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With Sīvaka

Перевод: Бхиккху Суджато

sn / sn36

Linked Discourses 36.21 · 3. The Explanation of the Hundred and Eight

At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground.

Then the wanderer Moḷiyasīvaka went up to the Buddha and exchanged greetings with him. ^[1]

When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side and said to the Buddha:

“Worthy Gotama, there are some ascetics and brahmins who have this doctrine and view: ^[2]

‘Everything this individual person experiences—pleasurable, painful, or neutral—is because of past deeds.’ ^[3]

What does the worthy Gotama say about this?”

“Sīvaka, some feelings stem from bile disorders. ^[4]

You can know this from your own personal experience,

and it is generally deemed to be true.

Since this is so, the ascetics and brahmins whose view is that

everything an individual person experiences is because of past deeds

go beyond personal experience and beyond what is generally deemed to be true.

So those ascetics and brahmins are wrong, I say.

Some feelings stem from phlegm disorders …

wind disorders …

their conjunction …

change in weather … ^[5]

not taking care of yourself … ^[6]

overexertion … ^[7]

Some feelings are the result of past deeds. ^[8]

You can know this from your own personal experience,

and it is generally deemed to be true. ^[9]

Since this is so, the ascetics and brahmins whose view is that

everything an individual person experiences is because of past deeds

go beyond personal experience and beyond what is generally deemed to be true.

So those ascetics and brahmins are wrong, I say.”

When he said this, the wanderer Moḷiyasīvaka 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.”

“Bile, phlegm, and wind,

their conjunction, and the weather,

not taking care of yourself, overexertion,

and the result of deeds is the eighth.”

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[1] Moḷiyasīvaka also appears in AN 6.47, where he also goes for refuge. His name means, “Tailor With a Topknot”.

[2] Sīvaka is referring to the Jains.

[3] The view that all experiences are caused by past kamma is consistently rejected in the Suttas (eg. AN 3.61:2.1, MN 101:2.5. This is reflected in the later Theravada commentaries, which describe five interacting niyāmas, or systems of natural law: seasons (utu), genetics (bīja), moral or immoral deeds (kamma), mind (citta), and principles of the teaching (dhamma). Nonetheless, the view that all experiences are caused by kamma is extremely common among modern Buddhists, and is often heard even from learned scholars. This is a harmful misunderstanding, as it has led to discrimination against the poor and disabled in Buddhist countries. One point of confusion is that rebirth into a particular life is caused by kamma, so in that general sense, kamma is a necessary condition for having a life in which one can experience anything. But the feelings experienced in that life are caused by a variety of things, not necessarily by kamma.

Note the use of purisapuggala (“individual person”) as a Jain idiom. See MN 35:10.7 and note, and SN 22.22 and notes.

[4] “Bile” (pitta), “phlegm” (semha), and “wind” (vāta) are the three doṣa (“impairments”) of āyurveda (Suśruta Saṁhitā 1.15; Caraka Saṁhitā 1.12). When unbalanced they impair the proper homeostasis of bodily functioning. They are comparable to the four “humors” (fluids) of old European medicine.

[5] As I write, global atmospheric CO2 is 428.29 ppm, and it has been 1.5℃ above average for three years. The grave health impacts of this “change in the weather” are attested in the CoP 30 Special Report by the World Health Organization: “climate change presents the most significant threat to human health of this century.”

[6] Parihāra is looking after or taking care, so visamaparihāra is “imbalanced self-care”.

[7] Such as ascetics who torment their bodies (MN 36:18.11).

[8] In all cases, past deeds are a necessary condition for the mere fact of having a body in which one can experience these feelings. Only in this final case, however, is a specific deed or deeds the cause of this specific feeling. Even then, the past deed is not a sufficient condition, as it can only be effective when other conditions are conducive. The technical term for this kind of condition is upanissaya (or its contraction upanisā; see SN 12.23:2.1): it is both necessary and closely supportive.

[9] “Generally deemed to be true” (lokassa saccasammataṁ), i.e. “common sense”.