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A Cosmologist

Перевод: Бхиккху Суджато

sn / sn12

Linked Discourses 12.48 · 5. Householders

At Sāvatthī.

Then a brahmin cosmologist went up to the Buddha … ^[1]

Seated to one side he said to the Buddha:

“Worthy Gotama, does all exist?”

“‘All exists’: this is the oldest cosmology, brahmin.” ^[2]

“Then does all not exist?”

“‘All does not exist’: this is the second cosmology.”

“Well, is all oneness?”

“‘All is oneness’: this is the third cosmology.” ^[3]

“Then is all expansiveness?” ^[4]

“‘All is expansiveness’: this is the fourth cosmology.

Avoiding these two extremes, the Realized One teaches by the middle way:

‘Ignorance is a requirement for choices.

Choices are a requirement for consciousness. …

That is how this entire mass of suffering originates.

When ignorance fades away and ceases no residue left behind, choices cease.

When choices cease, consciousness ceases. …

That is how this entire mass of suffering ceases.’”

When he said this, the brahmin cosmologist said to the Buddha,

“Excellent, worthy Gotama! Excellent! …

From this day forth, may the worthy Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge for life.”

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[1] “Cosmology” (lokāyata) was a branch of Vedic study concerned with the nature and extent of the world and how this may be known (AN 9.38, SN 12.48; cf. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.3.1). Vedic metaphysics posited “existence” as a primordial “oneness” from which the diversity of the world spread out.

[2] The “oldest cosmology” is quite literal. The oldest Indian cosmology is found in a few late Rig Vedic hymns, especially the Nāsadīya Sūkta, which begins: “The nonexistent did not exist, nor did the existent exist at that time” (Rig Veda 10.129.1, Jamison/Brereton translation). RV 10.72.2 says that for the oldest gods, “what exists was born from what does not exist”.

[3] After discussing existence for six lines, the seventh line of the Nāsadīya Sūkta begins, “That One breathed without wind by its independent will. There existed nothing else beyond that.” Then, “that One was born by the power of heat”. Thus the one is the immortal Divinity, confirming the commentary’s identification of this with eternalism (and the following with annihilationism). Similarly, RV 10.121 speaks of the anonymous Creator who “existed alone”.

[4] Puthutta is used elsewhere of a “spreading” poison, but only here in a philosophical sense. Throughout the Rig Veda, pṛthu is the broad expanse of earth or waters, spread out by Indra (eg. RV 10.113.4) and burned over by Agni (RV 10.156.3). It has sexual connotations, too: an ample womb (RV 10.99.2) or a fat ass (RV 10.86.8; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 1.2.5.16, 3.5.1.11). Thus while “oneness” suggests the Divinity that underlies all, “expansiveness” suggests the broad, pregnant world in which humans live. Thus the sacrificial cake should be spread expansively, but not too expansively, for that would make it human and therefore mortal (ŚB 1.2.2.9). In the Nāsadīya Sūkta instead of pṛthu we find tiraścīna (“stretched across”; the two terms are synonymous at ŚB 6.3.3.19) describing the searching minds of the sage-poets: “Their cord was stretched across: Did something exist below it? Did something exist above?” (RV 10.129.5). Moreover, Pali puthu stands for both Sanskrit pṛthu (“broad, wide, expansive”) and pṛthak (“separate, individual”). Both senses apply here, and indeed, they are not separate even in the Rig Veda, for things that proceed separately (pṛthak, rays of the sun, rivers, cows) spread out (pṛthu) across the broad earth (pṛthivī ).