Tevijja Vacchagotta sutta: Discourse to Vacchagotta on three Knowledges
By Dr. Ari Ubeysekara
Introduction
Lord Gautama Buddha who lived and preached in India during the 6th and 5th century BC, delivered a vast number of discourses during the ministry of forty five years from enlightenment to passing away at the age of eighty years. Those discourses have been divided into five collections.
- 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 middle length discourses (majjhima nikāya) contain 152 discourses delivered by the Buddha and the Buddha’s chief disciples. The 152 discourses are divided into three parts consisting of 50, 50 and 52 discourses respectively. Tevijja Vacchagotta sutta is the 71st discourse included in the second part. (1)
Content of Tevijja Vacchagotta sutta
Thus have I heard.
[All the discourses of the Buddha contained in the five collections were narrated by Venerable Arahant Ānanda 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, “evaṁ me sutaṁ” meaning “Thus have I heard”.]
At one time, the Buddha was staying near Vesali, in the Pinnacled Hall at the Great Wood (Maha vana). At that time, the wanderer Vacchagotta was staying at the Single Lotus Monastery of the wanderers.
[Vesāli was the capital city of the kingdom of the Lichchavi kings which was situated in the present state of Bihar in India. At the time of the Buddha, it was a large city with a large community of rich and prosperous people. The Buddha spent the 5th rains retreat at a monastery with pinnacles and finials called Kūtāgāra hall (Kūtāgāra sala) which was situated in the great wood (Mahāvana) in Vesāli, going for the alms round in the city of Vesāli.]
Then in the morning, the Buddha, having dressed and taking the alms bowl and the outer robe, went into Vesāli for the alms round. Then, it occurred to the Buddha: “It is still too early to walk for alms in Vesāli. Why don’t I go to the Single Lotus Monastery of the wanderers and meet the wanderer Vacchagotta?”
[Vacchagotta was a wanderer or a Paribrājaka. They were seekers of truth who did not live permanently in one place. Having left their homes, they wandered from village to village and from forest to forest. In the Buddhist scriptures, several wanderers named Vacchagotta have been mentioned. The wanderer Vacchagotta mentioned in this discourse is most probably Vacchagotta who was a resident of Rajagaha. It is said that Vacchagotta was the name of a clan rather than a personal name. Vacchagotta was an intelligent person who was interested in the teaching of the Buddha and had on many occasions approached the Buddha and the senior disciples of the Buddha to question and discuss spiritual matters. As a result, there are several discourses in the scriptures linked to Vacchagotta.]
Then the Buddha went to the Single Lotus Monastery of the wanderers. The wanderer Vacchagotta saw the Buddha coming in the distance and said: “Please come, the Blessed One. Welcome to the Blessed One! It has been a long time since the Blessed One found an opportunity to come here. Let the Blessed One take a seat, this seat is prepared.” The Buddha sat down on the prepared seat. The wanderer Vacchagotta taking a lower seat, sat to one side. Sitting to one side, the wanderer Vacchagotta said to the Buddha:
“Venerable Sir, I have heard this: The recluse Gotama claims to be all knowing, all seeing, to have complete knowledge and vision thus: Whether I am walking or standing or sleeping or awake, knowledge and vision are continuously present before me. Venerable Sir, do those who say that say what has been said by the Blessed One and not misrepresent you with what is not true? Do they explain in accordance with the Dhamma in such a way that neither reasonable rebuke nor ground for criticism will come up?”
“Vaccha, those who say: ‘The recluse Gotama claims to be all knowing, all seeing, to have complete knowledge and vision thus: Whether I am walking or standing or sleeping or awake, knowledge and vision are continuously present before me’, do not say what has been said by me, but misrepresent me with what is untrue.”
“Venerable Sir, how should I say to let others know exactly what has been said by the Blessed One and not misrepresent the Blessed One with what is untrue? How may I explain the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma in such a way that neither reasonable rebuke nor ground for criticism will come up?”
“Vaccha, when you answer thus: ‘The recluse Gotama is one with the three knowledges’, you will be saying what has been said by me, and will not misrepresent me with what is untrue. You will explain the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma in such a way that neither reasonable rebuke nor ground for criticism will come up.”
“For, whenever I wish I recollect my manifold lives, that is, one birth, two births, three births, four births, five births, ten births, twenty births, thirty births, forty births, fifty births, one hundred births, one thousand births, one hundred thousand births, many aeons of cosmic contractions, many aeons of cosmic expansions, many aeons of cosmic contractions and expansions. I can recollect: ‘There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance, such was my food, such was the joy and pain I experienced, such was how the life ended. Passing away from there, I re-arose. There too, I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance, such was my food, such was the joy and pain I experienced, such was how the life ended. Passing away from there, I re-arose here’. Thus, I recollect my manifold past lives with details.”
“For, whenever I wish, with the divine eye, which is pure and surpasses the human eye, I see beings passing way and reappearing and how they are inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate, in accordance with their actions: ‘Those beings who did unwholesome bodily, verbal and mental actions, who reviles the noble ones, who held wrong views and performed actions under the influence of wrong views, after death, with the breaking up of the body, have re-appeared in a realm of suffering, a bad destination, a lower realm, in hell. Those beings who did wholesome bodily, verbal and mental actions, who did not revile the noble ones, who held right views and performed actions under the influence of right views, after death, with the breaking up of the body, have re-appeared in a happy destination, in heaven’.”
[According to Buddha’s teaching, there are ten unwholesome actions based on the three unwholesome roots of greed (lobha), hatred (dosa) and delusion (moha), which will result in a rebirth in one of the realms of suffering. They consist of three bodily actions, four verbal actions and three mental actions. They are: Killing any living beings (pānāti pātā), stealing or taking what is not given (adinnādānā), sexual misconduct (kāmesu micchāchārā), false speech (musāvādā), slanderous speech (pisunāvācā), harsh speech (pharusā vācā), idle chattering (samphappalāpā), covetousness or greed (abhijjā), ill-will (vyāpāda), wrong view (miccā ditthi).
There are ten wholesome actions based on the three wholesome roots of non-greed (alobha), non-hatred (adosa) and non-delusion (amoha) which will result in a rebirth in a realm of happiness. They are actions opposite to the ten unwholesome actions described above.] (2)
“For, by realising for myself with direct knowledge, right here and now, I enter upon and dwell in the deliverance of mind and in the deliverance by wisdom, that are taintless with the destruction of the taints.”
“Vaccha, when you answer thus: ‘The recluse Gotama is one with the three knowledges’, you will be saying what has been said by me, and will not misrepresent me with what is untrue. You will explain the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma in such a way that neither reasonable rebuke nor ground for criticism will come up.”
When this was said, the wanderer Vacchagotta said to the Buddha: “Master Gotama, has there been any householder who, without giving up the householder fetter, with the breaking up of the body, has made an end of suffering?”
“No, Vaccha, no householder, without giving up the householder fetter, with the breaking up of the body, has made an end of suffering.”
“Master Gotama, has there been any householder who, without giving up the householder fetter, with the breaking up of the body, has gone to heaven?”
“Indeed, Vaccha, there are not only one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, four hundred or five hundred, but far more householders who, without giving up the householder fetter, with the breaking up of the body, have gone to heaven.”
“Master Gotama, has there been any naked ascetic who, with the breaking up of the body, has made an end of suffering?”
“No, Vaccha, there has not been any naked ascetic who, with the breaking up of the body, has made an end of suffering?”
“Master Gotama, has there been any naked ascetic who, with the breaking up of the body, has gone to heaven?”
“Vaccha, when I recollect the past ninety one aeons, I do not recollect any naked ascetic who, with the breaking up of the body, has gone to heaven except for one, who upheld the teaching of Kamma, the teaching of action.”
“That being so, Master Gotama, this whole community of sectarians is empty of any who will go to heaven.”
“That is so, Vaccha, this whole community of sectarians is empty of any who will go to heaven.”
That is what the Buddha said. The wanderer Vacchagotta was satisfied and delighted in the words of the Buddha.
In the Tevijja Vacchagotta sutta, the wanderer named Vacchagotta has asked the Buddha whether the statement made by others that the Buddha is all knowing, all seeing, and possesses complete knowledge and vision thus: “Whether I am walking or standing or sleeping or awake, knowledge and vision are continuously present before me”, is a true representation of the Buddha’s statement. The Buddha says it is not and says that a true representation will be to say that the Buddha possesses the three knowledges: Ability to recollect manifold previous births (pubbenivāsānussati nāna), divine eye (dibba cakku) and the knowledge of the destruction of the taints (āsavakkhaya nāna). The Buddha then describes the three knowledges in detail. Out of the three knowledges, the first two are mundane knowledges while the third knowledge of the destruction of the taints and liberation is a supra mundane knowledge. In response to questions from Vacchagotta, the Buddha has also made two other statements in the discourse. Firstly, that the householders will not attain liberation unless they abandon the householder fetter, and secondly that there have not been any sectarians who have liberated themselves from suffering or gone to heaven.
References
- Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi 1995, Tevijja Vacchagotta sutta, in Translation of the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Wisdom Publications.
- Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi 1995, Sāleyyaka sutta, in Translation of the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Wisdom Publications.
End.
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