In the Buddha's Words - Bhikkhu Bodhi [114]
“We would conquer it too and reign over it, Master Raṭṭhapāla.”
“Great king, it was on account of this that the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One, said: ‘[Life in] any world is incomplete, insatiate, the slave of craving’; and when I knew, saw, and heard this, I went forth from the household life into homelessness.”
“It is wonderful, Master Raṭṭhapāla, it is marvelous how well that has been expressed by the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One: ‘[Life in] any world is incomplete, insatiate, the slave of craving.’ It is indeed so!”
(from MN 82: Raṭṭhapāla Sutta; II 65–82)
7. THE DANGER IN VIEWS
(1) A Miscellany on Wrong View
“Monks, I do not see even one other thing on account of which unarisen unwholesome qualities of mind arise and arisen unwholesome qualities of mind increase and expand so much as on account of wrong view.10 For one of wrong view, unarisen unwholesome qualities of mind arise and arisen unwholesome qualities of mind increase and expand.
“Monks, I do not see even one other thing on account of which unarisen wholesome qualities of mind do not arise and arisen wholesome qualities of mind diminish so much as on account of wrong view. For one of wrong view, unarisen wholesome qualities of mind do not arise and arisen wholesome qualities of mind diminish.
“Monks, I do not see even one other thing on account of which, with the breakup of the body, after death, beings are reborn in a state of misery, in a bad destination, in the lower world, in hell, so much as on account of wrong view. Possessing wrong view, with the breakup of the body, after death, beings are reborn in a state of misery, in a bad destination, in the lower world, in hell.
“Monks, for a person of wrong view, whatever bodily, verbal, or mental conduct he undertakes in accordance with that view, and whatever volition, aspiration, wish, and volitional formations he engenders in accordance with that view, all lead to what is undesirable, unwanted, and disagreeable, to harm and suffering. For what reason? Because the view is bad. Just as, when a seed of neem, bitter cucumber, or bitter gourd is planted in moist soil, it transforms any nutriment it obtains from the soil and the water into a fruit with a bitter, harsh, and disagreeable taste, even so is it for a person of wrong view. For what reason? Because the view is bad.”
(AN 1: xvii, 1, 3, 7, 9; I 30–32)
(2) The Blind Men and the Elephant
On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park. Now at that time a number of ascetics and brahmins, wanderers of other sects, were living around Sāvatthī. They held various views, beliefs, and opinions, and propagated various views. And they were quarrelsome, disputatious, wrangling, wounding each other with verbal darts, saying, “The Dhamma is like this, the Dhamma is not like that! The Dhamma is not like this, the Dhamma is like that!”
Then a number of monks entered Sāvatthī on almsround. Having returned, after their meal they approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, sat down to one side, and told him what they had seen. [The Blessed One said:]
“Monks, wanderers of other sects are blind and sightless. They do not know what is beneficial and harmful. They do not know what is the Dhamma and what is not the Dhamma, and thus they are so quarrelsome and disputatious.
“Formerly, monks, there was a king in Sāvatthī who addressed a man and asked him to round up all the persons in the city who were blind from birth. When the man had done so, the king asked the man to show the blind men an elephant. To some of the blind men he presented the head of the elephant, to some the ear, to others a tusk, the trunk, the body, a foot, the hindquarters, the tail, or the tuft at the end of the tail. And to each one he said, ‘This is an elephant.’
“When he reported to the king