Toh 297The Sūtra “Multitude of Constituents”

Summary

In this short discourse, also found in a similar form in
the Pali canon, the Buddha gives a teaching to Ānanda in
which he confirms the suggestion that all negative
experiences arise from being foolish, not from being
learned, and goes on to summarize for Ānanda what
distinguishes a learned person from a foolish one. The
learned person, he says, is learned in the constituents, in
the sense fields, in dependent origination, and in knowing
what is possible and impossible. He then elaborates briefly
on each.

Acknowledgements

Translated from Tibetan by the Āli Kāli Translation
Group, consisting of Zsuzsa Majer in collaboration with
Karma Dorje (Rabjampa), with assistance from William K.
Dewey. Edited and introduced by George FitzHerbert and
finalized by members of the 84000 editorial team.

The translation was completed under the patronage and
supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the
Buddha.

Introduction

The Buddha encourages Ānanda to develop the
qualities of the learned and to relinquish those of
the foolish. He enumerates these qualities in four
categories: being learned in the constituents; being
learned in the sense fields; being learned in
dependent origination; and being learned in what is
possible and impossible. Each of these four
categories is then elaborated in turn.

In the section on the “constituents,” from which
the sūtra takes its name, the term
constituent has been chosen
to translate the multivalent Sanskrit/Pali term
dhātu, and its Tibetan equivalent
khams, sometimes also
translated into English as “element” or “domain.” In
the context of this discourse, the term is used in a
manner similar to dharma (Tib. chos) to
refer to the many facets of experience and the world
that is experienced. These constituents together
constitute all experience, from the physical world
to sensory and mental experience; to areas such as
attitude, affect, and right and wrong; as well as to
temporality (past, present, and future) and the
three realms (Tib. khams gsum, Skt. tridhātu),
which together make up the whole of saṃsāra. In
total, sixty-two constituents are enumerated in this
discourse. They are presented in an order that
reflects the pedagogical orientation of the text,
with the most numerous category listed first (the
eighteen constituents of the senses), followed by
multiple further categories of six, four, three, and
finally two.

The fourth section, on knowing what is possible
and impossible, or what is tenable and untenable,
consists of twelve pairs of contrasting
hypotheticals presented as examples, of which only
the first eight have parallels in the Pali canon
version of the discourse. Knowing what is possible
and what is impossible is typically considered the
first of the “ten powers” of a buddha, though no
allusion is made to this in the sūtra itself.

No extant Sanskrit version of the text has been
identified. The Sanskrit title given in the Degé and
Lithang Kangyurs, Dhātubahutakasūtra, appears to be a
back-translation from the Tibetan khams mang po pa. Kangyurs
of the Themphangma line, such as the Stok Palace
Kangyur, give the preferable Sanskrit form Bahudhātukasūtra, which
more closely matches the Pali title and has been
adopted here.

’
grel bshad
nye bar mkho ba, Toh 4094), believed to date from the eleventh century, includes a parallel alternative
translation of the discourse in full. This later translation from Sanskrit
closely matches the Kangyur version and was likely
made with reference to the older translation, but in
places presents clarifications. No other canonical
commentaries on the text in Tibetan have been
identified.

The Tibetan text concludes with a series of
alternative titles for the discourse, namely “The
Four Parts,” “The Mirror of the Dharma,” and “The
Great Drum of Deathlessness.”

The Translation

The Sūtra

Multitude of Constituents

Homage to Mañjuśrī
Kumārabhūta.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was
staying in Śrāvastī, in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park. At that time, Venerable Ānanda went alone
into the forest. Once he was settled in meditation,
the following thought arose in his mind: “Whatever
dangers arise, all of them arise from foolishness,
not from being learned. Whatever calamity, whatever harm, contagious
illness, or conflict arises, all of them arise from
foolishness, not from being learned.”

In the afternoon, Venerable Ānanda rose from his
meditation and went to where the Blessed One was. He
bowed his head to the feet of the Blessed One, and
then sat down to one side. Once seated to one side,
Venerable Ānanda said to the Blessed One, “Honorable
One, today I went into the forest, and while settled
in meditation, the following thought came to my
mind: ‘Whatever dangers arise, all of them arise
from foolishness, not from being learned. Whatever
calamity, whatever harm, contagious illness, or
conflict arises, all of them arise from foolishness,
not from being learned.’ ”

“Ānanda, it is thus! It is thus! Whatever dangers
arise, all of them arise from foolishness, not from
being learned. Whatever calamity, whatever harm,
contagious illness, or conflict arises, all of them
arise from foolishness, not from being learned. Ānanda, consider this analogy: if
a house made of dried reeds or a house made of hay,
or a pile of dry straw, is set on fire, it will
indeed be burnt. In the same way, whatever
dangers arise, all of them arise from foolishness,
not from being learned. Whatever calamity, whatever
harm, contagious illness, or conflict arises, all of
them arise from foolishness, not from being learned.

“Ānanda, in the past, whatever dangers arose,
all of them arose from foolishness, not from being
learned. Whatever calamity, whatever harm,
contagious illness, or conflict arose, all of them
arose from foolishness, not from being learned.
Ānanda, in the future, whatever dangers may arise,
all of them will arise from foolishness, not from
being learned. Whatever calamity, whatever harm,
contagious illness, or conflict may arise, all of
them will arise from foolishness, not from being
learned.

“Ānanda, in this way, in the past, in the
future, and in the present, those who encounter
danger are the foolish, and those who are free of
danger are the learned. Those with calamity are the
foolish, and those without calamity are the learned.
Those with harm are the foolish, and those without
harm are the learned. Those with contagious illness
are the foolish, and those without contagious
illness are the learned. Those with conflict are the
foolish, and those without
conflict are the learned. Ānanda, you should know
that danger, as well as calamity, harm, contagious
illness, and conflict, are from foolishness, they
are not from being learned.

“So, Ānanda, you should understand the qualities
of the foolish and the qualities of the learned, and
having understood the qualities of the foolish and
the qualities of the learned, you should abandon the
qualities of the foolish, and adopt the qualities of
the learned. Ānanda, you should train in this
way.”

“Honorable One, how are the foolish classified
as ‘foolish’?”

“Ānanda, the foolish are not learned in the
constituents, are not learned in the sense fields,
are not learned in dependent origination, and are
not learned in what is possible and impossible.
Ānanda, in that way, the foolish may be classified
as ‘foolish.’ ”

“Honorable One, how are the learned classified
as ‘learned’?”

“Ānanda, the learned are learned in the
constituents, are learned in the sense fields, are
learned in dependent origination, and are learned in
what is possible and impossible. Ānanda, in that
way, the learned may be classified as ‘learned.’
”

“Venerable One, how is it that the learned are
learned in the constituents?”

“Ānanda, the learned know and see the eighteen
constituents correctly just as they are—the
constituent of the eye, the constituent of form, and
the constituent of visual consciousness; the
constituent of the ear, the constituent of sound,
and the constituent of auditory consciousness; the
constituent of the nose, the constituent of smell,
and the constituent of olfactory consciousness; the
constituent of the tongue, the constituent of taste,
and the constituent of gustatory consciousness; the
constituent of the body, the constituent of touch,
and the constituent of tactile consciousness; and
the constituent of the intellect, the constituent of
mental phenomena, and the constituent of mental
consciousness. Ānanda, in this way
they know and see the eighteen constituents
correctly, just as they are.

“Moreover, they know and see these six
constituents correctly, just as they are—the
constituent of earth, the constituent of water, the
constituent of fire, the constituent of wind, the
constituent of space, and the constituent of
consciousness. In this way, they know and see these
six constituents correctly, just as they are.

“Moreover, they know and see these six
constituents correctly, just as they are—the
constituent of pleasure, the constituent of pain,
the constituent of happiness, the constituent of
sadness, the constituent of equanimity, and the
constituent of ignorance. In this way, they know and
see the six constituents correctly, just as they
are.

“Moreover, they know and see these three
constituents correctly, just as they are—the
constituent of the virtuous, the constituent of the
nonvirtuous, and the constituent of the neutral.

“Ānanda, it is in this way that the learned are
learned in the constituents.”

“Honorable One, how is it that the learned are
learned in sense fields?”

“Ānanda, the learned know and see the twelve
sense fields correctly, just as they are—the sense
field of the eye and the sense field of sight; the
sense field of the ear and the sense field of sound;
the sense field of the nose and the sense field of
odor; the sense field of the tongue and the sense
field of taste; the sense field of the body and the
sense field of touch; the sense field of the mind
and the sense field of mental phenomena. Ānanda, it
is in this way that the learned are learned in the
sense fields.”

“Honorable One, how is it that the learned are
learned in dependent origination?”

“When this is present, this will arise, and when
this arises, this will occur. In this way, through
the condition of ignorance, there is formation;
through the condition of formation, there is
consciousness; through the condition of
consciousness, there is name and form; through the
condition of name and form, there are the six sense
fields; through the condition of the six sense
fields, there is contact; through the condition of
contact, there is sensation; through the condition
of sensation, there is craving;
through the condition of craving, there is grasping;
through the condition of grasping, there is
becoming; through the condition of becoming, there
is birth; through the condition of birth, there is
old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, suffering,
unhappiness, and disturbance— this mass of nothing
but suffering.

“And so, too, when this is not present, this
will not arise, and with the cessation of this, this
will cease. In this way, through the cessation of
ignorance, formation ceases; through the cessation
of formation, consciousness ceases; through the
cessation of consciousness, name and form cease;
through the cessation of name and form, the six
sense fields cease; through the cessation of the six
sense fields, contact ceases; through the cessation
of contact, sensation ceases; through the cessation
of sensation, craving ceases; through the cessation
of craving, grasping ceases; through the cessation
of grasping, becoming ceases; through the cessation
of becoming, birth ceases; through the cessation of
birth, old age and death, sorrow, lamentation,
suffering, unhappiness, and disturbance—this mass of
nothing but suffering—ceases.”.

“Ānanda, it is in this way that the learned are
learned in dependent origination.”

“Honorable One, how is it that the learned are
learned in what is possible and impossible?”

“Ānanda, this is impossible and does not happen: that
the ripening of any negative behavior of the body,
or any negative behavior of the speech or mind, will
produce things that are desirable, pleasant, joyful,
or attractive. This is impossible. This is possible:
that the ripening of any negative behavior of the
body, or any negative behavior of the speech or
mind, will produce things that are undesirable,
unpleasant, unjoyful, and unattractive. This is
possible.

“Ānanda, this is impossible and does not happen: that
the ripening of any positive behavior of the body,
or any positive behavior of the speech or mind, will
produce things that are undesirable, unpleasant,
unjoyful, and unattractive. This
is impossible. This is possible: that the ripening
of any positive behavior of the body, or any
positive behavior of the speech or mind, will
produce things that are desirable, pleasant, joyful,
and attractive. This is possible.

“It is impossible and does not happen that having
engaged in negative behavior of the body, or having
engaged in negative behavior of the speech or mind,
that by these causes and conditions, after the body
has been destroyed, one will be reborn among the
gods of the joyful higher realms. This is
impossible. It is possible that having engaged in
negative behavior of the body, or having engaged in
negative behavior of the speech or mind, that by
these causes and conditions, after death, when the
body has been destroyed, one will be reborn among
the hell beings who have fallen into the lower
states of rebirth. This is possible.

“It is impossible and does not happen that having
engaged in positive behavior of the body, or having
engaged in positive behavior of the speech or mind,
that by these causes and conditions, after death,
when the body has been destroyed, one will be reborn
among the hell beings who have fallen into the lower
states of rebirth. This is impossible. It is
possible that having engaged in positive behavior of
the body, or having engaged in positive behavior of
the speech or mind, that by these causes and
conditions, when the body has been destroyed, one
will be reborn among the gods of the joyful higher
realms. This is possible.

“It is impossible and does not happen that a woman
exercises the sovereignty of a universal monarch, or
Śakra himself, or Brahmā himself, or Māra himself,
or reaches buddhahood in unsurpassed and perfectly
complete awakening. This is impossible. For a man
this is possible.

“It is impossible and does not happen that a person
who perfectly sees the truth intentionally kills their
father, their mother, or an arhat, or causes a schism
in the saṅgha, or draws blood from the body of a
tathāgata out of malice. This is impossible. This is
possible for ordinary people.

“It is impossible and does not happen that a
person who perfectly sees the truth intentionally kills a
living creature, and having abandoned the precepts
becomes degenerate, and insteads seek outsiders
as worthy recipients of offerings, views outsiders
as the teacher, believes in purification through auspicious
signs and ceremonies, considers
knowledgeable ascetics and brahmins to be those who
know what is to be known and who see what is to be
seen, adopts the views and ideas of other ascetics and brahmins,
and experiences an eighth existence.
This is impossible. This is possible for
ordinary people.

“It is impossible and does not happen that someone
whose mind is thoroughly afflicted, whose wisdom has
been weakened, who has turned toward degeneration,
who is not beyond suffering, and who has not
abandoned the five obscurations could become
thoroughly settled in the four applications of
mindfulness. This is impossible. It is possible that
someone whose mind is thoroughly afflicted, whose
wisdom has been weakened, who has turned toward
degeneration, who is not beyond suffering, but who has
abandoned the five obscurations, could become
thoroughly settled in the four applications of
mindfulness. This is possible.

“It is impossible and does not happen that someone
whose mind is thoroughly afflicted, whose wisdom has
been weakened, who has turned toward degeneration,
who is not beyond suffering, and who has not
abandoned the five obscurations could, by thoroughly
settling their mind in the four applications of
mindfulness, cultivate the seven branches of
awakening. This is impossible. It is possible that
one whose mind is thoroughly afflicted, whose wisdom
has been weakened, who has turned toward
degeneration, and who is not beyond suffering, but
who has abandoned the five obscurations, could
thoroughly settle their mind in the four
applications of mindfulness and cultivate the seven
branches of awakening. This is possible.

“It is impossible and does not happen that someone
whose mind is thoroughly afflicted, whose wisdom has
been weakened, who has turned toward degeneration,
who is not beyond suffering, and who has not
abandoned the five obscurations could, by thoroughly
settling in the four applications of mindfulness and
cultivating the seven branches of awakening, realize
individual awakening and reach buddhahood in
unsurpassed and perfectly complete awakening. This
is impossible. It is possible that one whose mind is
thoroughly afflicted, whose wisdom has been
weakened, who has turned toward degeneration, and
who is not beyond suffering, but who has abandoned
the five obscurations could, by thoroughly settling
in the four applications of mindfulness and
cultivating the seven branches of awakening, realize
individual awakening and reach buddhahood in
unsurpassed and perfectly complete awakening. This
is possible.

“Ānanda, it is in this way that the learned are
learned in what is possible and impossible.”

“Honorable One, what is the title of this Dharma
discourse? How should it be remembered?”

Notes

Bibliography

Source Text

Tibetan Language

References

Western Language

References

Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park
jetavanam anāthapiṇḍadasyārāmaḥ
rgyal bu rgyal byed kyi tshal mgon med zas sbyin gyi kun dga’ ra ba
རྒྱལ་བུ་རྒྱལ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཚལ་མགོན་མེད་ཟས་སྦྱིན་གྱི་ཀུན་དགའ་ར་བ།