The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [237]
10. “As to that, prince, I shall ask you a question in return. Answer it as you choose. What do you think, prince? Are you skilled in the parts of a chariot?”
“Yes, venerable sir, I am.”
“What do you think, prince? When people come to you and ask: ‘What is the name of this part of the chariot?’ has there already been in your mind the thought: [396] ‘If they come to me and ask me thus, I shall answer them thus’? Or does that answer occur to you on the spot?”
“Venerable sir, I am well known as a charioteer skilled in the parts of a chariot. All the parts of a chariot are well known to me. That answer would occur to me on the spot.”
11. “So too, prince, when learned nobles, learned brahmins, learned householders, and learned recluses, after formulating a question, then come to the Tathāgata and pose it, the answer occurs to the Tathāgata on the spot. Why is that? That element of things has been fully penetrated by the Tathāgata, through the full penetration of which the answer occurs to the Tathāgata on the spot.”614
12. When this was said, Prince Abhaya said: “Magnificent, venerable sir! Magnificent, venerable sir! The Blessed One has made the Dhamma clear in many ways…From today let the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for refuge for life.”
Bahuvedanīya Sutta
The Many Kinds of Feeling
1. THUS HAVE I HEARD. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park.
2. Then the carpenter Pañcakanga615 went to the venerable Udāyin, and after paying homage to him, he sat down at one side and asked him:
3. “Venerable sir, how many kinds of feeling have been stated by the Blessed One?”
“Three kinds of feeling have been stated by the Blessed One, householder: pleasant feeling, painful feeling, and neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling. [397] These three kinds of feeling have been stated by the Blessed One.”
“Not three kinds of feeling have been stated by the Blessed One, venerable Udāyin; two kinds of feeling have been stated by the Blessed One: pleasant feeling and painful feeling. This neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling has been stated by the Blessed One as a peaceful and sublime kind of pleasure.”
A second time and a third time the venerable Udāyin stated his position, and a second time and a third time the carpenter Pañcakanga stated his. But the venerable Udāyin could not convince the carpenter Pañcakanga nor could the carpenter Pañcakanga convince the venerable Udāyin.
4. The venerable Ānanda heard their conversation. Then he went to the Blessed One, and after paying homage to him, he sat down at one side and reported to the Blessed One the entire conversation between the venerable Udāyin and the carpenter Pañcakanga. When he had finished, the Blessed One told the venerable Ānanda:
5. “Ānanda, it was actually a true presentation that the carpenter Pañcakanga would not accept from Udāyin, and it was actually a true presentation that Udāyin would not accept from the carpenter Pañcakanga. I have stated two kinds of feeling in one presentation; [398] I have stated three kinds of feeling in another presentation; I have stated five kinds of feeling in another presentation; I have stated six kinds of feeling in another presentation; I have stated eighteen kinds of feeling in another presentation; I have stated thirty-six kinds of feeling in another presentation; I have stated one hundred and eight kinds of feeling in another presentation.616 That is how the Dhamma has been shown by me in [different] presentations.
“When the Dhamma has thus been shown by me in [different] presentations, it may be expected of those who will not concede, allow, and accept what is well stated and well spoken by others that they will take to quarreling, brawling, and disputing, stabbing each other with verbal daggers. But it may be expected of those who concede, allow, and accept what is well stated and well spoken by others that they will live in concord,