{"collection":"Majjhima Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_mn143/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_mn143","id":"suttacentral_mn143","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/mn143/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Majjhima Nikaya"],"text":"So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near S\u0101vatth\u012b in Jeta\u2019s Grove, An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika\u2019s monastery. Now at that time the householder An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika was sick, suffering, gravely ill. Then he addressed a man, \u201cPlease, my man, go to the Buddha, and in my name bow with your head to his feet. Say to him: \u2018Sir, the householder An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika is sick, suffering, gravely ill. He bows with his head to your feet.\u2019 Then go to Venerable S\u0101riputta, and in my name bow with your head to his feet. Say to him: \u2018Sir, the householder An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika is sick, suffering, gravely ill. He bows with his head to your feet.\u2019 And then say: \u2018Sir, please visit him at his home out of sympathy.\u2019\u201d \u201cYes, sir,\u201d that man replied. He did as An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika asked. S\u0101riputta consented with silence. Then Venerable S\u0101riputta robed up and, taking his bowl and robe, went with Venerable \u0100nanda as his second monk to An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika\u2019s home. He sat down on the seat spread out and said to An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika, \u201cI hope you\u2019re keeping well, householder, I hope you\u2019re all right. I hope your pain is fading, not growing; that its fading is evident, not its growing.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m not keeping well, Honorable S\u0101riputta, I\u2019m not getting by. My pain is terrible and growing, not fading; its growing is evident, not its fading. The winds piercing my head are so severe, it feels like a strong man drilling into my head with a sharp point. The pain in my head is so severe, it feels like a strong man tightening a strong leather strap around my head. The winds slicing my belly are so severe, like a deft butcher or their apprentice were slicing open a cow\u2019s belly with a sharp meat cleaver. The burning in my body is so severe, it feels like two strong men grabbing a weaker man by the arms to burn and scorch him on a pit of glowing coals. That\u2019s how severe the burning is in my body. I\u2019m not keeping well, Honorable S\u0101riputta, I\u2019m not getting by. My pain is terrible and growing, not fading; its growing is evident, not its fading.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s why, householder, you should train like this: \u2018I shall not grasp the eye, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on the eye.\u2019 That\u2019s how you should train. You should train like this: \u2018I shall not grasp the ear, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on the ear.\u2019 \u2026 \u2018I shall not grasp the nose, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on the nose.\u2019 \u2026 \u2018I shall not grasp the tongue, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on the tongue.\u2019 \u2026 \u2018I shall not grasp the body, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on the body.\u2019 \u2026 \u2018I shall not grasp the mind, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on the mind.\u2019 That\u2019s how you should train. You should train like this: \u2018I shall not grasp sight, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on sight.\u2019 \u2026 \u2018I shall not grasp sound \u2026 smell \u2026 taste \u2026 touch \u2026 idea, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on idea.\u2019 That\u2019s how you should train. You should train like this: \u2018I shall not grasp eye consciousness, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on eye consciousness.\u2019 \u2026 \u2018I shall not grasp ear consciousness \u2026 nose consciousness \u2026 tongue consciousness \u2026 body consciousness \u2026 mind consciousness, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on mind consciousness.\u2019 That\u2019s how you should train. You should train like this: \u2018I shall not grasp eye contact \u2026 ear contact \u2026 nose contact \u2026 tongue contact \u2026 body contact \u2026 mind contact, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on mind contact.\u2019 That\u2019s how you should train. You should train like this: \u2018I shall not grasp feeling born of eye contact \u2026 feeling born of ear contact \u2026 feeling born of nose contact \u2026 feeling born of tongue contact \u2026 feeling born of body contact \u2026 feeling born of mind contact, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on the feeling born of mind contact.\u2019 That\u2019s how you should train. You should train like this: \u2018I shall not grasp the earth element \u2026 water element \u2026 fire element \u2026 air element \u2026 space element \u2026 consciousness element, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on the consciousness element.\u2019 That\u2019s how you should train. You should train like this: \u2018I shall not grasp form \u2026 feeling \u2026 perception \u2026 choices \u2026 consciousness, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on consciousness.\u2019 That\u2019s how you should train. You should train like this: \u2018I shall not grasp the dimension of infinite space \u2026 the dimension of infinite consciousness \u2026 the dimension of nothingness \u2026 the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.\u2019 That\u2019s how you should train. You should train like this: \u2018I shall not grasp this world, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on this world.\u2019 That\u2019s how you should train. You should train like this: \u2018I shall not grasp the other world, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on the other world.\u2019 That\u2019s how you should train. You should train like this: \u2018I shall not grasp whatever is seen, heard, thought, known, attained, sought, and explored by my mind, and my consciousness will not have that as support.\u2019 That\u2019s how you should train.\u201d When he said this, An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika cried and burst out in tears. Venerable \u0100nanda said to him, \u201cAre you failing, householder? Are you fading, householder?\u201d \u201cNo, Honorable \u0100nanda. But for a long time I have paid homage to the Buddha and the esteemed mendicants. Yet I have never before heard such a Dhamma talk.\u201d \u201cHouseholder, such Dhamma talk does not strike when teaching white-clothed laypeople. Rather, it strikes when teaching those gone forth.\u201d \u201cWell then, Honorable S\u0101riputta, let such Dhamma talk strike when teaching white-clothed laypeople as well! There are gentlemen with little dust in their eyes. They\u2019re in decline because they haven\u2019t heard the teaching. There will be those who understand the teaching!\u201d And when the venerables S\u0101riputta and \u0100nanda had given the householder An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika this advice they rose from their seats and left. Not long after they had left, An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika passed away and was reborn in the host of joyful gods. Then, late at night, the glorious godling An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika, lighting up the entire Jeta\u2019s Grove, went up to the Buddha, bowed, stood to one side, and addressed the Buddha in verse: \u201cThis is indeed that Jeta\u2019s Grove, frequented by the Sa\u1e45gha of seers, where the King of Dhamma stayed: it brings me joy! Deeds, knowledge, and principle; ethical conduct, an excellent livelihood; by these are mortals purified, not by clan or wealth. That\u2019s why an astute person, seeing what\u2019s good for themselves, would examine the teaching rationally, that\u2019s how they become purified in that. S\u0101riputta is full of wisdom, ethics, and peace. Even a mendicant who has crossed over might at best equal him.\u201d That is what the godling An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika said, and the Teacher concurred. Then the godling An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika, knowing that the Teacher concurred, bowed and respectfully circled the Buddha, keeping him on his right, before vanishing right there. Then, when the night had passed, the Buddha told the mendicants all that had happened. When he had spoken, Venerable \u0100nanda said to the Buddha: \u201cSir, that godling must surely have been An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika. For the householder An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika was devoted to Venerable S\u0101riputta.\u201d \u201cGood, good, \u0100nanda. You\u2019ve reached the logical conclusion, as far as logic goes. For that was indeed the godling An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika.\u201d That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, Venerable \u0100nanda approved what the Buddha said.","title":"Advice to An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika","tradition":"Majjhima Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":1315}