Toh 297 — Multitude of Constituents

F.297.a Homage to Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was staying in Śrāvastī, in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park. At that time, Venerable Ānanda went alone into the forest. Once he was settled in meditation, the following thought arose in his mind: “Whatever dangers arise, all of them arise from foolishness, not from being learned. Whatever calamity,^[1] whatever harm, contagious illness, or conflict arises, all of them arise from foolishness, not from being learned.”^[2]

In the afternoon, Venerable Ānanda rose from his meditation and went to where the Blessed One was. He bowed his head to the feet of the Blessed One, and then sat down to one side. Once seated to one side, Venerable Ānanda said to the Blessed One, “Honorable One, today I went into the forest, and while settled in meditation, the following thought came to my mind: ‘Whatever dangers arise, all of them arise from foolishness, not from being learned. Whatever calamity, whatever harm, contagious illness, or conflict arises, all of them arise from foolishness, not from being learned.’ ” F.297.b

“Ānanda, it is thus! It is thus! Whatever dangers arise, all of them arise from foolishness, not from being learned. Whatever calamity, whatever harm, contagious illness, or conflict arises, all of them arise from foolishness, not from being learned.^[3] Ānanda, consider this analogy: if a house made of dried reeds or a house made of hay, or a pile of dry straw, is set on fire, it will indeed be burnt.^[4] In the same way, whatever dangers arise, all of them arise from foolishness, not from being learned. Whatever calamity, whatever harm, contagious illness, or conflict arises, all of them arise from foolishness, not from being learned.

“Ānanda, in the past, whatever dangers arose, all of them arose from foolishness, not from being learned. Whatever calamity, whatever harm, contagious illness, or conflict arose, all of them arose from foolishness, not from being learned. Ānanda, in the future, whatever dangers may arise, all of them will arise from foolishness, not from being learned. Whatever calamity, whatever harm, contagious illness, or conflict may arise, all of them will arise from foolishness, not from being learned.

“Ānanda, in this way, in the past, in the future, and in the present, those who encounter danger are the foolish, and those who are free of danger are the learned. Those with calamity are the foolish, and those without calamity are the learned. Those with harm are the foolish, and those without harm are the learned. Those with contagious illness are the foolish, and those without contagious illness are the learned. Those with conflict are the foolish, F.298.a and those without conflict are the learned. Ānanda, you should know that danger, as well as calamity, harm, contagious illness, and conflict, are from foolishness, they are not from being learned.

“So, Ānanda, you should understand the qualities of the foolish and the qualities of the learned, and having understood the qualities of the foolish and the qualities of the learned, you should abandon the qualities of the foolish, and adopt the qualities of the learned. Ānanda, you should train in this way.”

“Honorable One, how are the foolish classified as ‘foolish’?”

“Ānanda, the foolish are not learned in the constituents, are not learned in the sense fields, are not learned in dependent origination, and are not learned in what is possible and impossible. Ānanda, in that way, the foolish may be classified as ‘foolish.’ ”

“Honorable One, how are the learned classified as ‘learned’?”

“Ānanda, the learned are learned in the constituents, are learned in the sense fields, are learned in dependent origination, and are learned in what is possible and impossible. Ānanda, in that way, the learned may be classified as ‘learned.’ ”

“Venerable One, how is it that the learned are learned in the constituents?”

“Ānanda, the learned know and see the eighteen constituents correctly just as they are—the constituent of the eye, the constituent of form, and the constituent of visual consciousness; the constituent of the ear, the constituent of sound, and the constituent of auditory consciousness; the constituent of the nose, the constituent of smell, and the constituent of olfactory consciousness; the constituent of the tongue, the constituent of taste, and the constituent of gustatory consciousness; the constituent of the body, the constituent of touch, and the constituent of tactile consciousness; and the constituent of the intellect, the constituent of mental phenomena, and the constituent of mental consciousness. F.298.b Ānanda, in this way they know and see the eighteen constituents correctly, just as they are.

“Moreover, they know and see these six constituents correctly, just as they are—the constituent of earth, the constituent of water, the constituent of fire, the constituent of wind, the constituent of space, and the constituent of consciousness. In this way, they know and see these six constituents correctly, just as they are.

“Moreover, they know and see these six constituents correctly, just as they are—the constituent of desire, the constituent of malice, the constituent of hostility, the constituent of renunciation, the constituent of the absence of malice, and the constituent of the absence of hostility.^[5] In this way, they know and see the six constituents correctly, just as they are.

“Moreover, they know and see these six constituents correctly, just as they are—the constituent of pleasure, the constituent of pain, the constituent of happiness, the constituent of sadness, the constituent of equanimity, and the constituent of ignorance. In this way, they know and see the six constituents correctly, just as they are.

“Moreover, they know and see these four constituents correctly, just as they are—the constituent of sensation, the constituent of perception, the constituent of formation, and the constituent of consciousness.

“Moreover, they know and see these three constituents correctly, just as they are—the constituent of desire, the constituent of form, and the constituent of formlessness.^[6]

“Moreover,^[7] they know and see these three constituents correctly, just as they are—the constituent of form, the constituent of formlessness, and the constituent of cessation.

“Moreover, they know and see these three constituents correctly, just as they are—the constituent of the past, the constituent of the future, and the constituent of the present.

“Moreover, they know and see these three constituents correctly, just as they are—the constituent of the inferior, the constituent of the intermediate, F.299.a and the constituent of the superior.

“Moreover, they know and see these three constituents correctly, just as they are—the constituent of the virtuous, the constituent of the nonvirtuous, and the constituent of the neutral.

“Moreover, they know and see these three constituents correctly, just as they are—the constituent of learning, the constituent of no learning, and the constituent of neither learning nor no learning.

“Moreover, they know and see these two constituents correctly, just as they are—the constituent of the contaminated, and the constituent of the uncontaminated.

“Moreover, they know and see these two constituents correctly, just as they are—the constituent of the conditioned, and the constituent of the unconditioned.

“Ānanda, it is in this way that the learned are learned in the constituents.”

“Honorable One, how is it that the learned are learned in sense fields?”

“Ānanda, the learned know and see the twelve sense fields correctly, just as they are—the sense field of the eye and the sense field of sight; the sense field of the ear and the sense field of sound; the sense field of the nose and the sense field of odor; the sense field of the tongue and the sense field of taste; the sense field of the body and the sense field of touch; the sense field of the mind and the sense field of mental phenomena. Ānanda, it is in this way that the learned are learned in the sense fields.”

“Honorable One, how is it that the learned are learned in dependent origination?”

“Ānanda, the learned know and see dependent origination correctly, just as it is, in forward and reverse order, in this way:

“When this is present, this will arise, and when this arises, this will occur. In this way, through the condition of ignorance, there is formation; through the condition of formation, there is consciousness; through the condition of consciousness, there is name and form; through the condition of name and form, there are the six sense fields; through the condition of the six sense fields, there is contact; through the condition of contact, there is sensation; through the condition of sensation, there is craving; F.299.b through the condition of craving, there is grasping; through the condition of grasping, there is becoming; through the condition of becoming, there is birth; through the condition of birth, there is old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, suffering, unhappiness, and disturbance— this mass of nothing but suffering.

“And so, too, when this is not present, this will not arise, and with the cessation of this, this will cease. In this way, through the cessation of ignorance, formation ceases; through the cessation of formation, consciousness ceases; through the cessation of consciousness, name and form cease; through the cessation of name and form, the six sense fields cease; through the cessation of the six sense fields, contact ceases; through the cessation of contact, sensation ceases; through the cessation of sensation, craving ceases; through the cessation of craving, grasping ceases; through the cessation of grasping, becoming ceases; through the cessation of becoming, birth ceases; through the cessation of birth, old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, suffering, unhappiness, and disturbance—this mass of nothing but suffering—ceases.”.

“Ānanda, it is in this way that the learned are learned in dependent origination.”

“Honorable One, how is it that the learned are learned in what is possible and impossible?”

“Ānanda, the learned know and see correctly, just as it is, that what is possible is possible, and what is impossible is impossible.

“Ānanda, this is impossible and does not happen: that the ripening of any negative behavior of the body, or any negative behavior of the speech or mind, will produce things that are desirable, pleasant, joyful, or attractive. This is impossible. This is possible: that the ripening of any negative behavior of the body, or any negative behavior of the speech or mind, will produce things that are undesirable, unpleasant, unjoyful, and unattractive. This is possible.

“Ānanda, this is impossible and does not happen: that the ripening of any positive behavior of the body, or any positive behavior of the speech or mind, will produce things that are undesirable, unpleasant, unjoyful, and unattractive. F.300.a This is impossible. This is possible: that the ripening of any positive behavior of the body, or any positive behavior of the speech or mind, will produce things that are desirable, pleasant, joyful, and attractive. This is possible.

“It is impossible and does not happen that having engaged in negative behavior of the body, or having engaged in negative behavior of the speech or mind, that by these causes and conditions, after the body has been destroyed, one will be reborn among the gods of the joyful higher realms. This is impossible. It is possible that having engaged in negative behavior of the body, or having engaged in negative behavior of the speech or mind, that by these causes and conditions, after death, when the body has been destroyed, one will be reborn among the hell beings who have fallen into the lower states of rebirth. This is possible.

“It is impossible and does not happen that having engaged in positive behavior of the body, or having engaged in positive behavior of the speech or mind, that by these causes and conditions, after death, when the body has been destroyed, one will be reborn among the hell beings who have fallen into the lower states of rebirth. This is impossible. It is possible that having engaged in positive behavior of the body, or having engaged in positive behavior of the speech or mind, that by these causes and conditions, when the body has been destroyed, one will be reborn among the gods of the joyful higher realms. This is possible.

“It is impossible and does not happen that two perfect and complete buddhas appear simultaneously in a world. This is impossible. For one to appear is possible.

“It is impossible and does not happen that two universal monarchs F.300.b appear simultaneously in a world. This is impossible. For one to appear is possible.

“It is impossible and does not happen that a woman exercises the sovereignty of a universal monarch, or Śakra himself, or Brahmā himself, or Māra himself, or reaches buddhahood in unsurpassed and perfectly complete awakening. This is impossible. For a man this is possible.

“It is impossible and does not happen that a person who perfectly sees the truth intentionally kills their father, their mother, or an arhat, or causes a schism in the saṅgha, or draws blood from the body of a tathāgata out of malice. This is impossible. This is possible for ordinary people.

“It is impossible and does not happen^[8] that a person who perfectly sees the truth intentionally kills a living creature, and having abandoned the precepts becomes degenerate, and insteads seek outsiders as worthy recipients of offerings, views outsiders as the teacher, believes in purification through auspicious signs and ceremonies,^[9] considers knowledgeable ascetics and brahmins to be those who know what is to be known and who see what is to be seen, adopts the views and ideas of other ascetics and brahmins, and experiences an eighth existence.^[10] This is impossible. This is possible for ordinary people.

“It is impossible and does not happen that someone whose mind is thoroughly afflicted, whose wisdom has been weakened, who has turned toward degeneration, who is not beyond suffering, and who has not abandoned the five obscurations could become thoroughly settled in the four applications of mindfulness. This is impossible. It is possible that someone whose mind is thoroughly afflicted, whose wisdom has been weakened, who has turned toward degeneration, who is not beyond suffering, F.301.a but who has abandoned the five obscurations, could become thoroughly settled in the four applications of mindfulness. This is possible.

“It is impossible and does not happen that someone whose mind is thoroughly afflicted, whose wisdom has been weakened, who has turned toward degeneration, who is not beyond suffering, and who has not abandoned the five obscurations could, by thoroughly settling their mind in the four applications of mindfulness, cultivate the seven branches of awakening. This is impossible. It is possible that one whose mind is thoroughly afflicted, whose wisdom has been weakened, who has turned toward degeneration, and who is not beyond suffering, but who has abandoned the five obscurations, could thoroughly settle their mind in the four applications of mindfulness and cultivate the seven branches of awakening. This is possible.

“It is impossible and does not happen that someone whose mind is thoroughly afflicted, whose wisdom has been weakened, who has turned toward degeneration, who is not beyond suffering, and who has not abandoned the five obscurations could, by thoroughly settling in the four applications of mindfulness and cultivating the seven branches of awakening, realize individual awakening and reach buddhahood in unsurpassed and perfectly complete awakening. This is impossible. It is possible that one whose mind is thoroughly afflicted, whose wisdom has been weakened, who has turned toward degeneration, and who is not beyond suffering, but who has abandoned the five obscurations could, by thoroughly settling in the four applications of mindfulness and cultivating the seven branches of awakening, realize individual awakening and reach buddhahood in unsurpassed and perfectly complete awakening. This is possible.

“Ānanda, it is in this way that the learned are learned in what is possible and impossible.”

“Honorable One, what is the title of this Dharma discourse? How should it be remembered?”

“Ānanda, remember this Dharma discourse as The Four Parts, F.301.b or as The Mirror of the Dharma, or as The Great Drum of Deathlessness, or as Many Constituents. Therefore, ‘Many Constituents’ is the simple designation of this Dharma discourse.”