{"collection":"Majjhima Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_mn108/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_mn108","id":"suttacentral_mn108","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/mn108/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Majjhima Nikaya"],"text":"So I have heard. At one time Venerable \u0100nanda was staying near R\u0101jagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels\u2019 feeding ground. It was not long after the Buddha had become fully quenched. Now at that time King Aj\u0101tasattu of Magadha, son of the princess of Videha, being suspicious of King Pajjota, was having R\u0101jagaha fortified. Then Venerable \u0100nanda robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, entered R\u0101jagaha for alms. Then it occurred to him, \u201cIt\u2019s too early to wander for alms in R\u0101jagaha. Why don\u2019t I go to see the brahmin Moggall\u0101na the Guardian at his place of work?\u201d So that\u2019s what he did. Moggall\u0101na the Guardian saw \u0100nanda coming off in the distance and said to him, \u201cCome, worthy \u0100nanda! Welcome, worthy \u0100nanda! It\u2019s been a long time since you took the opportunity to come here. Please, sir, sit down, here, a seat is ready.\u201d \u0100nanda sat down on the seat spread out, while Moggall\u0101na took a low seat and sat to one side. Then he said to \u0100nanda, \u201cWorthy \u0100nanda, is there even a single mendicant who has all the same qualities in each and every way as possessed by the worthy Gotama, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha?\u201d \u201cNo, brahmin, there is not. For the Blessed One gave rise to the unarisen path, gave birth to the unborn path, and explained the unexplained path. He is the knower of the path, the discoverer of the path, the expert on the path. And now the disciples live following the path; they acquire it later.\u201d But this conversation between \u0100nanda and Moggall\u0101na the Guardian was left unfinished. For just then the brahmin Vassak\u0101ra, a chief minister of Magadha, while supervising the work at R\u0101jagaha, approached \u0100nanda at Moggall\u0101na\u2019s place of work and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side and said to \u0100nanda, \u201cWorthy \u0100nanda, what were you sitting talking about just now? What conversation was left unfinished?\u201d So \u0100nanda told him of the conversation that they were having when Vassak\u0101ra arrived. Vassak\u0101ra said: \u201cWorthy \u0100nanda, is there even a single mendicant who was appointed by the worthy Gotama, saying: \u2018This one will be your refuge when I have passed away,\u2019 to whom you would now turn?\u201d \u201cNo, there is not.\u201d \u201cBut is there even a single mendicant who has been elected to such a position by the Sa\u1e45gha and appointed by several senior mendicants?\u201d \u201cNo, there is not.\u201d \u201cBut since you lack a refuge, worthy \u0100nanda, what\u2019s the reason for your harmony?\u201d \u201cWe don\u2019t lack a refuge, brahmin, we have a refuge. The teaching is our refuge.\u201d \u201cBut Worthy \u0100nanda, when asked whether there was even a single mendicant\u2014either appointed by the worthy Gotama, or elected by the Sa\u1e45gha and appointed by several senior mendicants\u2014 who serves as your refuge after the Buddha passed away, to whom you now turn, you replied, \u2018No, there is not.\u2019 But you say that the reason for your harmony is that you have the teaching as a refuge. How should I see the meaning of this statement?\u201d \u201cThe Blessed One, who knows and sees, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha laid down training rules and recited the monastic code for the mendicants. On the day of the sabbath all of us who live in dependence on one village district gather together as one. We invite one who transmits the code to recite it. If anyone remembers an offense or transgression while they\u2019re reciting, we make them act in line with the teaching and in line with the instructions. It\u2019s not the good fellows who make us act, it\u2019s the teaching that makes us act.\u201d \u201cWorthy \u0100nanda, is there even a single mendicant who you honor, respect, revere, venerate, and rely on?\u201d \u201cThere is not, brahmin.\u201d \u201cWorthy \u0100nanda, when asked whether there was even a single mendicant\u2014either appointed by the worthy Gotama, or elected by the Sa\u1e45gha and appointed by several senior mendicants\u2014 who serves as your refuge after the Buddha passed away, to whom you now turn, you replied, \u2018No, there is not.\u2019 And when asked whether there is even a single mendicant who you honor, respect, revere, venerate, and rely on, you replied, \u2018There is not.\u2019 How should I see the meaning of this statement?\u201d \u201cThere are ten inspiring things explained by the Blessed One, who knows and sees, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha. We honor anyone in whom these things are found. What ten? It\u2019s when a mendicant is ethical, restrained in the monastic code, conducting themselves well and resorting for alms in suitable places. Seeing danger in the slightest fault, they keep the rules they\u2019ve undertaken. They\u2019re very learned, remembering and keeping what they\u2019ve learned. These teachings are good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, meaningful and well-phrased, describing a spiritual practice that\u2019s entirely full and pure. They are very learned in such teachings, remembering them, rehearsing them, mentally scrutinizing them, and penetrating them theoretically. They\u2019re content with robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicines and supplies for the sick. They get the four absorptions\u2014blissful meditations in this life that belong to the higher mind\u2014when they want, without trouble or difficulty. They wield 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. With clairaudience that is purified and superhuman, they hear both kinds of sounds, human and heavenly, whether near or far. They understand the minds of other beings and individuals, having encompassed them with their own mind. They understand mind with greed as \u2018mind with greed\u2019, and mind without greed as \u2018mind without greed\u2019. They understand mind with hate \u2026 mind without hate \u2026 mind with delusion \u2026 mind without delusion \u2026 constricted mind \u2026 scattered mind \u2026 expansive mind \u2026 unexpansive mind \u2026 mind that is not supreme \u2026 mind that is supreme \u2026 mind immersed in sam\u0101dhi \u2026 mind not immersed in sam\u0101dhi \u2026 freed mind \u2026 They understand unfreed mind as \u2018unfreed mind\u2019. They recollect many kinds of past lives. That is: one, two, three, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand rebirths; many eons of the world contracting, many eons of the world expanding, many eons of the world contracting and expanding. They remember: \u2018There, I was named this, my clan was that, I looked like this, and that was my food. This was how I felt pleasure and pain, and that was how my life ended. When I passed away from that place I was reborn somewhere else. There, too, I was named this, my clan was that, I looked like this, and that was my food. This was how I felt pleasure and pain, and that was how my life ended. When I passed away from that place I was reborn here.\u2019 And so they recollect their many kinds of past lives, with features and details. With clairvoyance that is purified and superhuman, they see sentient beings passing away and being reborn\u2014inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, in a good place or a bad place. They understand how sentient beings pass on according to their deeds. They realize the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom. And they live having realized it with their own insight in this very life due to the ending of defilements. These are the ten inspiring things explained by the Blessed One, who knows and sees, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha. We honor anyone in whom these things are found, and rely on them.\u201d When he had spoken, Vassak\u0101ra addressed General Upananda, \u201cWhat do you think, general? Do these venerables honor, respect, revere, and venerate those who are worthy?\u201d \u201cIndeed they do. For if these venerables were not to honor, respect, revere, and venerate them, who then would they honor?\u201d Then Vassak\u0101ra said to \u0100nanda, \u201cWhere are you staying at present?\u201d \u201cIn the Bamboo Grove, brahmin.\u201d \u201cI hope the Bamboo Grove is delightful, quiet and still, far from the madding crowd, remote from human settlements, and fit for retreat?\u201d \u201cIndeed it is, brahmin. And it is like that owing to such protectors and guardians as yourself.\u201d \u201cSurely, worthy \u0100nanda, it is owing to the good fellows who meditate, making a habit of meditating. For the good fellows do in fact meditate and make a habit of meditating. This one time, worthy \u0100nanda, worthy Gotama was staying near Ves\u0101l\u012b, at the Great Wood, in the hall with the peaked roof. So I went there to see him. And there he spoke about meditation in many ways. He meditated, and made a habit of meditating. And he praised all kinds of meditation.\u201d \u201cNo, brahmin, the Buddha did not praise all kinds of meditation, nor did he dispraise all kinds of meditation. And what kind of meditation did he not praise? It\u2019s when someone\u2019s heart is overcome and mired in sensual desire, and they don\u2019t truly understand the escape from sensual desire that has arisen. Hiding sensual desire within, they meditate and concentrate and contemplate and ruminate. Their heart is overcome and mired in ill will \u2026 dullness and drowsiness \u2026 restlessness and remorse \u2026 doubt, and they don\u2019t truly know and see the escape from doubt that has arisen. Hiding doubt within, they meditate and concentrate and contemplate and ruminate. The Buddha didn\u2019t praise this kind of meditation. And what kind of meditation did he praise? It\u2019s when a mendicant, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, enters and remains in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected. As the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, they enter and remain in the second absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one, without placing the mind and keeping it connected. And with the fading away of rapture, they enter and remain in the third absorption, where they meditate with equanimity, mindful and aware, experiencing for themselves the bliss of which the noble ones declare, \u2018Equanimous and mindful, one meditates in bliss.\u2019 With the giving up of pleasure and pain and the disappearance of former happiness and sadness, they enter and remain in the fourth absorption, without pleasure or pain, with pure equanimity and mindfulness. The Buddha praised this kind of meditation.\u201d \u201cWell, worthy \u0100nanda, it seems that worthy Gotama criticized the kind of meditation that deserves criticism and praised that deserving of praise. Well, now, worthy \u0100nanda, I must go. I have many duties, and much to do.\u201d \u201cPlease, brahmin, go at your convenience.\u201d Then Vassak\u0101ra the brahmin, having approved and agreed with what Venerable \u0100nanda said, rose from his seat and left. Soon after he had left, Moggall\u0101na the Guardian said to \u0100nanda, \u201cWorthy \u0100nanda, you still haven\u2019t answered my question.\u201d \u201cBut brahmin, didn\u2019t I say: \u2018There is no single mendicant who has all the same qualities in each and every way as possessed by the worthy Gotama, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha. For the Blessed One gave rise to the unarisen path, gave birth to the unborn path, and explained the unexplained path. He is the knower of the path, the discoverer of the path, the expert on the path. And now the disciples live following the path; they acquire it later.\u2019\u201d","title":"With Moggall\u0101na the Guardian","tradition":"Majjhima Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":1970}