(The Buddha praised Dhammadinnā the nun as the foremost Dhamma teacher among his nun disciples. In this discourse she answers questions put to her by a layman—Visākha—who, according to the commentary, was her former husband, a merchant of Rājagaha, and a non-returner.)
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Rājagaha in the Bamboo Forest, the Squirrels’ Sanctuary. Then Visākha the lay follower went to Dhammadinnā the nun and, on arrival, having bowed down to her, sat to one side.
As he was sitting there he said to her, “‘Self-identification, self-identification,’ it is said, lady. Which self-identification is described by the Blessed One?”
“There are these five clinging-aggregates, friend Visākha: the form clinging-aggregate, the feeling clinging-aggregate, the perception clinging-aggregate, the fabrications clinging-aggregate, the consciousness clinging-aggregate. These five clinging-aggregates are the self-identification described by the Blessed One.”
Saying, “Yes, lady,” Visākha the lay follower delighted & rejoiced in what Dhammadinnā the nun had said. Then he asked her a further question: “‘The origination of self-identification, the origination of self-identification,’ it is said, lady. Which origination of self-identification is described by the Blessed One?”
“The craving that makes for further becoming—accompanied by passion & delight, relishing now here & now there—i.e., craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming: This, friend Visākha, is the origination of self-identification described by the Blessed One.”
“‘The cessation of self-identification, the cessation of self-identification,’ it is said, lady. Which cessation of self-identification is described by the Blessed One?”
“The remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, & letting go of that very craving: This, friend Visākha, is the cessation of self-identification described by the Blessed One.”
“‘The way of practice leading to the cessation of self-identification, the way of practice leading to the cessation of self-identification,’ it is said, lady. Which way of practice leading to the cessation of self-identification is described by the Blessed One?”
“Precisely this noble eightfold path—right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-remembering, righteous-undistractable-lucidity: This, friend Visākha, is the way of practice leading to the cessation of self-identification described by the Blessed One.”
“Friend Visākha, neither is clinging the same thing as the five clinging-aggregates, nor is it something separate. Whatever desire & passion there is with regard to the five clinging-aggregates, that is the clinging there.”
“There is the case, friend Visākha, where an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person—who has no regard for noble ones, is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dhamma; who has no regard for people of integrity, is not well-versed or disciplined in their Dhamma—assumes form [e.g., the body] to be the self, or the self as possessing form, or form as in the self, or the self as in form.
“He assumes consciousness to be the self, or the self as possessing consciousness, or consciousness as in the self, or the self as in consciousness. This is how self-identification view comes about.”
“他认为识是自我，或者自我拥有识，或者识在自我中，或者自我包含识。这就是有身见产生的方式。”
♦ “kathaṃ panāyye, sakkāyadiṭṭhi na hotī”ti?
“But, lady, how does self-identification view not come about?”
“但是，女士，有身见是如何不产生的？”
♦ “idhāvuso visākha, sutavā ariyasāvako, ariyānaṃ dassāvī ariyadhammassa kovido ariyadhamme suvinīto, sappurisānaṃ dassāvī sappurisadhammassa kovido sappurisadhamme suvinīto, na rūpaṃ attato samanupassati, na rūpavantaṃ vā attānaṃ, na attani vā rūpaṃ, na rūpasmiṃ vā attānaṃ.
“There is the case where a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones—who has regard for noble ones, is well-versed & disciplined in their Dhamma; who has regard for people of integrity, is well-versed & disciplined in their Dhamma— doesn’t assume form to be the self, or the self as possessing form, or form as in the self, or the self as in form.
na viññāṇaṃ attato samanupassati, na viññāṇavantaṃ vā attānaṃ, na attani vā viññāṇaṃ, na viññāṇasmiṃ vā attānaṃ. evaṃ kho, āvuso visākha, sakkāyadiṭṭhi na hotī”ti.
“He doesn’t assume consciousness to be the self, or the self as possessing consciousness, or consciousness as in the self, or the self as in consciousness. This is how self-identification view does not come about.”
“This is the noble eightfold path, friend Visākha: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-remembering, righteous-undistractable-lucidity.”
“And are the three aggregates [of virtue, concentration, & discernment] included under the noble eightfold path, lady, or is the noble eightfold path included under the three aggregates?”
“The three aggregates are not included under the noble eightfold path, friend Visākha, but the noble eightfold path is included under the three aggregates.
“维沙卡朋友，三聚不包含在八圣道中，但八圣道包含在三聚中。
yā cāvuso visākha, sammā-vācā yo ca sammā-kammanto yo ca sammā-ājīvo ime dhammā sīlak-khandhe saṅgahitā.
Right speech, right action, & right livelihood come under the aggregate of virtue.
正语、正业、正命属于戒蕴。
44.3 – (samādhi-khandha)
yo ca sammā-vāyāmo yā ca sammā-sati yo ca sammā-samādhi
“The thought does not occur to a monk as he is attaining the cessation of perception & feeling that ‘I am about to attain the cessation of perception & feeling’ or that ‘I am attaining the cessation of perception & feeling’ or that ‘I have attained the cessation of perception & feeling.’
“But when a monk is attaining the cessation of perception & feeling, which things cease first: bodily fabrications, verbal fabrications, or mental fabrications?”
“但当比丘入想受灭定时，哪些法先停止：身行、语行还是心行？”
“saññāvedayitanirodhaṃ samāpajjantassa kho, āvuso visākha, bhikkhuno paṭhamaṃ nirujjhati vacī-saṅkhāro, tato kāya-saṅkhāro, tato citta-saṅkhāro”ti.
“When a monk is attaining the cessation of perception & feeling, friend Visākha, verbal fabrications cease first, then bodily fabrications, then mental fabrications.”1
“The thought does not occur to a monk as he is emerging from the cessation of perception & feeling that ‘I am about to emerge from the cessation of perception & feeling’ or that ‘I am emerging from the cessation of perception & feeling’ or that ‘I have emerged from the cessation of perception & feeling.’
“But when a monk is emerging from the cessation of perception & feeling, which things arise first: bodily fabrications, verbal fabrications, or mental fabrications?”
“但当比丘从想受灭定出定时，哪些法先生起：身行、语行还是心行？”
“saññāvedayitanirodhasamāpattiyā vuṭṭhahantassa kho, āvuso visākha, bhikkhuno paṭhamaṃ uppajjati citta-saṅkhāro, tato kāya-saṅkhāro, tato vacī-saṅkhāro”ti.
“When a monk is emerging from the cessation of perception & feeling, friend Visākha, mental fabrications arise first, then bodily fabrications, then verbal fabrications.”
“维沙卡朋友，当比丘从想受灭定出定时，心行先生起，然后是身行，然后是语行。”
♦ “saññāvedayitanirodhasamāpattiyā vuṭṭhitaṃ panāyye, bhikkhuṃ kati phassā phusantī”ti?
“When a monk has emerged from the cessation of perception & feeling, lady, how many contacts make contact?”
“When a monk has emerged from the cessation of perception & feeling, friend Visākha, three contacts make contact: contact with emptiness, contact with the signless, & contact with the undirected.”2
“When a monk has emerged from the cessation of perception & feeling, friend Visākha, his mind leans to seclusion, tends to seclusion, inclines to seclusion.”3
“But what is to be abandoned with regard to pleasant feeling? What is to be abandoned with regard to painful feeling? What is to be abandoned with regard to neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling?”
“Is passion-obsession to be abandoned with regard to all pleasant feeling? Is resistance-obsession to be abandoned with regard to all painful feeling? Is ignorance-obsession to be abandoned with regard to all neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling?”
“No .… There is the case where a monk—quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful qualities—enters & remains in the first jhāna: rapture & pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. With that he abandons passion. No passion-obsession gets obsessed there.4
There is the case where a monk considers, ‘O when will I enter & remain in the dimension that those who are noble now enter & remain in?’ And as he thus nurses this yearning for the unexcelled liberations, there arises within him sorrow based on that yearning. With that he abandons resistance. No resistance-obsession gets obsessed there.5
idhāvuso visākha, bhikkhu sukhassa ca pahānā, dukkhassa ca pahānā, pubbeva somanassadomanassānaṃ atthaṅgamā, adukkhamasukhaṃ upekkhāsatipārisuddhiṃ catutthaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati. avijjaṃ tena pajahati, na tattha avijjānusayo anusetī”ti.
There is the case where a monk, with the abandoning of pleasure & pain—as with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress—enters & remains in the fourth jhāna: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain. With that he abandons ignorance. No ignorance-obsession gets obsessed there.”6
“accayāsi, āvuso VAR visākha, pañhaṃ, nāsakkhi pañhānaṃ pariyantaṃ gahetuṃ. nibbānogadhañhi, āvuso visākha, brahmacariyaṃ, nibbānaparāyanaṃ nibbānapariyosānaṃ. ākaṅkhamāno ca tvaṃ, āvuso visākha, bhagavantaṃ upasaṅkamitvā etamatthaṃ puccheyyāsi, yathā ca te bhagavā byākaroti tathā naṃ dhāreyyāsī”ti.
“You’ve gone too far, friend Visākha. You can’t keep holding on up to the limit of questions. For the holy life gains a footing in unbinding, culminates in unbinding, has unbinding as its final end. If you wish, go to the Blessed One and ask him the meaning of these things. Whatever he says, that’s how you should remember it.”
Then Visākha the lay follower, delighting & rejoicing in what Dhammadinnā the nun had said, bowed down to her and, keeping her to his right, went to the Blessed One. On arrival, having bowed down to the Blessed One, he sat to one side. As he was sitting there he told the Blessed One the full extent of the conversation he had had with Dhammadinnā the nun. When this was said, the Blessed One said to him, “Dhammadinnā the nun is wise, Visākha, a woman of great discernment. If you had asked me those things, I would have answered you in the same way she did. That is the meaning of those things. That is how you should remember it.”
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, Visākha the lay follower delighted in the Blessed One’s words.
世尊如是说。居士维沙卡心满意足，对世尊的话感到欢喜。
♦ cūḷavedallasuttaṃ niṭṭhitaṃ catutthaṃ.
(end of sutta)
（经文完）
Notes (Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu)
1. Verbal fabrication grows still on attaining the second jhāna; bodily fabrication grows still on attaining the fourth jhāna; mental fabrication grows still on attaining the cessation of perception & feeling.
2. Emptiness, the signless, & the undirected are names for a state of concentration that lies on the threshold of unbinding. They differ only in how they are approached. According to the commentary, they color one’s first apprehension of unbinding: a meditator who has been focusing on the theme of inconstancy will first apprehend unbinding as signless; one who has been focusing on the theme of stress will first apprehend it as undirected; one who has been focusing on the theme of not-self will first apprehend it as emptiness.
3. According to the commentary, “seclusion” here stands for unbinding. On emerging from the cessation of perception & feeling, and having had contact with emptiness/the signless/the undirected, the mind inclines naturally to a direct experience of unbinding.
4. In other words, once the pleasure of the first jhāna has been used as a basis for giving rise to the discernment that leads to arahantship, the mind has no further passion-obsession with pleasant feeling. (The commentary says that this is true at attainment of non-returning, but this must be a mistake, as non-returners are still subject to passion for form and formless phenomena.)
5. Once this sorrow has been used as a basis for giving rise to the discernment that leads to non-returning, the mind has no further resistance-obsession with painful feeling.
6. Once this feeling of neither pleasure nor pain has been used as a basis for giving rise to the discernment that leads to arahantship, the mind has no further ignorance-obsession with feelings of neither pleasure nor pain.
7. This reading follows the Thai edition of the Pali Canon. The PTS edition gives the first two questions and answers of this exchange as follows:
“Now what, lady, lies on the other side of pleasant feeling?”
“Painful feeling lies on the other side of pleasant feeling.”
“And what lies on the other side of painful feeling?”
“Pleasant feeling lies on the other side of painful feeling.”
For some reason, the editors of neither edition seen to have been aware of the reading in the other edition.
See also: MN 109; MN 111; MN 148; SN 22:121; SN 36:6; SN 36:11; AN 5:200; AN 7:11–12; AN 8:70
end of section [44 – MN 44 cūḷa-vedalla: Shorter Set of Questions & Answers]❧
