4: The Book of the Fours
XVIII. Intention — AN 4.174: With Ānanda
- © Translated from the Pali by Bhante Sujato. (More copyright information)
1Then Venerable Ānanda went up to Venerable Mahākoṭṭhita, and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, Ānanda sat down to one side, and said to Mahākoṭṭhita:
2“Reverend, when these six fields of contact have faded away and ceased with nothing left over, does anything else exist?”
3“Don’t put it like that, reverend.”
4“Does nothing else exist?”
5“Don’t put it like that, reverend.”
6“Do both something else and nothing else exist?”
7“Don’t put it like that, reverend.”
8“Do neither something else nor nothing else exist?”
9“Don’t put it like that, reverend.”
10“Reverend, when asked these questions, you say ‘don’t put it like that’. … How then should we see the meaning of this statement?”
11“If you say that ‘when the six fields of contact have faded away and ceased with nothing left over, something else exists’, you’re proliferating the unproliferated. If you say that ‘nothing else exists’, you’re proliferating the unproliferated. If you say that ‘both something else and nothing else exist’, you’re proliferating the unproliferated. If you say that ‘neither something else nor nothing else exist’, you’re proliferating the unproliferated. The scope of the six fields of contact extends as far as the scope of proliferation. The scope of proliferation extends as far as the scope of the six fields of contact. When the six fields of contact fade away and cease with nothing left over, proliferation stops and is stilled.”
1Atha kho āyasmā ānando yenāyasmā mahākoṭṭhiko tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā āyasmatā mahākoṭṭhikena saddhiṁ sammodi. Sammodanīyaṁ kathaṁ sāraṇīyaṁ vītisāretvā ekamantaṁ nisīdi. Ekamantaṁ nisinno kho āyasmā ānando āyasmantaṁ mahākoṭṭhikaṁ etadavoca:
2"Channaṁ, āvuso, phassāyatanānaṁ asesavirāganirodhā atthaññaṁ kiñcī"ti?
4"Channaṁ, āvuso, phassāyatanānaṁ asesavirāganirodhā natthaññaṁ kiñcī"ti?
6"Channaṁ, āvuso, phassāyatanānaṁ asesavirāganirodhā atthi ca natthi ca aññaṁ kiñcī"ti?
8"Channaṁ, āvuso, phassāyatanānaṁ asesavirāganirodhā nevatthi no natthaññaṁ kiñcī"ti?
10"‘Channaṁ, āvuso, phassāyatanānaṁ asesavirāganirodhā atthaññaṁ kiñcī’ti, iti puṭṭho samāno: ‘mā hevaṁ, āvuso’ti vadesi. ‘Channaṁ, āvuso, phassāyatanānaṁ asesavirāganirodhā natthaññaṁ kiñcī’ti, iti puṭṭho samāno: ‘mā hevaṁ, āvuso’ti vadesi. ‘Channaṁ, āvuso, phassāyatanānaṁ asesavirāganirodhā atthi ca natthi ca aññaṁ kiñcī’ti, iti puṭṭho samāno: ‘mā hevaṁ, āvuso’ti vadesi. ‘Channaṁ, āvuso, phassāyatanānaṁ asesavirāganirodhā nevatthi no natthaññaṁ kiñcī’ti, iti puṭṭho samāno: ‘mā hevaṁ, āvuso’ti vadesi. Yathā kathaṁ panāvuso, imassa bhāsitassa attho daṭṭhabbo"ti?
11"‘Channaṁ, āvuso, phassāyatanānaṁ asesavirāganirodhā atthaññaṁ kiñcī’ti, iti vadaṁ appapañcaṁ papañceti. ‘Channaṁ, āvuso, phassāyatanānaṁ asesavirāganirodhā natthaññaṁ kiñcī’ti, iti vadaṁ appapañcaṁ papañceti. ‘Channaṁ, āvuso, phassāyatanānaṁ asesavirāganirodhā atthi ca natthi ca aññaṁ kiñcī’ti, iti vadaṁ appapañcaṁ papañceti. ‘Channaṁ, āvuso, phassāyatanānaṁ asesavirāganirodhā nevatthi no natthaññaṁ kiñcī’ti, iti vadaṁ appapañcaṁ papañceti. Yāvatā, āvuso, channaṁ phassāyatanānaṁ gati tāvatā papañcassa gati. Yāvatā papañcassa gati tāvatā channaṁ phassāyatanānaṁ gati. Channaṁ, āvuso, phassāyatanānaṁ asesavirāganirodhā papañcanirodho papañcavūpasamo"ti.
Catutthaṁ.