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has made the Dhamma clear in many ways, as though he were turning upright what had been overturned, revealing what was hidden, showing the way to one who was lost, or holding up a lamp in the dark for those with eyesight to see forms. I go to Master Gotama for refuge and to the Dhamma and to the Sangha of bhikkhus. Let Master Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for refuge for life.”

Part Three

The Final Fifty Discourses

(Uparipaṇṇāsapāḷi)

1

The Division at Devadaha

(Devadahavagga)

Devadaha Sutta

At Devadaha

[214] 1. THUS HAVE I HEARD. On one occasion the Blessed One was living in the Sakyan country where there was a town of the Sakyans named Devadaha. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus thus: “Bhikkhus.”—“Venerable sir,” they replied. The Blessed One said this:

2. “Bhikkhus, there are some recluses and brahmins who hold such a doctrine and view as this: ‘Whatever this person feels, whether pleasure or pain or neither-pain-nor-pleasure, all that is caused by what was done in the past.922 So by annihilating with asceticism past actions923 and by doing no fresh actions, there will be no consequence in the future. With no consequence in the future, there is the destruction of action. With the destruction of action, there is the destruction of suffering. With the destruction of suffering, there is the destruction of feeling. With the destruction of feeling, all suffering will be exhausted.’ So speak the Nigaṇṭhas, bhikkhus.

3. “I go to the Nigaṇṭhas who speak thus and I say: ‘Friend Nigaṇṭhas, is it true that you hold such a doctrine and view as this: “Whatever this person feels…all suffering will be exhausted”?’ If, when they are asked thus, the Nigaṇṭhas admit this and say ‘Yes,’ I say to them:

4. “‘But, friends, do you know that you existed in the past, and that it is not the case that you did not exist?’—‘No, friend.’—‘But, friends, do you know that you did evil actions in the past and did not abstain from them?’—‘No, friend.’—‘But, friends, do you know that you did such and such evil actions?’—‘No, friend.’—‘But, friends, do you know that so much suffering has already been exhausted, or that so much suffering has still to be exhausted, or that when so much suffering has been exhausted all suffering will have been exhausted?’—[215] ‘No, friend.’—‘But, friends, do you know what the abandoning of unwholesome states is and what the cultivation of wholesome states is here and now?’—‘No, friend.’

5. “‘So, friends, it seems that you do not know that you existed in the past and that it is not the case that you did not exist; or that you did evil actions in the past and did not abstain from them; or that you did such and such evil actions; or that so much suffering has already been exhausted, or that so much suffering has still to be exhausted, or that when so much suffering has been exhausted all suffering will have been exhausted; or what the abandoning of unwholesome states is and what the cultivation of wholesome states is here and now. That being so, it is not fitting for the venerable Nigaṇṭhas to declare: “Whatever this person feels, whether pleasure or pain or neither-pain-nor-pleasure, all that is caused by what was done in the past. So by annihilating with asceticism past actions and by doing no fresh actions, there will be no consequence in the future. With no consequence in the future…all suffering will be exhausted.”

6. “‘If, friend Nigaṇṭhas, you knew that you existed in the past and that it is not the case that you did not exist; or that you did evil actions in the past and did not abstain from them; or that you did such and such evil actions; or that so much suffering has already been exhausted, or that so much suffering has still to be exhausted, or that when so much suffering has been exhausted all suffering will have been exhausted; or what the abandoning of unwholesome states is and what the cultivation of wholesome states is here and now; that being so, it would be fitting for the venerable Nigaṇṭhas to declare: “Whatever this