The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [499]
8. Then the bhikkhus went to the venerable Mahā Kaccāna and exchanged greetings with him. When this courteous and amiable talk was finished, they sat down to one side and they told him what had taken place, adding: “Let the venerable Mahā Kaccāna expound it to us.”
9. [The venerable Mahā Kaccāna replied:] “Friends, it is as though a man needing heartwood, seeking heartwood, wandering in search of heartwood, [195] thought that heartwood should be sought for among the branches and leaves of a great tree standing possessed of heartwood, after he had passed over the root and the trunk. And so it is with you, venerable sirs, that you think that I should be asked about the meaning of this, after you passed the Blessed One by when you were face to face with the Teacher. For knowing, the Blessed One knows; seeing, he sees; he is vision, he is knowledge, he is the Dhamma, he is the holy one; he is the sayer, the proclaimer, the elucidator of meaning, the giver of the Deathless, the lord of the Dhamma, the Tathāgata. That was the time when you should have asked the Blessed One the meaning. As he told you, so you should have remembered it.”
10. “Surely, friend Kaccāna, knowing, the Blessed One knows; seeing, he sees; he is vision…the Tathāgata. That was the time when we should have asked the Blessed One the meaning. As he told us, so we should have remembered it. Yet the venerable Mahā Kaccāna is praised by the Teacher and esteemed by his wise companions in the holy life. The venerable Mahā Kaccāna is capable of expounding the detailed meaning of this summary given in brief by the Blessed One without expounding the detailed meaning. Let the venerable Mahā Kaccāna expound it without finding it troublesome.”
11. “Then listen, friends, and attend closely to what I shall say.”—“Yes, friend,” the bhikkhus replied. The venerable Mahā Kaccāna said this:
12. “Friends, when the Blessed One rose from his seat and went into his dwelling after giving a summary in brief without expounding the detailed meaning, that is:
‘Let not a person revive the past…
Who has had a single excellent night,’
I understand the detailed meaning of it to be as follows.
13. “How, friends, does one revive the past? [196] One’s consciousness becomes bound up with desire and lust there thinking, ‘My eye was thus in the past and forms were thus.’1220 Because one’s consciousness is bound up with desire and lust, one delights in that. When one delights in that, one revives the past.
“One’s consciousness becomes bound up with desire and lust there thinking, ‘My ear was thus in the past and sounds were thus…My nose and odours…My tongue and flavours…My body and tangibles…My mind was thus in the past and mind-objects were thus.’ Because one’s consciousness is bound up with desire and lust, one delights in that. When one delights in that, one revives the past. That is how one revives the past.
14. “How does one not revive the past? One’s consciousness does not become bound up with desire and lust there thinking, ‘My eye was thus in the past and forms were thus.’ Because one’s consciousness is not bound up with desire and lust, one does not delight in that. When one does not delight in that, one does not revive the past.
“One’s consciousness does not become bound up with desire and lust there thinking, ‘My ear was thus in the past and sounds were thus…My nose and odours…My tongue and flavours…My body and tangibles…My mind was thus in the past and mind-objects were thus.’ Because one’s consciousness is not bound up with desire and lust, one does not delight in that. When one does not delight in that, one does not revive the past. That is how one does not revive the past.
15. “How, friends, does one build up hope upon the future? One sets one’s heart on obtaining what has not yet been obtained, thinking, ‘May my eye be thus in the future and forms be thus!’ Because one sets one’s heart thus, one delights in that. When one delights in that, one builds