From the Majjhima Nikaya (MN), discourse number 51, see also 27, 39, 53, 107, 125
See also my Dhamma Study Notes
See also the Spanish translation of this discourse El Camino Que Lleva al Cese del Dolor
See also Who is My Self? (Ayya Khema), commentary on the Potthapada Sutta
in the Digha Nikaya (Maurice Walshe)
Outline
1. Hearing the Dhamma
2. Going forth into homelessness
3. Moral conduct
4. Contentment with few possessions
5. Guarding the doors of the senses
6. Moderation in eating
7. Devotion to wakefulness
8. Mindfulness and full awareness
9. Abandoning the five hindrances: sensual desire, ill will, drowsiness, restlessness, doubt
10. The four jhanas
11. Obtaining the true knowledges - past lives, divine eye, destruction of the taints
12. Liberation
1. Hearing the Dhamma MN 51:12
A Tathagata appears in the world, accomplished, fully enlightened, perfect in wisdom and conduct, sublime, knower of worlds, incomparable leader of men to be tamed, teacher of gods and humans, enlightened, blessed. He declares this world with its gods, its Maras and its Brahmas, its recluses and its brahmins, its princes and its people, which he has himself realized with direct knowledge. He teaches the Dhamma good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end, with the right meaning and phrasing, and he reveals a holy life that is utterly perfect and pure.
2. Going forth into homelessness MN 51:13
A householder or householder's son or one born in any family whatsoever hears that Dhamma. On hearing the Dhamma he acquires faith in the Tathagata. Possessing that faith, he considers thus: "Household life is crowded and dusty; the homeless life is wide open. It is not easy while living in a home, to lead the holy life utterly perfect and pure as a polished shell. Suppose I shave off my hair and beard, put on the yellow robe, and go forth from the home life into homelessness." On a later occasion, abandoning his affairs, whether large or small, abandoning his circle of friends and relatives, whether many or few, he shaves off his hair and beard, puts on the yellow robe, and goes forth from the home life into homelessness.
3. Moral conduct MN 51:14, DN ps
Five universal precepts apply to everyone, monks and householders: no violence, theft, unchastity, wrong speech and intoxicants.
(See the full list of 227 monastic precepts).
Having thus gone forth and possessing the monks training and way of life, abandoning the killing of living beings, he abstains from killing living beings; without stick or sword, scrupulous, merciful, he abides compassionate to all living beings. Abandoning the taking of what is not given, he abstains from taking what is not given; taking only what is given, expecting only what is given, by not stealing he abides in purity. Abandoning incelibacy, he observes celibacy, living apart, abstaining from the vulgar practice of sexual intercourse.
Abandoning false speech, he abstains from false speech; he speaks truth, he adheres to truth, is trustworthy and reliable, one who is no deceiver of the world. Abandoning malicious speech, he abstains from malicious speech; he does not repeat elsewhere what he has heard here in order to divide [those people] from these; nor does he repeat to these people what he has heard elsewhere in order to divide [these people] from those; thus he is one who reunites those who are divided, a promoter of friendships, who enjoys concord, rejoices in concord, delights in concord, a speaker of words that promote concord. Abandoning harsh speech, he abstains from harsh speech; he speaks such words as are gentle, pleasing to the ear, and lovable, as go to the heart, are courteous, desired by many and agreeable to many. Abandoning gossip, he abstains from gossip; he speaks at the right time, speaks what is true, speaks on what is good, speaks on the Dhamma and the Discipline; at the right time he speaks such words as are worth recording, reasonable, moderate and beneficial.
He abstains from injuring seeds and plants. He practices eating only one meal a day, abstaining from eating at night and outside of the proper time. He abstains from dancing, singing, music and theatrical shows. He abstains from wearing garlands, smartening himself with scent and embellishing himself with unguents. He abstains from high and large seats and beds. He abstains from accepting gold and silver. He abstains from accepting raw grain. He abstains from accepting raw meat. He abstains from accepting women and girls. He abstains from accepting men and women slaves. He abstains from accepting goats and sheep. He abstains from accepting fowl and pigs. He abstains from accepting elephants, cattle, horses and mares. He attains from accepting fields and land. He abstains from going on errands and running messages. He abstains from buying and selling. He abstains from false weights, false metals and false measures. He abstains from accepting bribes, deceiving, defrauding and trickery. He abstains from wounding, murdering, binding, brigandage, plunder and violence.
4. Contentment with few possessions MN 51:15
He becomes content with robes to protect his body and with almsfood to maintain his stomach, and wherever he goes he sets out taking only these with him. Just as a bird, wherever it goes, flies with its wings as its only burden, so too the bhikkhu becomes content with robes to protect his body and with almsfood to maintain his stomach, and wherever he goes he sets out taking only these with him. Possessing this aggregate of noble virtue, he experiences within himself a bliss that is blameless.
5. Guarding the doors of the senses MN 51:16
On seeing a form with the eye, he does not grasp at its principle characteristics or its details. Since, if he left the eye faculty unguarded, evil unwholesome states of craving and aversion might invade him, he practices discipline, he guards the eye faculty. On hearing a sound with the ear ... On smelling an odor with the nose ... On tasting a flavor with the tongue ... On touching a tangible with the body ... On cognizing a mind-object with the mind, he does not grasp at its principle characteristics or its details. Since, if he left the mind faculty unguarded, evil unwholesome states of craving and aversion might invade him, he practices discipline, he guards the mind faculty. Possessing this noble restraint of the senses, he experiences within himself a bliss which is unsullied.
6. Moderation in eating MN 53:09
Reflecting wisely, a noble disciple takes food neither for amusement nor for intoxication nor for the sake of physical beauty and attractiveness, but only for the endurance and continuance of the body, for ending discomfort, and for assisting the holy life, considering: 'Thus I shall terminate old feelings without arousing new feelings, and I shall be healthy and blameless and shall live in comfort.'
7. Devotion to wakefulness MN 53:10
During the day, while walking back and forth and sitting, a noble disciple purifies his mind of obstructive states. In the first watch of the night, while walking back and forth and sitting, he purifies his mind of obstructive states. In the middle watch of the night he lies down on the right side in the lion's pose with one foot overlapping the other, mindful and fully aware, and noting in his mind the time for rising. After rising in the third watch of the night, while walking back and forth and sitting, he purifies his mind of obstructive states.
8. Mindfulness and full awareness: MN 51:17, DN__
A disciple acts with full awareness when going forward and returning, when looking ahead or behind, in bending and stretching, in wearing his outer and inner robe and carrying his bowl, in eating, drinking, chewing and swallowing, in evacuating and urinating, in walking, standing, sitting, lying down, in waking, in speaking and in keeping silent. Then he, equipped with this noble morality, with this noble restraint of the senses, with this noble mindfulness and full awareness, finds a secluded resting place: the forest, the root of a tree, a mountain, a ravine, a hillside cave, a charnel ground, or in the open air on a heap of straw. Then having eaten after his return from the alms-round, he sits down cross-legged, holding his body erect and keeping mindfulness established before him.
9. Abandoning the five hindrances: sensual desire, ill will, drowsiness, restlessness, doubt MN 51:19
Abandoning worldly desires, he dwells with a mind freed from worldly desires, and his mind is purified of them. Abandoning ill will and hatred, he dwells with a mind free from ill will, compassionate for the welfare of all living beings; he purifies his mind of ill will and hatred. Abandoning drowsiness, he dwells with a mind freed from drowsiness, perceiving light, mindful and fully aware, he purifies his mind from drowsiness. Abandoning restlessness and remorse, he dwells with a mind inwardly peaceful; he purifies his mind from restlessness and remorse. Abandoning doubt, he dwells with doubt left behind, without uncertainty as to what things are wholesome, he purifies his mind of doubt.
10. The four jhanas (wording from Maurice Walshe in Ayya Khema's commentary), see also MN 51:20,21,22, 23
Having abandoned these five hindrances, gladness arises in him, from gladness comes delight, from the delight in his mind his body is tranquilized. Being thus detached from sense-desires, detached from unwholesome states, he enters and remains in the first jhana which is accompanied by applied and sustained thinking, filled with delight and happiness born of detachment. And with the delight and happiness born of detachment, he so suffuses, drenches, fills and irradiates his body that there is no spot in his entire body that is untouched by this delight and happiness born of detachment. Having reached the first jhana, he remains in it. And whatever sensations of lust that he previously had disappear. At that time there is a subtle but true perception of delight and happiness.
Again, a monk, with the subsiding of applied and sustained thinking, by gaining inner tranquility and unity of mind, reaches and remains in the second jhana, filled with delight and happiness born of concentration.
Again, after the fading away of delight he dwells in equanimity, mindful and clearly comprehending, and he experiences in his body that pleasant feeling of which the noble ones say: "Happy dwells the one who has equanimity and mindfulness", and he reaches and remains in the third jhana.
Again, with the abandonment of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and sorrow, he reaches and remains in the forth jhana, a state beyond pleasure and pain, purified by equanimity and mindfulness.
11. Obtaining the true knowledges - past lives, divine eye, destruction of the taints MN 51:24-26
When his concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs it to knowledge of the recollection of past lives. He recollects his manifold past lives, that is, one birth, two births, three births, four births, five births, ten births, twenty births, thirty births, forty births, fifty births, a hundred births, a thousand births, a hundred thousand births, many eons of world-contraction, many eons of world-expansion, many eons of world contraction and world expansion. "There I was so named, of such a clan, with such an appearance, such was my nutriment, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my life-term; and passing away from there, I reappeared elsewhere; and there too I was so named, of such a clan, with such an appearance, such was my nutriment, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my life-term; and passing away from there, I reappeared here." Thus with their aspects and particulars he recollects his manifold past lives.
When is concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, umblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs it to the passing away and reappearance of beings. With the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, he sees beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate. He understands how beings pass on according to their actions thus: 'These worthy beings who were ill conducted in body, speech and mind, revilers of noble ones, wrong in their views, giving effect to wrong view in their actions, on the dissolution of the body, after death, have reappeared in a state of deprivation, in a bad destination, in perdition, even in hell; but these worthy beings who were well conducted in body, speech and mind, not revilers of noble ones, right in their views, giving effect to right view in their actions, on the dissolution of the body, after death, have reappeared in a good destination, even in the heavenly world.' Thus with the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, he sees beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate, and he understands how beings pass on according to their actions.
When is concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, umblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs it to the knowledge of the destruction of the taints [craving for sensual pleasure, craving for existence, and ignorance]. He understands as it actually is: 'This is suffering'; he understands as it actually is: 'This is the origin of suffering'; he understands as it actually is: 'This is the cessation of suffering'; he understands as it actually is: 'This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.' He understands as it actually is: ' 'These are the taints'; he understands as it actually is: 'This is the origin of the taints'; he understands as it actually is: 'This is the cessation of the taints'; he understands as it actually is: 'This is the way leading to the cessation of the taints.'
12. Liberation MN 51:27
When he knows and sees thus, his mind is liberated from the taint of sensual desire, from the taint of being, and from the taint of ignorance. When his mind is liberated there comes the knowledge, 'It is liberated.' He understands: 'Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming to any state of being.'
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