MN 14
Cula-dukkhakkhandha Sutta
The Lesser Mass of Stress
Translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro BhikkhuPTS: M i 91
Source: Transcribed from a file provided by the translator.
Copyright © 2005 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Access to Insight edition © 2005
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I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying among the Sakyans
at Kapilavatthu in the Banyan Park. Then Mahanama the Sakyan1 went to the
Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he
was sitting there he said to the Blessed One, "For a long time now, lord, I have
understood the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One thus: 'Greed is a defilement of
the mind; aversion is a defilement of the mind; delusion is a defilement of the
mind.' Yet even though I understand the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One that
greed is a defilement of the mind, aversion is a defilement of the mind,
delusion is a defilement of the mind, there are still times when the mental
quality of greed invades my mind and remains, when the mental quality of
aversion... the mental quality of delusion invades my mind and remains. The
thought occurs to me: What mental quality is unabandoned within me so that there
are times when the mental quality of greed invades my mind and remains, when the
mental quality of aversion... the mental quality of delusion invades my mind and
remains?"
"Mahanama, that very mental quality2 is what is unabandoned within you so that
there are times when the mental quality of greed... the mental quality of
aversion... the mental quality of delusion invades your mind and remains.3 For
if that mental quality were abandoned in you, you would not live the household
life and would not partake of sensuality. It's because that mental quality is
not abandoned in you that you live the household life and partake of sensuality.
"Even though a disciple of the noble ones has clearly seen as it actually is
with right discernment that sensuality is of much stress, much despair, &
greater drawbacks, still — if he has not attained a rapture & pleasure apart
from sensuality, apart from unskillful mental qualities, or something more
peaceful than that4 — he can be tempted by sensuality. But when he has clearly
seen as it actually is with right discernment that sensuality is of much stress,
much despair, & greater drawbacks, and he has attained a rapture & pleasure
apart from sensuality, apart from unskillful mental qualities, or something more
peaceful than that, he cannot be tempted by sensuality.
"I myself, before my Awakening, when I was still an unawakened bodhisatta, saw
as it actually was with right discernment that sensuality is of much stress,
much despair, & greater drawbacks, but as long as I had not attained a rapture &
pleasure apart from sensuality, apart from unskillful mental qualities, or
something more peaceful than that, I did not claim that I could not be tempted
by sensuality. But when I saw as it actually was with right discernment that
sensuality is of much stress, much despair, & greater drawbacks, and I had
attained a rapture & pleasure apart from sensuality, apart from unskillful
mental qualities, or something more peaceful than that, that was when I claimed
that I could not be tempted by sensuality.
"Now what, Mahanama, is the allure of sensuality? These five strings of
sensuality. Which five? Forms cognizable via the eye — agreeable, pleasing,
charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing. Sounds cognizable via the
ear... Aromas cognizable via the nose... Flavors cognizable via the tongue...
Tactile sensations cognizable via the body — agreeable, pleasing, charming,
endearing, fostering desire, enticing. Now whatever pleasure or joy arises in
dependence on these five strands of sensuality, that is the allure of
sensuality.
"And what is the drawback of sensuality? There is the case where, on account of
the occupation by which a clansman makes a living — whether checking or
accounting or calculating or plowing or trading or cattle tending or archery or
as a king's man, or whatever the occupation may be — he faces cold, he faces
heat, being harassed by mosquitoes & flies, wind & sun & creeping things, dying
from hunger & thirst.
"Now this drawback in the case of sensuality, this mass of stress visible here &
now, has sensuality for its reason, sensuality for its source, sensuality for
its cause, the reason being simply sensuality.
"If the clansman gains no wealth while thus working & striving & making effort,
he sorrows, grieves, & laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught: 'My work
is in vain, my efforts are fruitless!' Now this drawback too in the case of
sensuality, this mass of stress visible here & now, has sensuality for its
reason, sensuality for its source, sensuality for its cause, the reason being
simply sensuality.
"If the clansman gains wealth while thus working & striving & making effort, he
experiences pain & distress in protecting it: 'How will neither kings nor
thieves make off with my property, nor fire burn it, nor water sweep it away,
nor hateful heirs make off with it?' And as he thus guards and watches over his
property, kings or thieves make off with it, or fire burns it, or water sweeps
it away, or hateful heirs make off with it. And he sorrows, grieves, & laments,
beats his breast, becomes distraught: 'What was mine is no more!' Now this
drawback too in the case of sensuality, this mass of stress visible here & now,
has sensuality for its reason, sensuality for its source, sensuality for its
cause, the reason being simply sensuality.
"Again, it is with sensuality for the reason, sensuality for the source,
sensuality for the cause, the reason being simply sensuality, that kings quarrel
with kings, nobles with nobles, priests with priests, householders with
householders, mother with child, child with mother, father with child, child
with father, brother with brother, sister with sister, brother with sister,
sister with brother, friend with friend. And then in their quarrels, brawls, &
disputes, they attack one another with fists or with clods or with sticks or
with knives, so that they incur death or deadly pain. Now this drawback too in
the case of sensuality, this mass of stress visible here & now, has sensuality
for its reason, sensuality for its source, sensuality for its cause, the reason
being simply sensuality.
"Again, it is with sensuality for the reason, sensuality for the source... that
[men], taking swords & shields and buckling on bows & quivers, charge into
battle massed in double array while arrows & spears are flying and swords are
flashing; and there they are wounded by arrows & spears, and their heads are cut
off by swords, so that they incur death or deadly pain. Now this drawback too in
the case of sensuality, this mass of stress visible here & now, has sensuality
for its reason, sensuality for its source, sensuality for its cause, the reason
being simply sensuality.
"Again, it is with sensuality for the reason, sensuality for the source... that
[men], taking swords & shields and buckling on bows & quivers, charge slippery
bastions while arrows & spears are flying and swords are flashing; and there
they are splashed with boiling cow dung and crushed under heavy weights, and
their heads are cut off by swords, so that they incur death or deadly pain. Now
this drawback too in the case of sensuality, this mass of stress visible here &
now, has sensuality for its reason, sensuality for its source, sensuality for
its cause, the reason being simply sensuality.
"Again, it is with sensuality for the reason, sensuality for the source... that
[men] break into windows, seize plunder, commit burglary, ambush highways,
commit adultery, and when they are captured, kings have them tortured in many
ways. They flog them with whips, beat them with canes, beat them with clubs.
They cut off their hands, cut off their feet, cut off their hands & feet. They
cut off their ears, cut off their noses, cut off their ears & noses. They
subject them to the 'porridge pot,' the 'polished-shell shave,' the 'Rahu's
mouth,' the 'flaming garland,' the 'blazing hand,' the 'grass-duty [ascetic],'
the 'bark-dress [ascetic],' the 'burning antelope,' the 'meat hooks,' the
'coin-gouging,' the 'lye pickling,' the 'pivot on a stake,' the 'rolled-up bed.'
They have them splashed with boiling oil, devoured by dogs, impaled alive on
stakes. They have their heads cut off with swords, so that they incur death or
deadly pain. Now this drawback too in the case of sensuality, this mass of
stress visible here & now, has sensuality for its reason, sensuality for its
source, sensuality for its cause, the reason being simply sensuality.
"Again, it is with sensuality for the reason, sensuality for the source... that
[people] engaged in bodily misconduct, verbal misconduct, mental misconduct.
Having engaged in bodily, verbal, and mental misconduct, they — on the break-up
of the body, after death — re-appear in the plane of deprivation, the bad
destination, the lower realms, in hell. Now this drawback too in the case of
sensuality, this mass of stress in the future life, has sensuality for its
reason, sensuality for its source, sensuality for its cause, the reason being
simply sensuality.
"Once, Mahanama, when I was staying near Rajagaha on Vulture Peak Mountain, a
number of Niganthas were at Black Rock on the slopes of Isigili, practicing
continuous standing: rejecting seats, experiencing fierce, sharp, racking pains
due to exertion. So in the evening, rising from seclusion, I went to the
Niganthas at Black Rock on the slopes of Isigili and on arrival asked them, 'Why
are you practicing continuous standing: rejecting seats, experiencing fierce,
sharp, racking pains due to exertion?' When this was said, the Niganthas said to
me, 'Friend, the Nigantha Nataputta5 is all-knowing, all-seeing, and claims
total knowledge & vision thus: "Whether I am walking or standing, sleeping or
awake, knowledge & vision are continuously & continually established in me." He
has told us, "Niganthas, there are evil actions that you have done in the past.
Exhaust them with these painful austerities. When in the present you are
restrained in body, restrained in speech, and restrained in mind, that is the
non-doing of evil action for the future. Thus, with the destruction of old
actions through asceticism, and with the non-doing of new actions, there will be
no flow into the future. With no flow into the future, there is the ending of
action. With the ending of action, the ending of stress. With the ending of
stress, the ending of feeling. With the ending of feeling, all suffering &
stress will be exhausted."6 We approve of that [teaching], prefer it, and are
gratified by it.'
"When this was said, I asked them, 'But friends, do you know that you existed in
the past, and that you did not not exist?'
"'No, friend.'
"'And do you know that you did evil actions in the past, and that you did not
not do them?'
"'No, friend.'
"'And do you know that you did such-and-such evil actions in the past?'
"'No, friend.'
"'And do you know that so-and-so much stress has been exhausted, or that
so-and-so much stress remains to be exhausted, or that with the exhaustion of
so-and-so much stress all stress will be exhausted?'
"'No, friend.'
"'But do you know what is the abandoning of unskillful mental qualities and the
attainment of skillful mental qualities in the here-&-now?'
"'No, friend.'
"'So, friends, it seems that you don't know that you existed in the past, and
that you did not not exist; you don't know that you did evil actions in the
past, and that you did not not do them; you don't know that you did
such-and-such evil actions in the past; you don't know that so-and-so much
stress has been exhausted, or that so-and-so much stress remains to be
exhausted, or that with the exhaustion of so-and-so much stress all stress will
be exhausted; you don't know what is the abandoning of unskillful mental
qualities and the attainment of skillful mental qualities in the here-&-now.
That being the case, those in the world who are murderers, bloody-handed doers
of what is cruel, when they are later reborn among human beings, go forth with
the Niganthas.'
"'But, friend Gotama, it's not the case that pleasure is to be attained through
pleasure. Pleasure is to be attained through pain. For if pleasure were to be
attained through pleasure, then King Seniya Bimbisara of Magadha would attain
pleasure, for he lives in greater pleasure than you, friend Gotama.'
"'Surely the venerable Niganthas said that rashly and without reflecting... for
instead, I should be asked, "Who lives in greater pleasure: King Seniya
Bimbisara of Magadha or venerable Gotama?"'
"'Yes, friend Gotama, we said that rashly and without reflecting... but let that
be. We now ask you, venerable Gotama: Who lives in greater pleasure: King Seniya
Bimbisara of Magadha or venerable Gotama?'
"'In that case, Niganthas, I will question you in return. Answer as you like.
What do you think: Can King Seniya Bimbisara of Magadha — without moving his
body, without uttering a word — dwell sensitive to unalloyed pleasure for seven
days & nights?'
"'No, friend."
"'... for six days & nights... for five days & nights... for a day & a night?'
"'No, friend."
"'Now, I — without moving my body, without uttering a word — can dwell sensitive
to unalloyed pleasure for a day and a night... for two days & nights... for
three... four... five... six... seven days & nights. So what do you think: That
being the case, who dwells in greater pleasure: King Seniya Bimbisara of Magadha
or me?'
"'That being the case, venerable Gotama dwells in greater pleasure than King
Seniya Bimbisara of Magadha.'"
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, Mahanama the Sakyan delighted in
the Blessed One's words.
Notes
1. A cousin of the Buddha. The Commentary claims that he was already a
once-returner when this discourse took place, but there is nothing in the Canon
to indicate that this is so.
2. I.e., greed, aversion, or delusion.
3. This sentence is mistranslated in both MLS and MLDB. Its point is that the
mental qualities that invade Mahanama's mind are precisely the ones he has not
yet abandoned. In practical terms, this means that he does not have to look for
another quality lurking behind them, but instead can focus his attention on
abandoning these qualities directly as they arise. The remainder of the sutta
gives a lesson in how greed, aversion, and delusion can be abandoned by
understanding the object on which they most frequently focus: sensuality.
4. The rapture & pleasure apart from sensuality, apart from unskillful mental
qualities, is a factor of the first or second jhana. "Something more peaceful
than that" would be any attainments higher than the second jhana.
5. See DN 2.
6. One of the great ironies in the history of Buddhism is the extent to which
teachings that the Buddha clearly disapproved of, such as this one, have later
been taught as quintessentially Buddhist. In some circles, a teaching similar to
this one — that non-reactivity to pain burns away the impurity of past kamma and
creates no new kamma for the future — is still taught as Buddhist to this day.
See also: MN 54; SN 35.63; SN 35.115; SN 35.189; SN 36.6; AN 2.30; AN 6.63.
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