Culavedalla Sutta

Thus I have heard:

At one time the Blessed One was staying near Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels' Sanctuary. Then Visakha the lay follower went to Dhammadinna the nun and, on arrival, having bowed down to her, sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to her, "'Self-identification, self-identification,' it is said, lady. Which self-identification is described by the Blessed One?"

"There are these five clinging-aggregates, friend Visakha: form as a clinging-aggregate, feeling as a clinging-aggregate, perception as a clinging-aggregate, formations as a clinging-aggregate, and consciousness as a clinging-aggregate. These five clinging-aggregates are the self-identification described by the Blessed One."

Saying, "Yes, lady," Visakha the lay follower delighted & rejoiced in what Dhammadinna the nun had said. Then he asked her a further question: "'The origination of self-identification, the origination of self-identification,' it is said, lady. Which origination of self-identification is described by the Blessed One?"

"The craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion & delight, relishing now here & now there — i.e., craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming: This, friend Visakha, is the origination of self-identification described by the Blessed One."

"'The cessation of self-identification, the cessation of self-identification,' it is said, lady. Which cessation of self-identification is described by the Blessed One?"

"The remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, & letting go of that very craving: This, friend Visakha, is the cessation of self-identification described by the Blessed One."

"'The way of practice leading to the cessation of self-identification, the way of practice leading to the cessation of self-identification,' it is said, lady. Which way of practice leading to the cessation of self-identification is described by the Blessed One?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Precisely this noble eightfold path — right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration: This, friend Visakha, is the way of practice leading to the cessation of self-identification described by the Blessed One."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Is it the case, lady, that clinging is the same thing as the five clinging-aggregates or is it something separate?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Friend Visakha, neither is clinging the same thing as the five clinging-aggregates, nor is it something separate. Whatever desire & passion there is with regard to the five clinging-aggregates, that is the clinging there."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"But, lady, how does self-identification come about?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"There is the case, friend Visakha, where an uninstructed, run-of-the-mill person — 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 — assumes form (the body) to be the self, or the self as possessing form, or form as in the self, or the self as in form.

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"He assumes feeling to be the self...

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"He assumes perception to be the self...

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"He assumes (mental) formations to be the self...

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"He assumes consciousness to be the self, or the self as possessing consciousness, or consciousness as in the self, or the self as in consciousness. This is how self-identification comes about."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"But, lady, how does self-identification not come about?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"There is the case where a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones — who has regard for noble ones, is well-versed & disciplined in their Dhamma; who has regard for men of integrity, is well-versed & disciplined in their Dhamma — does not assume form to be the self, or the self as possessing form, or form as in the self, or the self as in form.

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"He does not assume feeling to be the self...

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"He does not assume perception to be the self...

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"He does not assume formations to be the self...

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"He does not assume consciousness to be the self, or the self as possessing consciousness, or consciousness as in the self, or the self as in consciousness. This is how self-identification does not come about."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Now, again, lady, what is the noble eightfold path?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"This is the noble eightfold path, friend Visakha: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Is the noble eightfold path fabricated or unfabricated?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"The noble eightfold path is fabricated."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"And are the three aggregates [of virtue, concentration, & discernment] included under the noble eightfold path, lady, or is the noble eightfold path included under the three aggregates?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"The three aggregates are not included under the noble eightfold path, friend Visakha, but the noble eightfold path is included under the three aggregates. Right speech, right action, & right livelihood come under the aggregate of virtue. Right effort, right mindfulness, & right concentration come under the aggregate of concentration. Right view & right resolve come under the aggregate of discernment."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Now what is concentration, lady, what qualities are its themes, what qualities are its requisites, and what is its development?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Singleness of mind is concentration, friend Visakha; the four frames of reference are its themes; the four right exertions are its requisites; and any cultivation, development, & pursuit of these qualities is its development."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Now, lady, what are formations?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"These three formations, friend Visakha: bodily formations, verbal formations, & mental formations."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"But what are bodily formations? What are verbal formations? What are mental formations?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"In-&-out breaths are bodily formations. Directed thought & evaluation are verbal formations. Perceptions & feelings are mental formations."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"But why are in-&-out breaths bodily formations? Why are directed thought & evaluation verbal formations? Why are perceptions & feelings mental formations?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"In-&-out breaths are bodily; these are things tied up with the body. That's why in-&-out breaths are bodily formations. Having first directed one's thoughts and made an evaluation, one then breaks out into speech. That's why directed thought & evaluation are verbal formations. Perceptions & feelings are mental; these are things tied up with the mind. That's why perceptions & feelings are mental formations."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Now, lady, how does the attainment of the cessation of perception & feeling come about?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"The thought does not occur to a monk as he is attaining the cessation of perception & feeling that 'I am about to attain the cessation of perception & feeling' or that 'I am attaining the cessation of perception & feeling' or that 'I have attained the cessation of perception & feeling.' Instead, the way his mind has previously been developed leads him to that state."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"But when a monk is attaining the cessation of perception & feeling, which things cease first: bodily formations, verbal formations, or mental formations?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"When a monk is attaining the cessation of perception & feeling, friend Visakha, verbal formations cease first, then bodily formations, then mental formations."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Now, lady, how does emergence from the cessation of perception & feeling come about?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"The thought does not occur to a monk as he is emerging from the cessation of perception & feeling that 'I am about to emerge from the cessation of perception & feeling' or that 'I am emerging from the cessation of perception & feeling' or that 'I have emerged from the cessation of perception & feeling.' Instead, the way his mind has previously been developed leads him to that state."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"But when a monk is emerging from the cessation of perception & feeling, which things arise first: bodily formations, verbal formations, or mental formations?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"When a monk is emerging from the cessation of perception & feeling, friend Visakha, mental formations arise first, then bodily formations, then verbal formations."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"When a monk has emerged from the cessation of perception & feeling, lady, how many contacts make contact?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"When a monk has emerged from the cessation of perception & feeling, friend Visakha, three contacts make contact: contact with emptiness, contact with the signless, & contact with the undirected."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"When a monk has emerged from the cessation of perception & feeling, lady, to what does his mind lean, to what does it tend, to what does it incline?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"When a monk has emerged from the cessation of perception & feeling, friend Visakha, his mind leans to seclusion, tends to seclusion, inclines to seclusion."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Now, lady, how many kinds of feeling are there?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"These three kinds of feeling: pleasant feeling, painful feeling, & neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"What is pleasant feeling? What is painful feeling? What is neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Whatever is experienced physically or mentally as pleasant & gratifying is pleasant feeling. Whatever is experienced physically or mentally as painful & hurting is painful feeling. Whatever is experienced physically or mentally as neither gratifying nor hurting is neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"In what way is pleasant feeling pleasant, lady, and in what way painful?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Pleasant feeling is pleasant in remaining, & painful in changing, friend Visakha. Painful feeling is painful in remaining & pleasant in changing. Neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling is pleasant in occurring together with knowledge, and painful in occurring without knowledge."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"What obsession gets obsessed with pleasant feeling? What obsession gets obsessed with painful feeling? What obsession gets obsessed with neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Passion-obsession gets obsessed with pleasant feeling. Resistance-obsession gets obsessed with painful feeling. Ignorance-obsession gets obsessed with neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Does passion-obsession get obsessed with all pleasant feeling? Does resistance-obsession get obsessed with all painful feeling? Does ignorance-obsession get obsessed with all neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"No..."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"But what is to be abandoned with regard to pleasant feeling? What is to be abandoned with regard to painful feeling? What is to be abandoned with regard to neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Passion-obsession is to be abandoned with regard to pleasant feeling. Resistance-obsession is to be abandoned with regard to painful feeling. Ignorance-obsession is to be abandoned with regard to neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Is passion-obsession to be abandoned with regard to all pleasant feeling? Is resistance-obsession to be abandoned with regard to all painful feeling? Is ignorance-obsession to be abandoned with regard to all neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"No... There is the case where a monk — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful qualities — enters & remains in the first jhāna: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. With that he abandons passion. No passion-obsession gets obsessed there. There is the case where a monk considers, 'O when will I enter & remain in the dimension that those who are noble now enter & remain in?' And as he thus nurses this yearning for the unexcelled liberations, there arises within him sorrow based on that yearning. With that he abandons resistance. No resistance-obsession gets obsessed there. There is the case where a monk, with the abandoning of pleasure & pain — as with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress — enters & remains in the fourth jhāna: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain. With that he abandons ignorance. No ignorance-obsession gets obsessed there."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Now what, lady, lies on the other side of pleasant feeling?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Passion lies on the other side of pleasant feeling."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"And what lies on the other side of painful feeling?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Resistance lies on the other side of painful feeling."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"What lies on the other side of neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Ignorance lies on the other side of neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"What lies on the other side of ignorance?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Clear knowing lies on the other side of ignorance."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"What lies on the other side of clear knowing?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Release lies on the other side of clear knowing."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"What lies on the other side of release?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"Unbinding lies on the other side of release."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"What lies on the other side of Unbinding?"

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">"You've gone too far, friend Visakha. You can't keep holding on up to the limit of questions. For the holy life gains a footing in Unbinding, culminates in Unbinding, has Unbinding as its final end. If you wish, go to the Blessed One and ask him the meaning of these things. Whatever he says, that's how you should remember it."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">Then Visakha the lay follower, delighting & rejoicing in what Dhammadinna the nun had said, bowed down to her and, keeping her to his right, went to the Blessed One. On arrival, having bowed down to the Blessed One, he sat to one side. As he was sitting there he told the Blessed One the full extent of the conversation he had had with Dhammadinna the nun. When this was said, the Blessed One said to him, "Dhammadinna the nun is wise, Visakha, a woman of great discernment. If you had asked me those things, I would have answered you in the same way she did. That is the meaning of those things. That is how you should remember it."

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, Visakha the lay follower delighted in the Blessed One's words.

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<p style="text-align: justify;">Uploaded on 27th Nov 2011

<p style="text-align: justify;">http://dhamma.wikia.com/wiki/Culavedalla_Sutta