The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [154]
“What do you think, Aggivessana? Is feeling permanent or impermanent?…Is perception permanent or impermanent?… Are formations permanent or impermanent?…Is consciousness permanent or impermanent?”—“Impermanent, Master Gotama.”—“Is what is impermanent suffering or happiness?”—“Suffering, Master Gotama.”—“Is what is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change fit to be regarded thus: ‘This is mine, this I am, this is my self’?”—“No, Master Gotama.”
21. “What do you think, Aggivessana? When one adheres to suffering, resorts to suffering, holds to suffering, and regards what is suffering thus: ‘This is mine, this I am, this is my self,’ could one ever fully understand suffering oneself or abide with suffering utterly destroyed?”
“How could one, Master Gotama? No, Master Gotama.”
*“What do you think, Aggivessana? That being so, do you not adhere to suffering, resort to suffering, hold to suffering, and regard what is suffering thus: ‘This is mine, this I am, this is my self’?”
“How could I not, Master Gotama? Yes, Master Gotama.”*376
22. “It is as though a man needing heartwood, seeking heartwood, wandering in search of heartwood, were to take a sharp axe and enter the wood, and there he would see a large plantain trunk, straight, young, with no fruit-bud core. Then he would cut it down at the root, cut off the crown, and unroll the leaf-sheaths; but as he went on unrolling the leaf sheaths, he would never come even to any sapwood, let alone heartwood. So too, Aggivessana, when you are pressed, questioned, and cross-questioned by me about your own assertion, you turn out to be empty, vacant, and mistaken. But it was you who made this statement before the Vesālī assembly: ‘I see no recluse or brahmin, the head of an order, the head of a group, the teacher of a group, even one claiming to be accomplished and fully enlightened, who would not shake, shiver, and tremble and sweat under the armpits if he were to engage in debate with me. Even if I were to engage a senseless post in debate, it would shake, shiver, and tremble if it were to engage in debate with me, so what shall I say of a human being?’ Now there are drops of sweat on your forehead and they have soaked through your upper robe and fallen to the ground. But there is no sweat on my body now.” And the Blessed One uncovered his golden-coloured body before the assembly. [234] When this was said, Saccaka the Nigaṇṭha’s son sat silent, dismayed, with shoulders drooping and head down, glum, and without response.
23. Then Dummukha, the son of the Licchavis, seeing Saccaka the Nigaṇṭha’s son in such a condition, said to the Blessed One: “A simile occurs to me, Master Gotama.”
“Explain how it occurs to you, Dummukha.”
“Suppose, venerable sir, not far from a village or town there was a pond with a crab in it. And then a party of boys or girls went out from the town or village to the pond, went into the water, and pulled the crab out of the water and put it on dry land. And whenever the crab extended a leg, they cut it off, broke it, and smashed it with sticks and stones, so that the crab with all its legs cut off, broken, and smashed, would be unable to get back to the pond as before. So too, all Saccaka the Nigaṇṭha’s son’s contortions, writhings, and vacillations have been cut off, broken, and smashed by the Blessed One, and now he cannot get near the Blessed One again for the purpose of debate.”
24. When this was said, Saccaka the Nigaṇṭha’s son told him: “Wait, Dummukha, wait! We are not speaking with you, here we are speaking with Master Gotama.”
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