The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [299]
28. “About this a wise man considers thus: ‘This good teacher is a reasoner…some is true and some is otherwise.’ So when he finds that this holy life is without consolation, he turns away from it and leaves it.
29. “This is the third kind of holy life without consolation that has been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened…
30. “Again, Sandaka, here a certain teacher is dull and confused. Because he is dull and confused, [521] when he is asked such and such a question, he engages in verbal wriggling, in eel-wriggling: ‘I don’t say it is like this. And I don’t say it is like that. And I don’t say it is otherwise. And I don’t say it is not so. And I don’t say it is not not so.’755
31. “About this a wise man considers thus: ‘This good teacher is dull and confused…[thus] he engages in verbal wriggling, in eel-wriggling…’ So when he finds that this holy life is without consolation, he turns away from it and leaves it.
32. “This is the fourth kind of holy life without consolation that has been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened…
33. “These, Sandaka, are the four kinds of holy life without consolation that have been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened, wherein a wise man certainly would not live the holy life, or if he should live it, would not attain the true way, the Dhamma that is wholesome.”
34. “It is wonderful, Master Ānanda, it is marvellous, how the four kinds of holy life without consolation have been declared by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened…But, Master Ānanda, what does that teacher assert, what does he declare, wherein a wise man certainly would live the holy life, and while living it would attain the true way, the Dhamma that is wholesome?’”
35–42. “Here, Sandaka, a Tathāgata appears in the world, accomplished, fully enlightened...(as Sutta 51, §§12–19)...he purifies his mind from doubt.
43. “Having thus abandoned these five hindrances, imperfections of the mind that weaken wisdom, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, he enters upon and abides in the first jhāna, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion. A wise man certainly would live the holy life with a teacher under whom a disciple attains such a lofty distinction, [522] and while living it he would attain the true way, the Dhamma that is wholesome.
44–46. “Again, with the stilling of applied and sustained thought, he enters upon and abides in the second jhāna…With the fading away as well of rapture...he enters upon and abides in the third jhāna... With the abandoning of pleasure and pain...he enters upon and abides in the fourth jhāna. A wise man certainly would live the holy life with a teacher under whom a disciple attains such a lofty distinction...
47. “When his concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs it to knowledge of the recollection of past lives. He recollects his manifold past lives, that is, one birth, two births...(as Sutta 51, §24)...Thus with their aspects and particulars he recollects his manifold past lives. A wise man certainly would live the holy life with a teacher under whom a disciple attains such a lofty distinction…
48. “When his concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs it to knowledge of the passing away and reappearance of beings...(as Sutta 51, §25)...Thus with the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, he sees beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate, and he understands how beings pass