The Twenty-five Suttas from Uparipannasa

The Editorial Committee

Myanmar Pitaka Association, 1990

         Many of the discourses in this collection are on the physical and mental aggregates which are the objects of Clinging, the sense-bases and the primary elements, with a view to eradicating the concept, 'My self; mine and I.' The Buddha also expounded extensively the Eight Constituents of the Ariya Path, freedom from defilements and faults, the most beneficial way of making offerings, and the importance of forbearance which eradicates ill will. In the Acchariya-Abbhuta Sutta the Buddha said to the Venerable Ananda, "Ananda, let the marvellous and extraordinary phenomena concerning the Tathagata be made evident to the fullest extent," and the Venerable Ananda complied, giving the facts about the conception and the birth of the Buddha. The discourse on the Venerable Bakula (Bakula Sutta) also mentioned the marvellous and extraordinary facts concerning the Venerable Bakula, who was free from sickness throughout his life and who realized Parinibbana while sitting in the midst of a gathering of bhikkhus by meditating on the element of heat (tejodhatu), causing flames to arise from his body and consume his body leaving only relics.

          The discourses in this collection, with the exception of a few, were given by the Buddha. Among the exceptions are the Gopaka Moggallana Sutta given by the Venerable Aanda to the brahmin Gopaka Moggallana, the Anathapindikovada Sutta given by the Venerable Sariputta to Anathapindika on his death-bed, and the Nandakovada Sutta which contains Nandaka's exhortation to five hundred bhikkhus headed by Mahapajapati Gotami. Most of the discourses in this collection were given on the Buddha's own initiative in the form of straightforward exhortations or in the form of questions and answers, but some were given in reply to questions.

Discourses Given on ihe Buddha's Own Initiative

         Bahudhatuka Sutta, Anapanassati Sutta, Kaya gatasati Sutta, Bhaddekaratta Sutta, Dakkhina Vibhanga Sutta, Devaduta Sutta, Mahacattarisaka Sutta and Indriyabhavana Sutta may be cited as examples. In Bahudhatuka Sutta, the Buddha exhorted the bhikkhus to be wise and to have foresight, as all fears, dangers and troubles arise on account of the foolish and not on account of the wise. Here, the Buddha defined a wise person as one who is skilled in understanding the Elements, the sense-bases, the Theory of Cause and Effect (Paticcasamuppada), and in understanding the possible and the impossible. In Anapanassati Sutta and Kayagatasati Sutta, the Buddha taught the bhikkhus the methods of cultivating mindfulness and the advantages and benefits accruing from such practice. In Bhaddekaratta Sutta the exhortation was to contemplate the presently arising physical and mental phenomena, to meditate ardently and diligently by day and by night and to make the effort this very day, for one may die tomorrow.

          In Dakkhina Vibhanga Sutta, the Buddha showed the most beneficial way of making offerings. Once, while the Buddha was residing at the Nigrodharama monastery in Kapilavatthu in the country of the Sakyans, Pajapati Gotami brought a new pair of robes spun and woven by herself for the Buddha and entreated him to accept her offering of the robes. But the Buddha instructed her to offer the robes to the Order of bhikkhus, for by offering them to the Order she would have venerated both the Buddha and the Order. Pajapati Gotami offered the robes three times to the Buddha and he gave her the same reply three times. By this the Buddha showed her that an offering made to the Order is of greater merit than that made to an individual. It was also shown in this sutta that the offering is most beneficial and pure when both the donor and the recipient are endowed with morality. There would accrue a lesser degree of merit where either the donor or the recipient is lacking in purity. In the case of the seven categories of offerings made to the Order, the one made to the Order containing both bhikkhus and bhikkhunis headed by the Buddha is the noblest. In the case of offerings made to individuals, the noblest offering is one that is made to the Buddha; next comes the offering made to a paccekabuddha; then comes the offering made to an arahat, and so on and so forth, down to the common worldling without morality. The lowest in the scale of such kind of offering, as far as merit is concerned, is that given-to animals.

          In Devaduta Sutta, the discourse on the messengers of death, the Buddha spoke about the destination of beings on death and dissolution of their bodies; how they arise in good or bad destinations according to their own kamma-actions, how the evil-doers have to undergo terrible sufferings in niraya. These evil-doers have not heeded the warning of the messengers of Death, such as rebirth, old age, sickness. And being unmindful they have committed evil and failed to do good deeds in their life-time. In this sutta, the Buddha spoke at length on the miseries of niraya.

          The Buddha did so not solely to frighten beings with the sufferings of niraya, but primarily for beings to take heed to the warnings of the messengers of death. He did so out of his great compassion for all beings and solicitude for their welfare and to wean them away from acts of evil—doing.

          In Mahacattarisaka Sutta, the Buddha expounded the Faultless Right Concentration (Ariya Sammasamadhi) and also gave a methodical explanation of the Ariya Path of Eight Constituents, stressing the importance of Right Concentration and Right View. Of the Eight Constituents, Right Concentration (Ariya Sammasamadhi) arises together with the seven other constituents as its cause and its accompaniments. Of these seven factors, Right View which leads the way is always accompanied by Right Effort and Right Mindfulness. Right View, Right Effort and Right Mindfulness go together and one cannot be on the Ariya Path without Right View, Right Effort and Right Mindfulness. These three factors always lead to and accompany Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood. A sekha, one who has attained the first magga and is still undergoing training to attain arahatship, is endowed with these eight factors.

          Further, the Buddha explained that in one who has thus established the Ariya Path of Eight Constituents, there can arise Right Knowledge, sammanana, and in one who has Right Knowledge there arises Right Liberation, sammavimutti, which means attainment of Arahattaphala. Thus, an arahat is endowed with ten factors.

These ten factors give rise to ten meritorious factors, thus making twenty factors. Each of these twenty factors obliterates its opposite. For example Right View obliterates Wrong View and its resultant demeritorious factor. And then it goes on culminating in Right liberation which obliterates Wrong liberation and its resultant demeritorious factor. This enumeration comes to a total of forty factors.

         The discourse therefore comprises forty factors, twenty meritorious and twenty demeritorious. Hence the name Mahacattarisaka Sutta, the discourse on Forty Factors.

          Indriyabhavana Sutta is about the Cultivation of sense-faculties. Once the Buddha asked Uttara, a pupil of the brahmin Parasiviya, how the brahmin taught the cultivation of sense-faculties to his pupils. When Uttara replied that his teacher taught them that visible objects should not be looked at with the eye, sounds should not be listened to with the ear, in cultivating the sense-faculties, the Buddha countered by saying that, in that case, the blind and the deaf would have (without doing anything) cultivated the sense-faculties. The Buddha also pointed out that the feelings of pleasure, displeasure, and neither pleasure nor displeasure that arise on contact of sense organs with sense-objects are conditioned, gross, and causally produced; but that the equanimity of vipassana insight is serene and sublime. Giving an example for each sense-object, the Buddha also pointed out how, for one who practises vipassana meditation, these feelings pass away in an instant and equanimity of insight remains firm. The bhikkhu then becomes weary of, ashamed of and disgusted with pleasure or displeasure or neither pleasure nor displeasure that has arisen in him. In fact, he has become a sekha, i.e., one who is still in the process of practising the Teaching, not yet having attained Arahatta Fruition. When he has completed the cultivation of the sense-faculties he becomes an arahat.

Discourses Given in Reply to Questions

          Sunakkhatta Sutta, Ganaka Moggallana Sutta, Mahapunnama Sutta, Culakamma Vibhanga Sutta, and Gopaka Moggallana Sutta, may be cited as examples of discourses given in reply to questions. In Sunakkhatta Sutta, Sunakkhatta the Licchavi prince asked the Buddha whether all those bhikkhus who claimed to have attained arahatship really had attained arahatship or not. The Buddha replied that among those bhikkhus some had indeed attained arahatship. There were also some who since rely but mistakenly thought they had attained arahatship. Such bhikkhus are those who have attained jhana, and who may remain for a long time without defilements arising in them and so might think that they have no more defilements in them and that they have become arahats. There were also some who falsely and deliberately claimed such attainment with a view to gaining prestige and material benefits. The imposters, who falsely and deliberately claimed the attainment of magga and phala, have committed a grievous offence entailing loss of status as a member of the Samgha.

          In Chabbisodhana Sutta also the Buddha spoke on the same subject of bhikkhus claiming attainment of arahatship. The Buddha told the bhikkhus neither to accept nor reject the claim but to put questions to such a bhikkhu. In this sutta the Buddha mentioned six ways of testing a bhikkhu who claimed to have attained arahatship. If all his answers were found to be correct and appropriate, the bhikkhus should rejoice and acclaim thus: "Our meeting with such an excellent fellow-bhikkhu is great, good fortune." By means of these questions and answers the Buddha indirectly pointed out the practice leading to the attainment of arahatship.

          In Ganaka Moggallana Sutta, the brahmin Ganaka Moggallana asked the Buddha whether it was possible to prescribe the stages of training, performance and practice in the Buddha's Teaching just as there are steps in the staircase of the pinnacled monastery of Visakha, just as there are successive stages in the study of the Vedas, in the art of archery and in the study of mathematics. In reply, the Buddha explained to Ganaka Moggallana the successive stages in the training of a bhikkhu. Initially, the bhikkhu is required to be endowed with morality, that is, to observe restraint according to the fundamental instructions on conduct and attitude, to adhere to right behaviour and lawful resort in going round for alms-food, and to see danger even in the slightest faults. The bhikkhu is required to follow, step by step, other instructions such as, guarding the door of sense-faculties, eating in moderation and with proper reflection, and practising vigilance. After this he should cultivate mindfulness and clear comprehension, etc. The ultimate goal of the training of a bhikkhu is Nibbana. In this connexion, the Buddha has said, "Brahmin, I am a Tathagata who only shows the the way."

          Mahapunnama Sutta was given by the Buddha in reply to the questions asked by a bhikkhu at the Pubbarama monastery on a full moon night. The questions were about the aggregates which are the objects of Clinging, about the wrong view of Sakkaya, i.e. the illusion of Self. In this discourse the Buddha explained that all khandha aggregates are impermanent, painful and changeable and thus cannot be considered as atta; and that it is not proper to consider what is impermanent, painful and subject to change as 'This is mine, this is I, this is my Self.'

         In Culakammavibhanga Sutta we find the Buddha's exposition on the force of Kamma. This discourse was given in reply to the question of Subha, son of Todeyya. Young Subha asked the Buddha why among human beings, although all are human beings alike, some are inferior and some are superior, some have short lives and some have long lives, some are sickly and some are healthy, some are ugly and some are beautiful, some are insignificant and some are influential, some are poor and some are rich, some are of inferior lineage and some are of superior lineage, and some are ignorant and some are wise. The Buddha's reply is that beings have kamma (act or deed) as their possession, kamma as their inheritance, kamma as their cause, kamma as their relative, kamma as their refuge. This brief answer was not fully understood by young Subha. So the Buddha gave him a more detailed explanation, dealing with each of his fourteen questions.

          Gopaka Moggallana Sutta is another example of a discourse given in answer to a question. Once, after the passing away of the Buddha, Gopaka Moggallana asked the Venerable Ananda, "Is there any single bhikkhu who also is just as fully and completely endowed with Sabbannuta nana as the Honourable Gotama was?" The answer was, "There is not." Then the brahmin Vassakara, Chief Minister of Magadha, arrived on the scene and on learning about the conversation between the Venerable Ananda and Gopaka Moggallana asked the Venerable Ananda thus: "Is there a bhikkhu now who will be your refuge, nominated by the revered Gotama before he passed away, or chosen by the community of bhikkhus and elected by senior bhikkhus?" The answer again was, "There is not." Now, the brahmin Vassakara wanted to know why, in the absence of such a refuge, there was unity and concord among the bhikkhus. To this, the Venerable Ananda replied, "Brahmin, it is not that we have no refuge, we do have a refuge. Brahmin, the Teaching is our refuge." The Venerable Ananda then explained how the Buddha had prescribed the Patimokkha, the fundamental precepts for bhikkhus. To the further question whether there was a bhikkhu who could be respected and esteemed the Venerable Ananda replied that the Buddha had expounded the ten attributes fostering respect for a bhikkhu. And that a bhikkhu who has these ten attributes was indeed respected and venerated by bhikkhus.

          The Buddha used to conclude some of his important discourses such as Anenjasappaya Sutta and Indriyabhavana Sutta in this book with these words:

          "Ananda, what a compassionate teacher, who has the welfare of his disciples at heart, should do out of compassion, that I have done for you. ... Ananda, meditate! Do not be unmindful. Do not be remorseful later! This is our instruction to you all." The Buddha's message is quite clear. It is meant not only for the Venerable Ananda, but for all his disciples and followers.

          The above examples of the Buddha's teaching contained in the discourses included in this book are enough, we hope, to indicate to the reader how the Buddha showed the way to those who went astray; how he held up a lamp in the darkness for those with eyes to see; and how he revealed the dhamma to many, in various ways, each according to the stage of his knowledge and comprehension.

          May the Buddha's Teaching shine forth like the radiant sun.

The Editorial Committee

Myanmar Pitaka Association,

Visakha Hall,

Kaba-Aye Pagoda Estate,

Yangon.

28th July 1988.

The fullrnoon of Wazo, 1350 ME