MN 45
Cula-dhammasamadana Sutta
The Shorter Discourse on Taking on Practices
Translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro BhikkhuPTS: M i 305
Source: Transcribed from a file provided by the translator.
Copyright © 1999 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Access to Insight edition © 1999
For free distribution. This work may be republished, reformatted,
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I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi in
Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's monastery. There he addressed the monks: "Monks!"
"Yes, lord," the monks replied.
"Monks, there are these four ways of taking on practices. Which four? There is
the taking on of a practice that is pleasant in the present but yields pain in
the future. There is the taking on of a practice that is painful in the present
and yields pain in the future. There is the taking on of a practice that is
painful in the present but yields pleasure in the future. There is the taking on
of a practice that is pleasant in the present and yields pleasure in the future.
"Now, what is the taking on of a practice that is pleasant in the present but
yields pain in the future? There are some priests & contemplatives who hold to a
doctrine, a view like this: 'There is no harm in sensual pleasures.' Thus they
meet with their downfall through sensual pleasures. They consort with women
wanderers who wear their hair coiled in a topknot.
"The thought occurs to them: 'Now what future danger concerning sensual
pleasures do those [other] priests & contemplatives foresee that they have
spoken of the relinquishment of sensual pleasures and describe the full
comprehension of sensual pleasures? It's pleasant, the touch of this woman
wanderer's soft, tender, downy arm.'
"Thus they meet with their downfall through sensual pleasures. Then, having met
with their downfall through sensual pleasures, with the break-up of the body,
after death, they go to a bad bourn, destitution, the realm of the hungry
shades, hell. There they experience sharp, burning pains. They say: 'This was
the future danger concerning sensual pleasures those priests & contemplatives
foresaw that they spoke of the relinquishment of sensual pleasures and described
the full comprehension of sensual pleasures. It's because of sensual pleasures,
as a result of sensual pleasures, that we're now experiencing these sharp,
burning pains.'
"Just as if a maluva creeper pod were to burst open in the last month of the hot
season, and a maluva creeper seed were to fall at the foot of a sala tree. The
deva living in the tree would become frightened, apprehensive, & anxious. Her
friends & companions, relatives & kin — garden devas, forest devas, tree devas,
devas living in herbs, grass, & forest monarchs — would gather together to
console her: 'Have no fear, have no fear. In all likelihood a peacock is sure to
swallow this maluva creeper seed, or a deer will eat it, or a brush fire will
burn it up, or woodsmen will pick it up, or termites will carry it off, and
anyway it probably isn't really a seed.'
"And then no peacock swallowed it, no deer ate it, no brush fire burned it up,
no woodsmen picked it up, no termites carried it off, and it really was a seed.
Watered by a rain-laden cloud, it sprouted in due course and curled its soft,
tender, downy tendril around the sala tree.
"The thought occurred to the deva living in the sala tree: 'Now what future
danger did my friends & companions, relatives & kin — garden devas, forest
devas, tree devas, devas living in herbs, grass, & forest monarchs — foresee in
that maluva creeper seed that they gathered together to console me: "Have no
fear, have no fear. In all likelihood a peacock is sure to swallow this maluva
creeper seed, or a deer will eat it, or a brush fire will burn it up, or
woodsmen will pick it up, or termites will carry it off, and anyway it probably
isn't really a seed." It's pleasant, the touch of this maluva creeper's soft,
tender, downy tendril.'
"Then the creeper, having enwrapped the sala tree, having made a canopy over it,
& cascading down around it, caused the massive limbs of the sala tree to come
crashing down. The thought occurred to the deva living in the tree: 'This was
the future danger my friends... foresaw in that maluva creeper seed, that they
gathered together to console me... It's because of that maluva creeper seed that
I'm now experiencing sharp, burning pains.'
"In the same way, monks, there are some priests & contemplatives who hold to a
doctrine, a view like this: 'There is no harm in sensual pleasures.' Thus they
meet with their downfall through sensual pleasures. They consort with women
wanderers who wear their hair coiled in a topknot.
"The thought occurs to them: 'Now what future danger do those [other] priests &
contemplatives foresee that they teach the relinquishment & analysis of sensual
pleasures? It's pleasant, the touch of this woman wanderer's soft, tender, downy
arm.'
Thus they meet with their downfall through sensual pleasures. Then, having met
with their downfall through sensual pleasures, with the break-up of the body,
after death, they go to a bad bourn, destitution, the realm of the hungry
shades, hell. There they experience sharp, burning pains. They say: 'This was
the future danger concerning sensual pleasures those priests & contemplatives
foresaw that they spoke of the relinquishment of sensual pleasures and described
the full comprehension of sensual pleasures. It's because of sensual pleasures,
as a result of sensual pleasures, that we're now experiencing these sharp,
burning pains.'
"This is called the taking on of a practice that is pleasant in the present but
yields pain in the future.
"And what is the taking on of a practice that is painful in the present and
yields pain in the future?
"There is the case where someone is a cloth-less1 ascetic, rejecting
conventions, licking his hands, not coming when asked, not staying when asked.
He doesn't consent to food brought to him or food dedicated to him or to an
invitation to a meal. He accepts nothing from the mouth of a pot or from the
mouth of a bowl. He accepts nothing from across a stick, across a pestle, from
two eating together, from a pregnant woman, from a nursing woman, from a woman
lying with a man, from a food collection, from where a dog is waiting or flies
are buzzing. He takes no fish or meat. He drinks no liquor, wine, or fermented
drink. He limits himself to one house & one morsel a day, or two houses & two
morsels... seven houses & seven morsels. He lives on one saucerful a day, two...
seven saucerfuls a day. He takes food once a day, once every two days... once
every seven days, and so on up to a fortnight, devoted to regulating his intake
of food. He is an eater of greens, millet, wild rice, hide-parings, moss, rice
bran, rice-scum, sesame flour, grass, or cow dung. He lives on forest roots &
berries. He feeds on fallen fruits. He wears hemp, canvas, shrouds, refuse rags,
tree bark, antelope hide, strips of antelope hide, kusa-grass garments, bark
garments, wood-shaving garments, head-hair garments, animal wool, owl's wings.
He is a hair-&-beard puller, one devoted to the practice of pulling out his hair
& beard. He is a stander, one who rejects seats. He is a hands-around-the-knees
sitter, one devoted to the exertion of sitting with his hands around his knees.
He is a spike-mattresser, one who makes his bed on a bed of spikes. He is a
third-time-in-the-evening bather, one who stays devoted to the practice of
bathing in water. Thus in a variety of ways he stays devoted to the practice of
tormenting & afflicting the body. With the break-up of the body, after death, he
goes to a bad bourn, destitution, the realm of the hungry shades, hell.
"This is called the taking on of a practice that is painful in the present and
yields pain in the future.
"And what is the taking on of a practice that is painful in the present but
yields pleasure in the future? There is the case of a person who is normally
strongly passionate by nature and frequently experiences pain & grief born of
passion; a person who is normally strongly aversive by nature and frequently
experiences pain & grief born of aversion; a person who is normally strongly
deluded by nature and frequently experiences pain & grief born of delusion. Even
though touched with pain & grief, crying with a tearful face, he lives the holy
life that is utterly perfect, surpassingly pure. With the break-up of the body,
after death, he reappears in the good bourn, the heavenly world. This is called
the taking on of a practice that is painful in the present but yields pleasure
in the future.
"And what is the taking on of a practice that is pleasant in the present and
yields pleasure in the future? There is the case of a person who is not normally
strongly passionate by nature and doesn't frequently experience pain & grief
born of passion; who is not normally strongly aversive by nature and doesn't
frequently experience pain & grief born of aversion; who is not normally
strongly deluded by nature and doesn't frequently experience pain & grief born
of delusion. Quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful (mental)
qualities, he enters & remains in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from
withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. With the stilling of
directed thoughts & evaluations, he enters & remains in the second jhana:
rapture & pleasure born of concentration, unification of awareness free from
directed thought & evaluation — internal assurance. With the fading of rapture,
he remains in equanimity, is mindful & alert, and senses pleasure with the body.
He enters & remains in the third jhana, of which the Noble Ones declare,
'Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasurable abiding.' With the abandoning of
pleasure & pain — as with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress — he
enters & remains in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity & mindfulness,
neither pleasure nor pain. With the break-up of the body, after death, he
reappears in the good bourn, the heavenly world. This is called the taking on of
a practice that is pleasant in the present and yields pleasure in the future.
"And these are the four ways of taking on practices."
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the monks delighted in the Blessed
One's words.
Note
1. Acelaka. Often translated as "naked," but as the description shows, such a
person might wear garments, although the garment would not be made of cloth.
See also: AN 4.192.
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