{"collection":"Anguttara Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_an3.60/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_an3.60","id":"suttacentral_an3.60","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/an3.60/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Anguttara Nikaya","Early Buddhist Texts"],"text":"Then Sa\u1e45g\u0101rava the brahmin went up to the Buddha, and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side and said to the Buddha: \u201cWorthy Gotama, we who are called brahmins make sacrifices and encourage others to make sacrifices. Now, worthy Gotama, both of these people\u2014the one who sacrifices and the one who encourages others to sacrifice\u2014are doing good for many people on account of that sacrifice. But, worthy Gotama, when someone has gone forth from the lay life to homelessness, they tame, calm, and extinguish themselves alone. That being so, they are doing good for just one person on account of that going forth.\u201d \u201cWell then, brahmin, I\u2019ll ask you about this in return, and you can answer as you like. What do you think, brahmin? A Realized One arises in the world, perfected, a fully awakened Buddha, accomplished in knowledge and conduct, holy, knower of the world, supreme guide for those fit for training, teacher of gods and humans, awakened, blessed. He says, \u2018Come, this is the path, this is the practice. Practicing like this, I realized the supreme objective of the spiritual life with my own insight, and I make it known. Please, all of you, practice like this, and you too will realize the supreme objective of the spiritual life, and will live having realized it with your own insight.\u2019 So the Teacher teaches Dhamma, and others practice accordingly, in their hundreds and thousands, and hundreds of thousands. What do you think, brahmin? This being so, are they doing good for just one person or for many people on account of going forth?\u201d \u201cThis being so, worthy Gotama, they are doing good for many people on account of going forth.\u201d When he said this, Venerable \u0100nanda said to Sa\u1e45g\u0101rava, \u201cBrahmin, which of these two practices do you believe has fewer obligations and undertakings, yet is more fruitful and beneficial?\u201d Sa\u1e45g\u0101rava said to \u0100nanda, \u201cThose such as the worthies Gotama and \u0100nanda are honored and praised by me!\u201d For a second time, \u0100nanda said to Sa\u1e45g\u0101rava, \u201cBrahmin, I didn\u2019t ask you who you honor and praise. I asked you which of these two practices do you believe has fewer obligations and undertakings, yet is more fruitful and beneficial?\u201d For a second time Sa\u1e45g\u0101rava said to \u0100nanda, \u201cThose such as the worthies Gotama and \u0100nanda are honored and praised by me!\u201d For a third time, \u0100nanda said to Sa\u1e45g\u0101rava, \u201cBrahmin, I didn\u2019t ask you who you honor and praise. I asked you which of these two practices do you believe has fewer obligations and undertakings, yet is more fruitful and beneficial?\u201d For a third time Sa\u1e45g\u0101rava said to \u0100nanda, \u201cThose such as the worthies Gotama and \u0100nanda are honored and praised by me!\u201d Then it occurred to the Buddha, \u201cThough \u0100nanda asked him a sensible question three times, Sa\u1e45g\u0101rava falters without answering. Why don\u2019t I give him a way out?\u201d So the Buddha said to Sa\u1e45g\u0101rava, \u201cBrahmin, what came up in the conversation among the king\u2019s retinue today, sitting together in the royal compound?\u201d \u201cWorthy Gotama, this came up: \u2018Formerly, it seems, there were fewer mendicants, but more of them displayed superhuman demonstrations of psychic power; while these days, there are more mendicants, but fewer display superhuman demonstrations of psychic power.\u2019 This is what came up in the conversation among the king\u2019s retinue today, while sitting together in the royal compound.\u201d \u201cBrahmin, there are three kinds of demonstration. What three? A demonstration of psychic power, a demonstration of revealing, and a demonstration of instruction. And what is the demonstration of psychic power? It\u2019s when someone wields the many kinds of psychic power: multiplying themselves and becoming one again; materializing and dematerializing; going unobstructed through a wall, a rampart, or a mountain as if through space; diving in and out of the earth as if it were water; walking on water as if it were earth; flying cross-legged through the sky like a bird; touching and stroking with the hand the sun and moon, so mighty and powerful. They control the body as far as the realm of divinity. This is called the demonstration of psychic power. And what is the demonstration of revealing? In one case, someone reveals by means of a sign: \u2018This is what you\u2019re thinking, such is your thought, and thus is your state of mind.\u2019 And even if they reveal this many times, it turns out exactly so, not otherwise. In another case, someone reveals after hearing it from humans or non-humans or deities: \u2018This is what you\u2019re thinking, such is your thought, and thus is your state of mind.\u2019 And even if they reveal this many times, it turns out exactly so, not otherwise. In another case, someone reveals by hearing the sound of thought spreading as someone thinks and considers: \u2018This is what you\u2019re thinking, such is your thought, and thus is your state of mind.\u2019 And even if they reveal this many times, it turns out exactly so, not otherwise. In another case, someone comprehends the mind of one who has attained the immersion that\u2019s free of placing the mind and keeping it connected. They understand: \u2018Judging by the way this worthy\u2019s intentions are directed, immediately after this mind state, they\u2019ll think this thought.\u2019 And even if they reveal this many times, it turns out exactly so, not otherwise. This is called the demonstration of revealing. And what is a demonstration of instruction? It\u2019s when someone instructs others like this: \u2018Think like this, not like that. Focus your mind like this, not like that. Give up this, and live having achieved that.\u2019 This is called a demonstration of instruction. These are the three kinds of demonstration. Of these three kinds of demonstration, which do you consider to be the finest?\u201d \u201cRegarding this, worthy Gotama, a demonstration of psychic power is experienced only by the one who performs it, occurring only to them. This seems to me like an illusion. And the demonstration where someone reveals something by means of a sign, or after hearing it from humans, non-humans, or deities, or by hearing the sound of thought spreading as someone thinks and considers, or by comprehending the mind of another, is also experienced only by the one who performs it, occurring only to them. This also seems to me like an illusion. But as to the demonstration where someone instructs others: \u2018Think like this, not like that. Focus your mind like this, not like that. Give up this, and live having achieved that.\u2019 I prefer this demonstration, worthy Gotama. It\u2019s the finest of the three kinds of demonstration. It\u2019s incredible, worthy Gotama, it\u2019s amazing, how well this was said by the worthy Gotama. We regard the worthy Gotama as someone who possesses these three kinds of demonstration. For the worthy Gotama wields the many kinds of psychic power \u2026 controlling the body as far as the realm of divinity. And Worthy Gotama comprehends the mind of another who has attained the immersion that is free of placing the mind and keeping it connected. He understands: \u2018Judging by the way this worthy\u2019s intentions are directed, immediately after this mind state they\u2019ll think this thought.\u2019 And the worthy Gotama instructs others like this: \u2018Think like this, not like that. Focus your mind like this, not like that. Give up this, and live having achieved that.\u2019\u201d \u201cYour words are clearly invasive and intrusive, brahmin. Nevertheless, I will answer you. For I do wield the many kinds of psychic power \u2026 controlling the body as far as the realm of divinity. And I do comprehend the mind of another individual who has attained the immersion that is free of placing the mind and keeping it connected. I understand: \u2018Judging by the way this worthy\u2019s intentions are directed, immediately after this mind state they\u2019ll think this thought.\u2019 And I do instruct others like this: \u2018Think like this, not like that. Focus your mind like this, not like that. Give up this, and live having achieved that.\u2019\u201d \u201cBut worthy Gotama, is there even one other mendicant who possesses these three kinds of demonstration, apart from the worthy Gotama?\u201d \u201cThere\u2019s not just one hundred mendicants, brahmin, who possess these three kinds of demonstration, nor two, three, four, or five hundred, but many more than that.\u201d \u201cBut where are these mendicants now staying?\u201d \u201cRight here, brahmin, in this Sa\u1e45gha of mendicants.\u201d \u201cExcellent, worthy Gotama! Excellent! As if he were righting the overturned, or revealing the hidden, or pointing out the path to the lost, or lighting a lamp in the dark so people with clear eyes can see what\u2019s there, worthy Gotama has made the teaching clear in many ways. I go for refuge to the worthy Gotama, to the teaching, and to the mendicant Sa\u1e45gha. From this day forth, may the worthy Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge for life.\u201d","title":"With Sa\u1e45g\u0101rava","tradition":"Anguttara Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":1487}