.There is just this body and names-and-shapes without:— thus this pair. Because of the pair [there is] contact, just six spheres of sense. Touched by these, or by one of them, the fool experiences pleasure and pain.
Avijjānīvaraṇassa, bhikkhave, paṇḍitassa taṇhāya sampayuttassa evamayaṁ kāyo samudāgato. For an astute person shrouded by ignorance and coupled to craving, this body has been produced. Paṇḍita is normally used for a learned scholar, rather than a contemplative “sage”. Pali has many more terms for “a wise person” than does English, and it is not easy to distinguish the senses. “Astute” is meant to convey the sense of one who is observant and of sound judgment.Bhikkhus, for the wise man, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, this body has thereby originated. For the wise man, Monks, cloaked by ignorance and tied to craving this body is formed in this way:
Iti ayañceva kāyo bahiddhā ca nāmarūpaṁ, itthetaṁ dvayaṁ, dvayaṁ paṭicca phasso saḷevāyatanāni, yehi phuṭṭho paṇḍito sukhadukkhaṁ paṭisaṁvedayati etesaṁ vā aññatarena. So there is this duality: this body and external name and form. Contact depends on this duality. When contacted through one or other of the six sense fields, the astute person experiences pleasure and pain. These factors are all resultant, not kammically active.So there is this body and external name-and-form: thus this dyad. Dependent on the dyad there is contact. There are just six sense bases, contacted through which—or through a certain one among them—the wise man experiences pleasure and pain.there is just this body and names-and-shapes without:— thus this pair. Because of the pair [there is] contact, just six spheres of sense. Touched by these, or by one of them, the wise man experiences pleasure and pain.
Tatra, bhikkhave, ko viseso ko adhippayāso kiṁ nānākaraṇaṁ paṇḍitassa bālenā”ti? What, then, is the difference between the foolish and the astute?” While the opposition between the fool (or “child”, bāla) and the astute (or “learned”, paṇḍita) is consistent in Buddhism, not so in the pre-Buddhist literature. There the pair rarely appear, and when they do it is to subvert expectations. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.5.1 says a brahmin should stop being a paṇḍita and become a bāla, and when they are no longer either of those, they become a sage (muni); and when they stop being a sage, they become a brahmin.What, bhikkhus, is the distinction here, what is the disparity, what is the difference between the wise man and the fool?”What, Monks, is there here that is different, distinctive, diverse between the wise man and the fool?”
“Bhagavaṁmūlakā no, bhante, dhammā, bhagavaṁnettikā, bhagavaṁpaṭisaraṇā. Sādhu vata, bhante, bhagavantaṁyeva paṭibhātu etassa bhāsitassa attho. Bhagavato sutvā bhikkhū dhāressantī”ti. “Our teachings are rooted in the Buddha. He is our guide and our refuge. Sir, may the Buddha himself please clarify the meaning of this. The mendicants will listen and remember it.” “Venerable sir, our teachings are rooted in the Blessed One, guided by the Blessed One, take recourse in the Blessed One. It would be good if the Blessed One would clear up the meaning of this statement. Having heard it from him, the bhikkhus will remember it.”“For us, lord, things have the Exalted One as their root, their guide, their resort. Well indeed were it if the meaning of this that he has spoken were to manifest itself in the Exalted One. Hearing it from him the Monks will remember it.”
“Tena hi, bhikkhave, suṇātha, sādhukaṁ manasi karotha, bhāsissāmī”ti. “Well then, mendicants, listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.” “Then listen and attend closely, bhikkhus, I will speak.”“Well then, Monks, listen, give your mind thoroughly and I will speak.”
“Evaṁ, bhante”ti kho te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṁ. “Yes, sir,” they replied. “Yes, venerable sir,” the bhikkhus replied.“Even so, lord,” responded those Monks.
Bhagavā etadavoca: The Buddha said this: The Blessed One said this:The Exalted One said thus:—
“Yāya ca, bhikkhave, avijjāya nivutassa bālassa yāya ca taṇhāya sampayuttassa ayaṁ kāyo samudāgato, sā ceva avijjā bālassa appahīnā sā ca taṇhā aparikkhīṇā. “For a fool shrouded by ignorance and coupled to craving, this body has been produced. But the fool has not given up that ignorance or finished that craving. “Bhikkhus, for the fool, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, this body has originated. For the fool that ignorance has not been abandoned and that craving has not been utterly destroyed.“The ignorance, Monks, wherewith the fool, whose body is so wrought, is cloaked, the craving whereto he is tied, that ignorance the fool has not thrown off, that craving is not withered away.
Taṁ kissa hetu? Why is that? For what reason?How is that?
Na, bhikkhave, bālo acari brahmacariyaṁ sammā dukkhakkhayāya. The fool has not completed the spiritual journey for the complete ending of suffering. The “fool” in Buddhism is not one who lacks intelligence, but one who, lacking moral sense, lives heedlessly.Because the fool has not lived the holy life for the complete destruction of suffering.The fool has not lived the divine life for the right withering away of ill,
Tasmā bālo kāyassa bhedā kāyūpago hoti, Therefore, when their body breaks up, the fool passes on to another body. This corresponds with the generation of “continued existence” and future rebirth in the standard sequence. Thus the process evolves over at least three lives: the past life, where you made kamma driven by ignorance and craving; this life, where you experience the results and can choose to act differently; and the next life where you will experience the results of choices in this life. It can be more than three, as kamma takes effect over many lifetimes. The different factors are all observable in every life, but it is only when the process is seen evolving over time that their full nature is understood.Therefore, with the breakup of the body, the fool fares on to [another] body. therefore the fool at the breaking up of the body is on his way to [another] body.
so kāyūpago samāno na parimuccati jātiyā jarāmaraṇena sokehi paridevehi dukkhehi domanassehi upāyāsehi. When they have passed on to another body, they’re not freed from rebirth, old age, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress. Faring on to [another] body, he is not freed from birth, aging, and death; not freed from sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair;He being on his way thither is not set free from birth, nor from old age and death, nor from grievings, from lamentings, from ills, from sorrows, from despairs—
‘Na parimuccati dukkhasmā’ti vadāmi. They’re not freed from suffering, I say. not freed from suffering, I say.I say, he is not set free from Ill.
Yāya ca, bhikkhave, avijjāya nivutassa paṇḍitassa yāya ca taṇhāya sampayuttassa ayaṁ kāyo samudāgato, sā ceva avijjā paṇḍitassa pahīnā, sā ca taṇhā parikkhīṇā. For an astute person shrouded by ignorance and coupled to craving, this body has been produced. But the astute person has given up that ignorance and finished that craving. Bhikkhus, for the wise man, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, this body has originated. For the wise man that ignorance has been abandoned and that craving has been utterly destroyed.The ignorance, Monks, wherewith the wise man, whose body is so wrought, is cloaked, the craving whereto he is tied, that ignorance the wise man has thrown off, and that craving is withered away.
Taṁ kissa hetu? Why is that? For what reason?How is that?
Acari, bhikkhave, paṇḍito brahmacariyaṁ sammā dukkhakkhayāya. The astute person has completed the spiritual journey for the complete ending of suffering. Because the wise man has lived the holy life for the complete destruction of suffering.The wise man has lived the divine life for the right withering away of ill,
Tasmā paṇḍito kāyassa bhedā na kāyūpago hoti. Therefore, when their body breaks up, the astute person does not pass on to another body. Therefore, with the breakup of the body, the wise man does not fare on to [another] body. therefore the wise man at the breaking up of the body is not on his way to [another sense-] body.
So akāyūpago samāno parimuccati jātiyā jarāmaraṇena sokehi paridevehi dukkhehi domanassehi upāyāsehi. Not passing on to another body, they’re freed from rebirth, old age, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress. Not faring on to [another] body, he is freed from birth, aging, and death; freed from sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair;He not being on his way thither is set free from rebirth, from old age and death, from grievings, from lamentings, from ills, from sorrows, from despairs—
‘Parimuccati dukkhasmā’ti vadāmi. They’re freed from suffering, I say. freed from suffering, I say.I say, he is set free from Ill.
Ayaṁ kho, bhikkhave, viseso, ayaṁ adhippayāso, idaṁ nānākaraṇaṁ paṇḍitassa bālena yadidaṁ brahmacariyavāso”ti. This is the difference here between the foolish and the astute, that is, leading the spiritual life.” This, bhikkhus, is the distinction, the disparity, the difference between the wise man and the fool, that is, the living of the holy life.”This, Monks, is how the wise man is different, distinctive, diverse from the fool, namely in that he lives the divine life.”
Navamaṁ.