Assutava Sutta: Discourse on the Uninstructed
By Dr. Ari Ubeysekara
Introduction
All of the discourses delivered by the Lord Gautama Buddha, who lived and preached in India during the 6th and 5th century BC, were grouped into five collections at the first Buddhist council that was held three months after the passing away of the Buddha in 483 BC.
- Collection of long discourses (dīgha nikāya)
- Collection of middle length discourses (majjhima nikāya)
- Collection of connected discourses (samyutta nikāya)
- Collection of numerical discourses (anguttara nikāya)
- Collection of minor discourses (khuddaka nikāya)
The collection of the connected discourses (samyutta nikāya), consist of the Buddha’s discourses on related topics grouped into five sections called Vaggas. They are named Sagātā Vagga, Nidhāna Vagga, Khanda Vagga, Salāyatana Vagga and Mahā Vagga. Each Vagga is further sub-divided into groups called samyuttas, containing a number of discourses on related topics. Each samyutta is again sub-divided into smaller units called vaggas, each containing around ten discourses. Assutava sutta is included in the Mahā vagga, of the Nidhāna samyutta of the Nidhāna Vagga (1).
Content of Assutava sutta
Thus have I heard.
[All the discourses of the Buddha contained in the five collections were narrated by Venerable Arahant Ananda from memory at the first Buddhist council that was held three months after the Buddha’s passing away. He was the chief attendant of the Buddha and was known as the “guardian of the Dhamma” due to his excellent skill in remembering the Buddha’s discourses. At the Buddhist council, each discourse was begun by him with the same phrase found at the beginning of this discourse too, “evaṃ me sutaṃ” meaning “Thus have I heard”.]
At one time the Buddha was staying at Sāvatti in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapindika’s monastery.
[At the time that this discourse was delivered, the Buddha was staying at the Jetavana monastery in Sāvatti which was built and donated to the Buddha by the chief benefactor Anāthapindika. It was named Jetavana, as the land on which it was built was bought from a prince named Jeta. Sāvatti was a favourite residence of the Buddha and it is recorded that the Buddha spent twenty five rainy retreats at Sāvatti.]
There, the Buddha addressed the monks:
“Monks, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person might become disenchanted with this body made of the four great elements; he might become dispassionate towards it; he might be liberated from it. What is the reason for this? Because growth and decline is seen in this body made of the four great elements, it is seen being taken up and laid aside. Therefore, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person might become disenchanted with this body made of the four great elements; he might become dispassionate towards it; he might be liberated from it.”
[According to Buddhist teaching, the physical body is made up of the four great elements which are:
- Earth element or solidity (pathavi-dhātu)
- Water element or fluidity (āpo-dhātu)
- Fire element or heat (tejo-dhtu)
- Wind element or motion (vāyo-dhātu)]
“But, monks, as for what is called mind, intellect, or consciousness, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person is unable to become disenchanted with it; unable to become dispassionate towards it; unable to be liberated from it. What is the reason for this? Because, monks, for a long time it has been held, cherished, and grasped by the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person as: ‘This is mine, this I am, this is myself.’ Therefore, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person is unable to become disenchanted with it; unable to become dispassionate towards it; unable to be liberated from it.”
[In the Sabbāsava sutta of the Majjhima Nikāya (collection of the Buddha’s middle length discourses), the Buddha has described an uninstructed, run-of-the-mill person as one who has no regard for noble ones, is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dhamma; who has no regard for men of integrity, is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dhamma; who does not discern what ideas are fit for attention or what ideas are unfit for attention. (2)
According to Buddhist teaching, an unenlightened worldling, through ignorance of the true reality of mental and physical phenomena, consider the mind, intellect or consciousness as “This is mine, this I am, this is myself.” Craving (tanhā) leads one to believe “This is mine”, while conceit (māna) leads one to believe “This I am”, and wrong view (ditthi) leads one to believe “This is myself”.]
“It would be better, monks, for the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person to take this body, made of the four great elements, as the self rather than the mind. What is the reason for this? Because, this body made of the four great elements, is seen standing for one year, two years, three years, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, a hundred years or more. But that what is called mind, intellect, or consciousness, arises as one thing and ceases as another by day and by night. Just as a monkey roaming through the forest and mountainside, grabs a branch. Letting go of it, it grabs another branch. Letting go of that, it grabs still another branch. In the same way, monks, that what is called mind, intellect, or consciousness, arises as one thing and ceases as another by day and by night.”
“As such, monks, the well instructed noble disciple, attends closely and wisely to Dependent Origination itself, thus:
‘when there is this, this comes to be,
with the arising of this, this arises,
when there is not this, this does not come to be,
with the cessation of this, this ceases’
[The Buddha has stated the above process of Dependent Origination or Conditioned Arising in the Pali language as follows:
“Imasmiṁ sati idaṁ hoti,
imasuppādā idaṁ upajjati,
imasmiṁ asati idaṁ na hoti,
imassa nirodhā idaṁ nirujjhati.”]
That is:
‘Conditioned by ignorance arise volitional formations
Conditioned by mental formations arises consciousness
Conditioned by consciousness arise mind and matter
Conditioned by mind and matter arise six sense bases
Conditioned by six sense bases arise contact
Conditioned by contact arise feeling
Conditioned by feeling arise craving
Conditioned by craving arise clinging
Conditioned by clinging arise becoming
Conditioned by becoming arise birth
Conditioned by birth arise ageing-death-sorrow-lamentation-pain-grief and despair.
Such is the origin of this whole mass of suffering.’
‘But with the utter fading away and ending of ignorance, volitional formations cease,
With the cessation of mental formations consciousness ceases,
With the cessation of consciousness mind and matter cease,
With the cessation of mind and matter six sense bases cease,
With the cessation of six sense bases contact ceases,
With the cessation of contact feeling ceases,
With the cessation of feeling craving ceases,
With the cessation of craving clinging ceases,
With the cessation of clinging becoming ceases,
With the cessation of becoming birth ceases,
With the cessation of birth, decay-death-sorrow-lamentation-pain-grief and despair cease,
Such is the ending of this whole mass of suffering’.”
[In the Sabbāsava sutta, the Buddha has described a well instructed disciple of the noble ones as one who has regard for noble ones, is well-versed and disciplined in their Dhamma; who has regard for men of integrity, is well-versed and disciplined in their Dhamma; who discerns what ideas are fit for attention and what ideas are unfit for attention.]
“Seeing thus, monks, the well instructed noble disciple becomes disenchanted with form, disenchanted with feeling, disenchanted with perception, disenchanted with mental formations, disenchanted with consciousness. Having become disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, his mind is liberated. When it is liberated, there arises the knowledge: ‘It is liberated.’ He understands: Destroyed is birth, the holy life has been lived, what needs to be done has been done, there is no more for this state of being’. ”
In the Assutava sutta, the Buddha has stated that due to ignorance of Dependent Origination, unenlightened ordinary person considers the mind as “this is mine, this I am, this is myself,” through craving (tanhā), conceit (māna) and wrong view (ditthi) respectively. The Buddha has advised the unenlightened disciples that if one wants to consider oneself as “Self”, it is better to consider the physical body which appears to last for some years as self, rather than the mind which changes from moment to moment like a wild monkey jumping from one branch of a tree to another.
Dependent Origination or paticca samuppāda in the Pali language, is perhaps the most profound and central aspect of the Buddhist doctrine. It can be described as a pragmatic teaching and a statement of universal law explaining the fact that physical and mental phenomena do not arise on their own accord, but due to other interdependent conditioning factors. It also explains the mechanism of the cycle of birth and death (samsāra), as well as the arising and cessation of suffering. It is the ignorance of Dependent Origination that keeps beings in the cycle of birth and death. The forward chain of the twelve factors of Dependent Origination beginning with ignorance explains how suffering arises while the reverse chain beginning with cessation of ignorance explains how suffering is eradicated. (3)
References
- Bhikkhu Bodhi 1999, Assutava sutta, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, A Translation of the Samyutta Nikāya, Wisdom Publications.
- Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi1995, Sabbāsava sutta, Translation of the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Wisdom Publications.
- Piyadassi Thera, 2008, Dependent Origination (paticca samuppāda), Wheel Publication No:15, Buddhist Publication society, Kandy, Sri Lanka.
End.
drarisworld 