Saṁyutta Nikāya
III. Khandha Vagga
22: Khandha Saṁyutta
5. Attadīpa Vagga

III: The Book Called The Khandhā-Vagga
Containing Kindred Sayings
on the Elements of Sensory Existence
and Other Subjects
XXII: Kindred Sayings on Elements (Khandhā)
5: On Being an Island to Self

Sutta 47

Samanupassanā Suttaṁ

View

 

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[46] [40]

Thus have I heard:—

The Exalted One was staying at Sāvatthī.

The Exalted One said:

"Those recluses and brahmins, brethren, who regard the self in divers ways,¹ regard it as the body-mass of five factors based on grasping,² or as some one of these.

What five?

Herein, brethren, the untaught many-folk,
who discern not those that are Ariyans,
who are unskilled in the Ariyan doctrine,
untrained in the Ariyan doctrine,
who discern not those who are worthy ones,
who are unskilled in the worthy doctrine,
untrained in the worthy doctrine, —
regard body as the self,
self as possessed of body,
body as being in the self,
self as being in body;

view feeling as the self
the self as possessed of feeling,
feeling as being in the self,
the self as being in feeling;

view perception as the self
the self as possessed of perception,
perception as being in the self,
the self as being in perception;

view the activities as the self
the self as possessed of the activities,
the activities as being in the self,
the self as being in the activities;

view consciousness as the self
the self as possessed of consciousness,
consciousness as being in the self,
the self as being in consciousness.

Thus this is the view.

It has come to him (to think): 'I am.'

Now when it has come to anyone
to think "I am,"
there comes to pass a descent
of the five feeling-faculties³
the seeing-faculty,
the hearing-faculty,
the smelling-faculty,
the tasting-faculty,
the touching-faculty.⁴

[41] Mind is the result,
mind-states⁵ are the result,
the ignorance-element is the result.⁶

Touched by the feeling born of contact with ignorance,
there comes to the untaught many-folk (the view),
'I am';

there comes (the view),
'this same I am;"

there comes (the view),
'things will be";

there comes the view,
'things will not be";⁷

there comes the view,
'things will have body';

the view,
'things will be bodiless';

there comes the view,
'things will be conscious';

the view,
'things will be unconscious';

the view,
'things will be neither conscious nor unconscious.'

It is just therein, brethren,
that the five feeling-faculties persist.

But herein for the well-taught Ariyan disciple
ignorance is put away and knowledge arises.⁸

Along with the fading away of ignorance
and the arising of knowledge
there comes to him no view that
"I am,"
that
"this same I am,"
that
"things will be,"
that
"things will not be,"
that
things will have body,"
that
things will not have body,"
that
things will be conscious,"
that
things will be unconscious,"
that
things will be neither conscious nor unconscious."'

 

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¹ Anekavihitaṁ, adv. If it is past part., trans., 'as bestowed in divers ways.'

² Cf. Buddhism (1912) p. 58. Buddh. Psych (1924) 102.

³ Pañcannaṁ indriyānaṁ avakkanti hoti. Comy., 'There is a rebirth {nibbatti) of the five feeling-faculties causally resulting from the existence of that net of sensuality.' Avakkanti (okkanti) = pātubhāvo, ' manifestation'

⁴ Kāyindriya, 'body-faculty,' the skin enveloping body (sense of touch) being the faculty.

⁵ Dhammā (says Comy.) = ārammaṇaṁ 'bass for thought.'

⁶ Mano, dhamma avijjādhiātu Here text reads vijjā, but Burm and Comy. avijjā is preferable.

⁷ Comy., 'The eternalist and annihilationist views.'

⁸ Comy. 'Of the Arahants Path.'