{"collection":"Anguttara Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_an10.27/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_an10.27","id":"suttacentral_an10.27","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/an10.27/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Anguttara Nikaya","Early Buddhist Texts"],"text":"At one time the Buddha was staying near S\u0101vatth\u012b in Jeta\u2019s Grove, An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika\u2019s monastery. Then several mendicants robed up in the morning and, taking their bowls and robes, entered S\u0101vatth\u012b for alms. Then it occurred to him, \u201cIt\u2019s too early to wander for alms in S\u0101vatth\u012b. Why don\u2019t we visit the monastery for the wanderers of other religions?\u201d Then they went to the monastery for the wanderers of other religions and exchanged greetings with the wanderers there. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, they sat down to one side. The wanderers said to them: \u201cReverends, the ascetic Gotama teaches his disciples like this: \u2018Please, mendicants, directly know all things. Meditate having directly known all things.\u2019 We too teach our disciples: \u2018Please, reverends, directly know all things. Live having directly known all things.\u2019 What, then, is the difference between the ascetic Gotama\u2019s teaching and instruction and ours?\u201d Those mendicants neither approved nor rejected that statement of the wanderers of other religions. They rose from their seats, thinking, \u201cWe will learn the meaning of this statement from the Buddha himself.\u201d Then, after the meal, when they returned from almsround, they went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and told him what had happened. \u201cMendicants, when wanderers of other religions say this, you should say to them: \u2018One thing: question, summary recital, and answer. Two \u2026 Three \u2026 Four \u2026 Five \u2026 Six \u2026 Seven \u2026 Eight \u2026 Nine \u2026 Ten things: question, summary recital, and answer.\u2019 Questioned like this, the wanderers of other religions would be stumped, and, in addition, would get frustrated. Why is that? Because they\u2019re out of their element. I don\u2019t see anyone in this world\u2014with its gods, M\u0101ras, and divinities, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its gods and humans\u2014who could provide a satisfying answer to these questions except the Realized One or his disciple or someone who has heard it from them. \u2018One thing: question, summary recital, and answer.\u2019 That\u2019s what I said, but why did I say it? Becoming completely disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding one thing, seeing its limits and fully comprehending its meaning, a mendicant makes an end of suffering in this very life. What one thing? \u2018All sentient beings are sustained by food.\u2019 Becoming completely disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding this one thing, seeing its limits and fully comprehending its meaning, a mendicant makes an end of suffering in this very life. \u2018One thing: question, summary recital, and answer.\u2019 That\u2019s what I said, and this is why I said it. What two? Name and form. \u2026 What three? Three feelings. \u2026 What four? The four foods. \u2026 What five? The five grasping aggregates. \u2026 What six? The six interior sense fields. \u2026 What seven? The seven planes of consciousness. \u2026 What eight? The eight worldly conditions. \u2026 What nine? The nine abodes of sentient beings. \u2026 \u2018Ten things: question, summary recital, and answer.\u2019 That\u2019s what I said, but why did I say it? Becoming completely disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding ten things, seeing their limits and fully comprehending their meaning, a mendicant makes an end of suffering in this very life. What ten? The ten ways of performing unskillful deeds. Becoming completely disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding these ten things, seeing their limits and fully comprehending their meaning, a mendicant makes an end of suffering in this very life. \u2018Ten things: question, summary recital, and answer.\u2019 That\u2019s what I said, and this is why I said it.\u201d","title":"The Great Questions (1st)","tradition":"Anguttara Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":581}