Lzh Mu Bi Pm Pc 150Learning Pointless Knowledge
Pāli / Sanskrit:Tiracchānavijjāpariyāpuṇana
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The Sutta on Learning Pointless Knowledge
Tiracchānavijjāpariyāpuṇana
Background
The code of discipline (Vinaya Piṭaka) records the rules of training that the Buddha Gotama established for the community of monastics (bhikkhū). The sutta Tiracchānavijjāpariyāpuṇana appears in the context of Pātimokkhasaṃvara, the commitments to uphold basic ethical discipline. This sutta is not a discourse on the attainment of awakening, but a detailed warning about actions, thoughts, and investigations that bring no benefit to the path of practice.
The historical background of this sutta concerns the problems monastics encountered in learning. In the Buddha’s time, the monastic community could be tempted to pursue peripheral forms of knowledge, knowledge of magic, astrology, astronomy, or other worldly skills, instead of focusing on the teaching that leads to 涅槃 (Nirvāṇa).
Main Content
The concept of "pointless knowledge" (tiracchānavijjā) in the Pāli tradition refers to fields of animal-like knowledge (tiracchāna means "crawling, moving horizontally"). From there it was extended to refer to all knowledge unrelated to the religious path: calculation, astronomy for predicting weather, stocks, planning for war, or even games and amusements.
The sutta does not absolutely forbid these forms of knowledge for those who remain in lay life. However, for those who have gone forth, monastics who have renounced the household life, devoting energy and mind to these fields is regarded as a deviation from the primary goal: the cessation of suffering (dukkhanirodha).
The teaching points out that when a monastic studies pointless knowledge, that person has forgotten his direction: understanding dependent origination (paṭiccasamuppāda), impermanence (anicca), non-self (anattā), and suffering (dukkha). Instead of striving in meditation (bhāvanā) and studying discourses related to the complete ending of suffering, the practitioner scatters his energy among branches of knowledge that do not lead to liberation.
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