7. * If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, that he
(note 5), of insight into objective phenomena. These three quali- ties are constantly referred to as parts of Arahatship. The Rev. David da Silva makes vipassand identical with the sevenfold perception (sa##&, mentioned as conditions of the welfare of a community in the Book of the Great Decease, Chap. I, § 10).
1 Even after death those who remember the Buddha, the Truth, or the Order with believing heart can reap spiritual advantage. Compare the Dhammapada commentary, p. 97.
should be victorious over discontent and lust \ that
discontent should never overpower him, that he should
master and subdue any discontent that had sprung
up within him, let him then fulfil all righteousness,
let him be devoted to that quietude of heart which
springs from within, let him not drive back the
ecstasy of contemplation, let him look through things,
let him be much alone ! '
8. 'If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, that he
should be victorious over (spiritual) danger and
dismay, that neither danger nor dismay should ever
overcome him, that he should master and subdue
every danger and dismay, let him then fulfil all
righteousness, let him be devoted to that quietude
of heart which springs from within, let him not
drive back the ecstasy of contemplation, let him
look through things, let him be much alone ! '
9. ' If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, to realise
the hopes of those spiritual men who live in the bliss
which comes, even in this present world, from the
four G^&nas, should he desire not to fall into the
pains and difficulties (which they avoid), let him
then fulfil all righteousness, let him be devoted to
that quietude of heart which springs from within, let
him not drive back the ecstasy of contemplation,
let him look through things, let him be much alone 2 !'
10. ' If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, to
reach with his body and remain in those stages of
deliverance which are incorporeal, and pass beyond
1 Aratiratisaho. Arati is the disinclination to fulfil the duties of a Samawa, discontent with the restrictions of the Order.
2 The bliss here referred to, and described in detail below, Maha-Sudassana Sutta, Chap. Ill, is the 'ecstasy of contem- plation ' referred to in the refrain.
Akankheyya sutta.
phenomena \ let him then fulfil all righteousness, let
him be devoted to that quietude of heart which
springs from within, let him not drive back the
ecstasy of contemplation, let him look through
things, let him be much alone ! '
11. * If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, by the
complete destruction of the three Bonds to become
converted, to be no longer liable to be reborn in
a state of suffering, and to be assured of final salva-
tion 2 , let him then fulfil all righteousness, let him
be devoted to that quietude of heart which springs
from within, let him not drive back the ecstasy of
contemplation, let him look through things, let him
be much alone ! '
12. ' If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, by the
complete destruction of the three Bonds, and by the
reduction to a minimum of lust, hatred, and delusion,
to become a Sakad&g&min, and (thus) on his first
return to this world to make an end of sorrow, let
him then fulfil all righteousness, let him be devoted
to that quietude of heart which springs from within,
let him not drive back the ecstasy of contemplation,
let him look through things, let him be much alone!'
13. ' If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, by the
complete destruction of the five Bonds which bind
people to this earth, to become an inheritor of the
highest heavens 3 , there to pass entirely away, thence
1 These are the eight Vimokkhd, a list of which occurs in the Great Decease, Chap. Ill, §§ 33-42.
2 On this and the two following sections compare Mah£pari- nibbana Sutta II, 7, and on the Bonds or Fetters below, p. 222.
3 Opapatika. This is another of those words which, from their connoting Buddhist ideas unknown in Europe, are really untranslatable. It means a being who springs into existence without the intervention of parents, and therefore, as it were,
never to return, let him then fulfil all righteousness,
let him be devoted to that quietude of heart which
springs from within, let him not drive back the
ecstasy of contemplation, let him look through
things, let him be much alone ! *
14. 1 * If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, to
exercise one by one each of the different Iddhis,
being one to become multiform, being multiform to
become one; to become visible, or to become in-
visible ; to go without being stopped to the further
side of a wall, or a fence, or a mountain, as if
through air ; to penetrate up and down through
solid ground, as if through water ; to walk on the
water without dividing it, as if on solid ground ; to
travel cross-legged through the sky, like the birds on
wing; to touch and feel with the hand even the
sun and the moon, mighty and powerful though
they be ; and to reach in the body even up to the
heaven of BrahmA ; let him then fulfil all righteous-
uncaused, and seeming to appear by chance. All the higher devas (angels or gods) are opapatika, there being no sex or birth in the highest heavens ; and it is with especial allusion to this that the word is here used. There is of course from the Buddhist point of view (which admits of nothing without a cause) a very sufficient cause for the sudden appearance of an opapa- tika in heaven, viz. the karma of a being who has past away somewhere else ; but the Buddhist theory necessitated the choice of an expression which would give no countenance to the (here- tical) idea of a soul flying away after the death of its body from one world to another.
In the expression * which bind people to this world,' by world is meant the Rupa-loka, or world of form, which include all those parts of the universe whose inhabitants have an outward form and are subject to lusts.
1 With this paragraph compare Mahaparinibb&na Sutta III, 14, and S£ma/7«a Phala Sutta, p. 145.
AKANKHEYYA SUTTA.
ness, let him be devoted to that quietude of heart
which springs from within, let him not drive back
the ecstasy of contemplation, let him look through
things, let him be much alone!'
15. 1 'If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, to
hear with clear and heavenly ear, surpassing that
of men, sounds both human and celestial, whether
far or near, let him then fulfil all righteousness, let
him be devoted to that quietude of heart which
springs from within, let him not drive back the
ecstasy of contemplation, let him look through
things, let him be much alone ! '
16. 2 * If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, to com-
prehend by his own heart the hearts of other beings
and of other men ; to discern the passionate mind to
be passionate, and the calm mind calm ; the angry
mind to be angry, and the peaceable peaceable ;
the deluded mind to be deluded, and the wise mind
wise ; the concentrated thoughts to be concentrated,
and the scattered to be scattered; the lofty mind
to be lofty, and the narrow mind narrow ; the sub-
lime thoughts to be sublime, and the mean to be
mean; the steadfast mind to be steadfast, and the
wavering to be wavering ; the free mind to be free,
and the enslaved mind to be enslaved ; let him then
fulfil all righteousness, let him be devoted to that
quietude of heart which springs from within, let
him not drive back the ecstasy of contemplation, let
him look through things, let him be much alone ! '
17. ' If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, to be
able to call to mind his various temporary states
in days gone by; such as one birth, two births,
1 With this paragraph compare Sama«»a Phala Sutta, p. 146.
2 Compare M. P. S. I, 16, and Samara Phala Sutta, p. 147-
three, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, a
hundred or a thousand, or a hundred thousand
births 1 ; his births in many an aeon of destruction,
in many an aeon of renovation, in many an aeon of
both destruction and renovation 2 ; (so as to be able
to say), "In that place such was my name, such my
family, such my caste 3 , such my subsistence, such
my experience of comfort or of pain, and such the
limit of my life ; and when I passed from thence,
I took form again in that other place where my
name was so and so, such my family, such my
caste, such my subsistence, such my experience of
comfort or of joy, and such my term of life ; and
when I fell from thence, I took form in such and
such a place 4 ; " — should he desire thus to call to
mind his temporary states in days gone by in all
their modes and all their details let him then fulfil
all righteousness, let him be devoted to that quie-
tude of heart which springs from within, let him
not drive back the ecstasy of contemplation, let him
look through things, let him be much alone ! 9
i8. 6 ' If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, to see with pure and heavenly vision, surpassing that of
1 The Lalita Vistara (p. 442) characteristically carries this enu- meration further up into innumerable ko/is and niyutas of births.
2 This is based on the Buddhist theory of the periodical destruc- tion and renovation of the universe, each of which takes countless years to be accomplished.
3 Va»»a, colour.
* The text of this clause recurs nearly word for word in the Brahma-^ala Sutta, pp. 17-21 : and in the Lalita Vistara, Chap. XXII, p. 442 ; and exactly in the Sdmaw^a Phala Sutta, p. 148.
5 This paragraph recurs in the Simaw^a Phala Sutta, p. 150, and in nearly the same words in the Lalita Vistara, Chap. XXII.
Akankheyya sutta.
men, beings as they pass from one state of existence
and take form in others ; beings base or noble,
good-looking or ill-favoured, happy or miserable,
according to the karma they inherit — (if he should
desire to be able to say), " These beings, reverend
sirs, by their bad conduct in action, by their bad
conduct in word, by their bad conduct in thought, by
their speaking evil of the Noble Ones 1 , by their
adhesion to false doctrine, or by their acquiring
the karma of false doctrine 2 , have been reborn, on
the dissolution of the body after death, in some
unhappy state of suffering or woe V " These beings,
reverend sirs, by their good conduct in action, by
their good conduct in word, by their good conduct
in thought, by their not speaking evil of the Noble
Ones, by their adhesion to right doctrine, by their
acquiring the karma of right doctrine, have been
reborn, on the dissolution of the body after death,
into some happy state in heaven ; " — should he desire
thus to see with pure and heavenly vision, sur-
passing that of men, beings as they thus pass from
one state of existence and take form in others;
beings base or noble, good-looking or ill-favoured,
happy or miserable, according to the karma they
inherit ; let him then fulfil all righteousness, let him
be devoted to that quietude of heart which springs
1 This is a collective term, meaning Buddhas, Pai^eka Buddhas, Arahats, An&gamins, Sakaddg&mins, and Sotdpannas; that is, those who are walking in the Noble Eightfold Path.
2 The Pali is mi&kha.- (and below sammd-) di/Mi-kamma- samadana; the Lalita Vistara, whose other expressions are identical with the Pali, has, very strangely, mithyd- (and below samyag-) di/Mi-karma-dharma-sam£d£na.
8 See note on M. P. S., Chap. I, § 23.
21 8 IF HE SHOULD DESIRE .
from within, let him not drive back the ecstasy of
contemplation, let him look through things, let him
be much alone ! '
19. 1 * If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, by
the destruction of the great evils (Asavas 2 ), by him-
self, and even in this very world, to know and realise
and attain to Arahatship, to emancipation of heart,
and emancipation of mind, let him then fulfil all right-
eousness, let him be devoted to that quietude of
heart which springs from within, let him not drive
back the ecstasy of contemplation, let him look
through things, let him be much alone ! '
20. * Continue therefore, Brethren, in the practice
of Right Conduct, adhering to the Rules of the
Order; continue enclosed by the restraint of the
Rules of the Order, devoted to uprightness in life ;
train yourselves according to the Precepts, taking
them upon you in the sense of the danger in the
least offence. For to this end alone has all, that
has been said, been said ! *
21. Thus spake the Blessed One. And those
Brethren, delighted in heart, exalted the word of
the Blessed One.