mn6:1.1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.

There the Buddha addressed the mendicants, “Mendicants!”

mn6:1.5“Venerable sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:

mn6:2.1“Mendicants, live by the ethical precepts and the monastic code. Live restrained in the monastic code, conducting yourselves well and resorting for alms in suitable places. Seeing danger in the slightest fault, keep the rules you’ve undertaken.The “monastic code” (pātimokkha) is the primary list of rules for Buddhist monastics. There are many extant pātimokkhas in Chinese, Tibetan, and Sanskrit from early Buddhist schools, all similar but with some variations especially in minor rules of etiquette. Each fortnight the pātimokkha is recited to affirm the communal rules of the Saṅgha. Other passages are recited as inspiration, including this exhortation to keep the rules (also at AN4.12, AN10.71, and Iti 111), as well as the verses known as Ovāda Pātimokkha (DN14:3.28.1).
The word pātimokkha is defined in the canon as the “first and foremost” of skillful qualities (mukhametaṁ pamukhametaṁ at Khandhaka 2. However the Sanskrit form prātimokṣa is from the verb pramuñcati (“binding”; eg. Rig Veda 4.53.2, Atharva Veda 13.3, Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 6.7.1.1). Pali has paṭimokkha (“bandage”), paṭimukka (“bound”) and pātimokkha (“that which should be binding”). The Buddha says he laid down the pātimokkha to bind the community together like flowers bunched with string (Bhikkhu Pārājika 1).

mn6:3.1A mendicant might wish: ‘May I be liked and approved by my spiritual companions, respected and admired.’ So let them fulfill their precepts, be committed to inner serenity of the heart, not neglect absorption, be endowed with discernment, and frequent empty huts.To “fulfill precepts” repeats the commitment to the monastic code.
“Serenity” and “absorption” are the practice of meditation to develop tranquility (samatha).
“Discernment” is vipassanā (“insight”) meditation
“Empty huts” indicates solitude.

mn6:4.1A mendicant might wish: ‘May I receive robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicines and supplies for the sick.’ So let them fulfill their precepts, be committed to inner serenity of the heart, not neglect absorption, be endowed with discernment, and frequent empty huts.This series of arguments is conditional: if this is what you want, then this is how to get it. The Buddha is not encouraging people to want these things; on the contrary, he frequently warned of the dangers of such attachments. He is being pragmatic: given that people have desires, how can they be encouraged to desire something better?

mn6:5.1A mendicant might wish: ‘May the services of those whose robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicines and supplies for the sick I enjoy be very fruitful and beneficial for them.’ So let them fulfill their precepts …

mn6:6.1A mendicant might wish: ‘When deceased family and relatives who have passed away recollect me with a confident mind, may this be very fruitful and beneficial for them.’ So let them fulfill their precepts …

mn6:7.1A mendicant might wish: ‘May I prevail over desire and discontent, and may desire and discontent not prevail over me. May I live having mastered desire and discontent whenever they arose.’ So let them fulfill their precepts …

mn6:8.1A mendicant might wish: ‘May I prevail over fear and dread, and may fear and dread not prevail over me. May I live having mastered fear and dread whenever they arose.’ So let them fulfill their precepts …

mn6:9.1A mendicant might wish: ‘May I get the four absorptions—blissful meditations in this life that belong to the higher mind—when I want, without trouble or difficulty.’ So let them fulfill their precepts …

mn6:10.1A mendicant might wish: ‘May I have direct meditative experience of the peaceful liberations that are formless, transcending form.’ So let them fulfill their precepts …

mn6:11.1A mendicant might wish: ‘May I, with the ending of three fetters, become a stream-enterer, not liable to be reborn in the underworld, bound for awakening.’ So let them fulfill their precepts …

mn6:12.1A mendicant might wish: ‘May I, with the ending of three fetters, and the weakening of greed, hate, and delusion, become a once-returner, coming back to this world once only, then making an end of suffering.’ So let them fulfill their precepts …

mn6:13.1A mendicant might wish: ‘May I, with the ending of the five lower fetters, be reborn spontaneously and become extinguished there, not liable to return from that world.’ So let them fulfill their precepts …

mn6:14.1A mendicant might wish: ‘May I wield the many kinds of psychic power: multiplying myself and becoming one again; materializing and dematerializing; going unobstructed through a wall, a rampart, or a mountain as if through space; diving in and out of the earth as if it were water; walking on water as if it were earth; flying cross-legged through the sky like a bird; touching and stroking with my hand the sun and moon, so mighty and powerful; controlling the body as far as the realm of divinity.’ So let them fulfill their precepts …“Psychic powers” (iddhi) were much cultivated in the Buddha’s day, but the means to acquire them varied: devotion to a god, brutal penances, or magic rituals. The Buddha taught that the mind developed in samādhi was capable of things that are normally incomprehensible.
Only a few of these are attested as events in the early texts. The most common is the ability to “materialize and dematerialize”, exhibited by the Buddha (AN8.30), some disciples (MN37:6.1), and deities (MN67:8.1). The Pali is āvibhāvaṁ tirobhāvaṁ, literally “manifest state, hidden state”. Also found in Chāndogya Upaniṣad 7.26.1.

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mn6:15.1A mendicant might wish: ‘With clairaudience that is purified and superhuman, may I hear both kinds of sounds, human and heavenly, whether near or far.’ So let them fulfill their precepts …“Clairaudience” is a literal rendition of dibbasota. The root sense of dibba is to “shine” like the bright sky or a divine being. The senses of clarity and divinity are both present.

mn6:16.1A mendicant might wish: ‘May I understand the minds of other beings and individuals, having comprehended them with my mind.Note that the Indic idiom is not the “reading” of minds, which suggests hearing the words spoken in inner dialogue. While this is exhibited by the Buddha (eg. AN8.30), the main emphasis is on the comprehension of the overall state of mind. May I understand mind with greed as “mind with greed”, and mind without greed as “mind without greed”; mind with hate as “mind with hate”, and mind without hate as “mind without hate”; mind with delusion as “mind with delusion”, and mind without delusion as “mind without delusion”; constricted mind as “constricted mind”, and scattered mind as “scattered mind”; expansive mind as “expansive mind”, and unexpansive mind as “unexpansive mind”; mind that is not supreme as “mind that is not supreme”, and mind that is supreme as “mind that is supreme”; mind immersed in samādhi as “mind immersed in samādhi”, and mind not immersed in samādhi as “mind not immersed in samādhi”; freed mind as “freed mind”, and unfreed mind as “unfreed mind”.’ So let them fulfill their precepts …

mn6:17.1A mendicant might wish: ‘May I recollect many kinds of past lives. That is: one, two, three, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand rebirths; many eons of the world contracting, many eons of the world expanding, many eons of the world contracting and expanding. May I remember: “There, I was named this, my clan was that, I looked like this, and that was my food. This was how I felt pleasure and pain, and that was how my life ended. When I passed away from that place I was reborn somewhere else. There, too, I was named this, my clan was that, I looked like this, and that was my food. This was how I felt pleasure and pain, and that was how my life ended. When I passed away from that place I was reborn here.” May I thus recollect my many kinds of past lives, with features and details.’Empowered by the fourth jhāna, memory breaks through the veil of birth and death, revealing the vast expanse of time and dispelling the illusion that there is any place of eternal rest or sanctuary in the cycle of transmigration. So let them fulfill their precepts …

mn6:18.1A mendicant might wish: ‘With clairvoyance that is purified and superhuman, may I see sentient beings passing away and being reborn—inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, in a good place or a bad place—and understand how sentient beings pass on according to their deeds: “These dear beings did bad things by way of body, speech, and mind. They denounced the noble ones; they had wrong view; and they chose to act out of that wrong view. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a place of loss, a bad place, the underworld, hell. These dear beings, however, did good things by way of body, speech, and mind. They never denounced the noble ones; they had right view; and they chose to act out of that right view. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.” And so, with clairvoyance that is purified and superhuman, may I see sentient beings passing away and being reborn—inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, in a good place or a bad place. And may I understand how sentient beings pass on according to their deeds.’Here knowledge extends to the rebirths of others as well as oneself. Even more significant, it brings in the understanding of cause and effect; why rebirth happens the way it does. Such knowledge, however, is not infallible, as the Buddha warns in DN1:2.5.1 and MN136. The experience is one thing; the inferences drawn from it are another. One should draw conclusions only tentatively, after long experience. So let them fulfill their precepts …

mn6:19.1A mendicant might wish: ‘May I realize the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom in this very life, and live having realized it with my own insight due to the ending of defilements.’This is the experience of awakening that is the true goal of the Buddhist path. The defilements—properties of the mind that create suffering—have been curbed by the practice of ethics and suppressed by the power of jhāna. Here they are eliminated forever. So let them fulfill their precepts, be committed to inner serenity of the heart, not neglect absorption, be endowed with discernment, and frequent empty huts.

mn6:20.1‘Mendicants, live by the ethical precepts and the monastic code. Live restrained in the monastic code, conducting yourselves well and resorting for alms in suitable places. Seeing danger in the slightest fault, keep the rules you’ve undertaken.’ That’s what I said, and this is why I said it.”

mn6:20.3That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, the mendicants approved what the Buddha said.

1Evaṁ me sutaṁ — ​ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā sāvatthiyaṁ viharati jetavane anāthapiṇḍikassa ārāme.

Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: "bhikkhavo"ti.

"Bhadante"ti te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṁ. Bhagavā etadavoca:

"Sampannasīlā, bhikkhave, viharatha sampannapātimokkhā; pātimokkhasaṁvarasaṁvutā viharatha ācāragocarasampannā aṇumattesu vajjesu bhayadassāvino; samādāya sikkhatha sikkhāpadesu.

Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘sabrahmacārīnaṁ piyo ca assaṁ manāpo ca garu ca bhāvanīyo cā’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī ajjhattaṁ cetosamathamanuyutto anirākatajjhāno vipassanāya samannāgato brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

2Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘lābhī assaṁ cīvara-piṇḍapāta-senāsana-gilānappaccaya-bhesajja-parikkhārānan’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī ajjhattaṁ cetosamathamanuyutto anirākatajjhāno vipassanāya samannāgato brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

3Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘yesāhaṁ cīvara-piṇḍapāta-senāsana-gilānappaccaya-bhesajja-parikkhāraṁ paribhuñjāmi tesaṁ te kārā mahapphalā assu mahānisaṁsā’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī ajjhattaṁ cetosamathamanuyutto anirākatajjhāno vipassanāya samannāgato brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

4Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘ye maṁ ñātī sālohitā petā kālaṅkatā pasannacittā anussaranti tesaṁ taṁ mahapphalaṁ assa mahānisaṁsan’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī ajjhattaṁ cetosamathamanuyutto anirākatajjhāno vipassanāya samannāgato brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

5Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘aratiratisaho assaṁ, na ca maṁ arati saheyya, uppannaṁ aratiṁ abhibhuyya abhibhuyya vihareyyan’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī … pe … brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

6Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘bhayabheravasaho assaṁ, na ca maṁ bhayabheravaṁ saheyya, uppannaṁ bhayabheravaṁ abhibhuyya abhibhuyya vihareyyan’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī … pe … brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

7Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘catunnaṁ jhānānaṁ ābhicetasikānaṁ diṭṭhadhammasukhavihārānaṁ nikāmalābhī assaṁ akicchalābhī akasiralābhī’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī … pe … brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

8Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘ye te santā vimokkhā atikkamma rūpe āruppā, te kāyena phusitvā vihareyyan’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī … pe … brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

9Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘tiṇṇaṁ saṁyojanānaṁ parikkhayā sotāpanno assaṁ avinipātadhammo niyato sambodhiparāyaṇo’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī … pe … brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

10Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘tiṇṇaṁ saṁyojanānaṁ parikkhayā rāgadosamohānaṁ tanuttā sakadāgāmī assaṁ sakideva imaṁ lokaṁ āgantvā dukkhassantaṁ kareyyan’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī … pe … brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

11Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘pañcannaṁ orambhāgiyānaṁ saṁyojanānaṁ parikkhayā opapātiko assaṁ tattha parinibbāyī anāvattidhammo tasmā lokā’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī … pe … brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

12Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘anekavihitaṁ iddhividhaṁ paccanubhaveyyaṁ — ekopi hutvā bahudhā assaṁ, bahudhāpi hutvā eko assaṁ; āvibhāvaṁ tirobhāvaṁ; tirokuṭṭaṁ tiropākāraṁ tiropabbataṁ asajjamāno gaccheyyaṁ, seyyathāpi ākāse; pathaviyāpi ummujjanimujjaṁ kareyyaṁ, seyyathāpi udake; udakepi abhijjamāne gaccheyyaṁ, seyyathāpi pathaviyaṁ; ākāsepi pallaṅkena kameyyaṁ, seyyathāpi pakkhī sakuṇo; imepi candimasūriye evaṁmahiddhike evaṁmahānubhāve pāṇinā parāmaseyyaṁ parimajjeyyaṁ; yāva brahmalokāpi kāyena vasaṁ vatteyyan’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī … pe … brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

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13Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘dibbāya sotadhātuyā visuddhāya atikkantamānusikāya ubho sadde suṇeyyaṁ — dibbe ca mānuse ca ye dūre santike cā’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī … pe … brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

14Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘parasattānaṁ parapuggalānaṁ cetasā ceto paricca pajāneyyaṁ — sarāgaṁ vā cittaṁ sarāgaṁ cittanti pajāneyyaṁ, vītarāgaṁ vā cittaṁ vītarāgaṁ cittanti pajāneyyaṁ; sadosaṁ vā cittaṁ sadosaṁ cittanti pajāneyyaṁ, vītadosaṁ vā cittaṁ vītadosaṁ cittanti pajāneyyaṁ; samohaṁ vā cittaṁ samohaṁ cittanti pajāneyyaṁ, vītamohaṁ vā cittaṁ vītamohaṁ cittanti pajāneyyaṁ; saṅkhittaṁ vā cittaṁ saṅkhittaṁ cittanti pajāneyyaṁ, vikkhittaṁ vā cittaṁ vikkhittaṁ cittanti pajāneyyaṁ; mahaggataṁ vā cittaṁ mahaggataṁ cittanti pajāneyyaṁ, amahaggataṁ vā cittaṁ amahaggataṁ cittanti pajāneyyaṁ; sauttaraṁ vā cittaṁ sauttaraṁ cittanti pajāneyyaṁ, anuttaraṁ vā cittaṁ anuttaraṁ cittanti pajāneyyaṁ; samāhitaṁ vā cittaṁ samāhitaṁ cittanti pajāneyyaṁ, asamāhitaṁ vā cittaṁ asamāhitaṁ cittanti pajāneyyaṁ; vimuttaṁ vā cittaṁ vimuttaṁ cittanti pajāneyyaṁ, avimuttaṁ vā cittaṁ avimuttaṁ cittanti pajāneyyan’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī … pe … brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

15Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘anekavihitaṁ pubbenivāsaṁ anussareyyaṁ, seyyathidaṁ — ekampi jātiṁ dvepi jātiyo tissopi jātiyo catassopi jātiyo pañcapi jātiyo dasapi jātiyo vīsampi jātiyo tiṁsampi jātiyo cattālīsampi jātiyo paññāsampi jātiyo jātisatampi jātisahassampi jāti satasahassampi anekepi saṁvaṭṭakappe anekepi vivaṭṭakappe anekepi saṁvaṭṭavivaṭṭakappe — amutrāsiṁ evaṁnāmo evaṅgotto evaṁvaṇṇo evamāhāro evaṁsukhadukkhappaṭisaṁvedī evamāyupariyanto, so tato cuto amutra udapādiṁ; tatrāpāsiṁ evaṁnāmo evaṅgotto evaṁvaṇṇo evamāhāro evaṁsukhadukkhappaṭisaṁvedī evamāyupariyanto, so tato cuto idhūpapannoti. Iti sākāraṁ sauddesaṁ anekavihitaṁ pubbenivāsaṁ anussareyyan’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī … pe … brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

16Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘dibbena cakkhunā visuddhena atikkantamānusakena satte passeyyaṁ cavamāne upapajjamāne hīne paṇīte suvaṇṇe dubbaṇṇe sugate duggate yathākammūpage satte pajāneyyaṁ — ime vata bhonto sattā kāyaduccaritena samannāgatā vacīduccaritena samannāgatā manoduccaritena samannāgatā ariyānaṁ upavādakā micchādiṭṭhikā micchādiṭṭhikammasamādānā, te kāyassa bhedā paraṁ maraṇā apāyaṁ duggatiṁ vinipātaṁ nirayaṁ upapannā; ime vā pana bhonto sattā kāyasucaritena samannāgatā vacīsucaritena samannāgatā manosucaritena samannāgatā ariyānaṁ anupavādakā sammādiṭṭhikā sammādiṭṭhikammasamādānā, te kāyassa bhedā paraṁ maraṇā sugatiṁ saggaṁ lokaṁ upapannāti, iti dibbena cakkhunā visuddhena atikkantamānusakena satte passeyyaṁ cavamāne upapajjamāne hīne paṇīte suvaṇṇe dubbaṇṇe sugate duggate yathākammūpage satte pajāneyyan’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī ajjhattaṁ cetosamathamanuyutto anirākatajjhāno vipassanāya samannāgato brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

17Ākaṅkheyya ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu: ‘āsavānaṁ khayā anāsavaṁ cetovimuttiṁ paññāvimuttiṁ diṭṭheva dhamme sayaṁ abhiññā sacchikatvā upasampajja vihareyyan’ti, sīlesvevassa paripūrakārī ajjhattaṁ cetosamathamanuyutto anirākatajjhāno vipassanāya samannāgato brūhetā suññāgārānaṁ.

‘Sampannasīlā, bhikkhave, viharatha sampannapātimokkhā; pātimokkhasaṁvarasaṁvutā viharatha ācāragocarasampannā aṇumattesu vajjesu bhayadassāvino; samādāya sikkhatha sikkhāpadesū’ti — iti yaṁ taṁ vuttaṁ idametaṁ paṭicca vuttan"ti.

Idamavoca bhagavā. Attamanā te bhikkhū bhagavato bhāsitaṁ abhinandunti.

Ākaṅkheyyasuttaṁ niṭṭhitaṁ chaṭṭhaṁ.