Aṅguttara-Nikāya
III. Tika Nipāta
VIII. Ānanda Vagga

III. The Book of the Threes

VIII. About Ānanda

Sutta 74

Nigaṇṭha Suttaṃ

The Unclothed

[200]

Thus have I heard:

On a certain occasion the venerable Ānanda was staying near Vesālī,
in Great Grove,
at the House with the Peaked Gable.

Then Abhaya¹ and Paṇḍitakumāraka, the Licchavīs,
came to visit the venerable Ānanda.

On coming to him
they saluted him
and sat down at one side.

As they thus sat,
Abhaya the Licchavī said this
to the venerable Ānanda:

"Sir, Nātha's son, the Unclothed,
claims to be all-knowing,
all-seeing,
and to have all-comprising² knowledge and vision.

He says,

'Whether I walk
or stand
or sleep
or wake,
my knowledge and vision
are always and without a break
present before me.'

He proclaims the making an end of former deeds
by ascetic practice,
and the breaking down of³ the power of fresh deeds
by inaction.

Thus by the destruction of deeds
will result the destruction of Ill:
by the destruction of Ill,
the destruction of feeling:
by the destruction of feeling
all Ill will be exhausted.

So by this visible process
one passes beyond (the round of existence).⁴

What, sir, does the Exalted One say about this?"

[201] 2. "Abhaya, these three ways
of cleansing by wearing out
are well proclaimed by that Exalted One
who knows,⁵ who sees,
that Arahant who is a Fully Enlightened One,
for the cleansing of beings,
for their crossing beyond sorrow and lamentation,
for the destruction of grief and woe,
for the winning of the Method,
for the realizing of Nibbāna.

What are the three?

Herein, Abhaya, a monk is virtuous,
restrained with the restraint of the obligations;
proficient in following the practice of right conduct
he sees danger in the slightest faults:
he takes up and trains himself
in the rules of morality.

He performs no fresh action,
he makes an end of former action
which has affected him.⁶

Such is the (first way of) cleansing
by wearing out,⁷
a visible process,
not a matter of time,
but one that invites to come and see,
that leads onwards (to the Goal),
to be understood by the intelligent
each for himself.

■

Then, Abhaya, that monk, thus possessed of morality, aloof from sensual desires,
aloof from unprofitable states of mind,
enters on the first musing
which is accompanied by thought directed and sustained,
born of seclusion,
zestful and easeful,
and abides therein.

Then, by calming down thought directed and sustained,
he enters on that inward calm,
that single-minded purpose,
apart from thought directed and sustained,
born of mental balance,
zestful and easeful,
which is the second musing,
and abides therein.

Then by the fading out of zest
he becomes balanced
and remains mindful and composed,
and experiences with the body
that happiness of which the Ariyans aver:

'The balanced, thoughtful man lives happily,'

and he enters on the third musing
and abides therein.

Then, by rejecting pleasure and pain alike,
by the coming to an end
of the joy and sorrow which he had before,
he enters and abides in the fourth musing,
free of pain and free of pleasure,
a state of perfect purity
of balance and equanimity.

He performs no fresh action,
he makes an end of former action
which has affected him.

Such is the (second way of) cleansing
by wearing out,
a visible process,
not a matter of time,
but one that invites to come and see,
that leads onwards (to the Goal),
to be understood by the intelligent
each for himself.

■

Then again, Abhaya, that monk, thus possessed morality,
concentration
and insight,
by the destruction of the āsavas
himself having come to know
thoroughly in this very life
the heart's release
and the release by insight
which is free from the āsavas,
having attained it
abides therein.

He performs no fresh action,
he makes an end of former action
which has affected him.

Such is the (third way of) cleansing
by wearing out,
a visible process,
not a matter of time,
but one that invites to come and see,
that leads onwards (to the Goal),
to be understood by the intelligent
each for himself.

■

These, Abhaya, are the three ways
of cleansing by wearing out,
well proclaimed by the Exalted One
who knows, who sees,
that Arahant who is a Fully Enlightened One,
for the cleansing of beings,
for their crossing beyond sorrow and lamentation,
for the destruction of grief and woe,
for the winning of the Method,
for the realizing of Nibbāna."

3. At these words Paṇḍitakumāraka the Licchavī said this to Abhaya the Licchavī:

"Well, Abhaya, my good fellow!⁸

Do you approve of the venerable Ānanda's good words
as well spoken?"

[202] "Yes, indeed, my dear fellow!

How could I fail to do so?

Why! If anyone did not approve of tbem,
his head would split asunder."⁹

¹ Cf. A. ii, 200; at the same place Abhaya accompanies Sāḷha the Licchavī. At M. i, 302 he was sent by his teacher, Nātaputta, to confute the Buddha. At S. v, 126 he propounds the views of Pūraṇa Kassapa, who was ahetu-vādin, a 'no-cause-theorist.'

² Cf. A. iv, 428, aparisesaṃ.

³ Setu-ghātaṃ, lit. 'bridge-destroying.' Cf. Asḷ. 219, setuṃ hanatī ti, setu-ghāro; Buddh. Psych. Eth. 87 n.; A. ii, 159. Comy. padhānaṃ paccaya-ghātaṃ.

⁴ Samatikkamo.

⁵ Text should read jānāta.

⁶ Phussa phussa = phusitvā. Comy.

⁷ Text should read nijjarā.

⁸ Samma, a term of familiar address to equals and inferiors, but not used to women. For its derivation see Andersen, Glossary, p. 263.