Khuddaka Nikaya - Nettippakarana - Second Grouping - Illustrative Quotations 3

Khuddaka Nikaya - Nettippakarana ( The Guide ) - Second Grouping - Illustrative Quotations 3

ACCORDING TO
KACCANA THERA

TRANSLATED FROM THE PALI BY
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
Pali Text Society
[iii (a)]
875. Herein, what is knowledge ?
(That knowledge which has spanned the worlds,
1
Whereby he is called omniscient,
Which knows no wane at all, and which
Has access to all times) ( ).
2
This is knowledge.
(cf. DhA) as follows: 'The "mother" is craving, which gives birth to creatures
in the 3 planes of existence; the "father" is the conceit " I am", which gives
the egoist value to individuality; the "two kings" are the eternalist and the
annihilationist views, which divide the world (of opinion) between them;
the "realm" is the 6 pairs of bases beginning with eye-cum-forms; the
"governor" is will and lust for those' (p. 212-13). (N.b. all Dh. verses are out
of their context). Still another, milder, 'shock allegory' is given with explana-
tion at 8. iv, 136 ('This divine life is lived without pupils and without teacher').
875/1 i
Lokuttara—spanned the worlds' : this is not the normal use, which is
renderable by 'disjoined from worlds' in the sense of being connected with
their cessation (nibbdna). NettiA points out that omniscient knowledge
(sabbannuta) is technically 'belonging to worlds' (lokiya) and not 'disjoined
from worlds' (lokuttara) in the usual sense (see n. 326/2). So the word must
here be taken quite literally as 'what has come to know all worlds by crossing
(uttarati) them' rather than the usual 'what has crossed over all worlds to
know nibbana1
.
875/2 NettiA: ' "Which has access to all times" is said because its existence
is dependent upon its adverting thereto. I t does not occur constantly and
continuously; for i t cannot be said that simultaneous omniscient knowledge
occurs in the Blessed One' (p. 213). Cf. M. ii, 127, also Ppn., ch. vii, note 7.

876. [166] (Best in the world is understanding—
The kind that leads on to extinction—
Whereby one understands completely
Exhaustion of both birth and death) (Iti. 36; cf. Pe 51).
This is knowledge.
tin (b)]
877. Herein, what is the knowable ?
( c
Then I will tell you what peace is,
Dhotaka' the Blessed One said
'Peace here and now, no hearsay tale,
Which knowing, one who mindful goes,
Surmounts attachment to the world.'
'Indeed, great Seer, I look with hope
To that, the state of peace supreme,
Which knowing, one who mindful goes,
Surmounts attachment to the world.'
'Whatever [is], that understand,
Dhotaka' the Blessed One said
'Or up or down, around, amid,
Know that as wants, and have no clinging
To better or worse being1
in the world* ) (Sn. 1066-8).
This is the knowable.
878. ( 'Bhikkhus, it is owing to the non-discovery, to the non-penetration,
of four noble truths that both I and you have had to run on and on and
go the roundabout of this long journey. When this noble truth of
suffering has been discovered and penetrated, when this noble truth of
the origin of suffering has been discovered and penetrated, when this
noble truth of the cessation of suffering has been discovered and pene-
trated, when this noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of
suffering has been discovered and penetrated, then need for being is
annihilated, that Guide to Being is exhausted, there is now no renewal
of being.
7
That is what the Blessed One said, when the Sublime One
had said this, he, the Master, said further:
'By lack of seeing four noble truths
[With understanding] how they are
877/1 NettiA explains bhavabhava here by minor and major kinds of existence
and alternatively by eternalism and annihilationism (cf. n. 843/5).

Long was the journey travelled through
The roundabout of varied births.
The Guide that leads men to exist
Is slain as soon as these are seen;
With roots of pain annihilated
There is no more renewal of being) (S. v, 43If.).
[167] This is the knowable.
[iii (c)]
879. Herein, what is knowledge and the knowable ?
(Form is impermanent, feeling is impermanent perception is
impermanent, determinations are impermanent, consciousness is
impermanent) (S. iii, 21).
This is the knowable.
( Knowing and seeing thus, the noble hearer sees form as impermanent,
sees feeling as impermanent, sees perception as impermanent, sees
determinations as impermanent, sees consciousness as impermanent)
( )•
This is knowledge.
(He is liberated from form,
1
liberated from feeling, liberated from
perception, liberated from determinations, liberated from consciousness;
he is liberated from suffering, I say) ( ).
This is knowledge and the knowable.
880. (Impermanent are all determinations) (§38).
This is the knowable.
(And so when he sees thus with understanding) (Ibid.).
This is knowledge.
(He then dispassion finds in suffering;
This path it is that leads to purification) (Ibid.).
This is knowledge and the knowable.
881. ([And] painful too are all determinations) (Ibid.).
This is the knowable.
879/1 Bupena must be a misreading for riipamhd, cf. vinndnamhd in last
clause but one of quotation.

(And so when he sees thus with understanding) (Ibid.).
This is knowledge.
(He then dispassion finds in suffering;
This path it is that leads to purification) (Ibid.).
This is knowledge and the knowable.
882. ([And then besides] not-self are all ideas) (Ibid.).
This is the knowable.
(And so when he sees thus with understanding) (Ibid.).
This is knowledge.
(He then dispassimi finds in suffering;
This path it is that leads to purification ) (Ibid; Pe 52).
This is knowledge and the knowable.
883. [168] (Sona, when any monk or divine, with form as the reason,
which [form] is impermanent, [liable to] pain, and inseparable from
the idea of change, sees 'I am better', ' / am like' or 'I am worse', then
what is that other than not seeing how it is ? When, with feeling . . .
perception . . . determinations . . . consciousness as the reason, which
[consciousness] is impermanent, [liable to] pain, and inseparable from
the idea of change, sees 'I am better', 'I am like' or 'I am worse', what
is that other than not seeing how it is?) (S. iii, 48).
This is the knowable.
(Sona, when any monk or divine does not, with form as the reason,
which [form] is impermanent, [liable to] pain, and inseparable from
the idea of change, see 'Z am belter', '7 am like' or 'I am worse', what
is that other than seeing how it is ? When he does not, with feeling . . .
perception . . . determinations . . . consciousness as the reason, which
[consciousness] is impermanent, [liable to] pain, and inseparable from
the idea of change, see 'I am better', 'I am like' or ' / am worse', what
is that other than seeing how it is?) (S. iii, 48f.).
This is knowledge.
This is knowledge and the knowable.