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29. Then, soon after he had left, the brahmin Gopaka Moggallāna said to the venerable Ānanda: “Master Ānanda has not yet answered what we asked him.”

“Did we not tell you, brahmin: ‘There is no single bhikkhu, brahmin, who possesses in each and every way all those qualities that were possessed by the Blessed One, accomplished and fully enlightened. For the Blessed One was the arouser of the unarisen path, the producer of the unproduced path, the declarer of the undeclared path; he was the knower of the path, the finder of the path, the one skilled in the path. But his disciples now abide following that path and become possessed of it afterwards’?”

Mahāpuṇṇama Sutta

The Greater Discourse on the

Full-Moon Night

1. THUS HAVE I HEARD. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at S̄āvatthī in the Eastern Park, in the Palace of Migāra’s Mother.

2. On that occasion—on the Uposatha day of the fifteenth,1036 on the full-moon night—the Blessed One was seated in the open surrounded by the Sangha of bhikkhus.

3. Then a certain bhikkhu rose from his seat,1037 arranged his upper robe on one shoulder, and extending his hands in reverential salutation towards the Blessed One, said to him: “Venerable sir, I would ask the Blessed One about a certain point, if the Blessed One would grant me an answer to my question.” —“Sit on your own seat, bhikkhu, and ask what you like.” So the bhikkhu sat on his own seat and said to the Blessed One:

4. “Are these not, venerable sir, the five aggregates affected by clinging; [16] that is, the material form aggregate affected by clinging, the feeling aggregate affected by clinging, the perception aggregate affected by clinging, the formations aggregate affected by clinging, and the consciousness aggregate affected by clinging?”

“These, bhikkhus, are the five aggregates affected by clinging; that is, the material form aggregate affected by clinging…and the consciousness aggregate affected by clinging.”

Saying, “Good, venerable sir,” the bhikkhu delighted and rejoiced in the Blessed One’s words. Then he asked him a further question:

5. “But, venerable sir, in what are these five aggregates affected by clinging rooted?”

“These five aggregates affected by clinging are rooted in desire,1038 bhikkhu.”

6. “Venerable sir, is that clinging the same as these five aggregates affected by clinging, or is the clinging something apart from the five aggregates affected by clinging?”1039

“Bhikkhu, that clinging is neither the same as these five aggregates affected by clinging, nor is the clinging something apart from the five aggregates affected by clinging. It is the desire and lust in regard to the five aggregates affected by clinging that is the clinging there.”

7. “But, venerable sir, can there be diversity in the desire and lust regarding these five aggregates affected by clinging?”

“There can be, bhikkhu,”the Blessed One said. “Here, bhikkhu, someone thinks thus: ‘May my material form be thus in the future; may my feeling be thus in the future; may my perception be thus in the future; may my formations be thus in the future; may my consciousness be thus in the future.’ Thus there is diversity in the desire and lust regarding these five aggregates affected by clinging.”

8. “But, venerable sir, in what way does the term ‘aggregates’ apply to the aggregates?”

“Bhikkhu, any kind of material form whatever, whether past, future, or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near—this is the material form aggregate. [17] Any kind of feeling whatever…far or near—this is the feeling aggregate. Any kind of perception whatever…far or near—this is the perception aggregate. Any kind of formations whatever… far or near—this is the formations aggregate. Any kind of consciousness whatever…far or near—this is the consciousness aggregate. It is in this way, bhikkhu, that the term ‘aggregate’ applies to the aggregates.”

9. “What is the cause and condition, venerable sir, for the manifestation of the material form aggregate? What is the