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Who Counts as a Genuine Practitioner?

MN 11, the Cūḷasīhanāda Sutta — set 5, Advanced and Reference Texts

Reading time: about 11 min · 1,845 words

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Before you read

"Only here is there a true renunciant." The claim is deliberately provocative, and the Buddha raises the obvious objection himself: other traditions say exactly the same thing about themselves. So what actually makes the difference?

The answer is a test rather than an assertion. Can a teaching account for all four ways of taking things personally — sensuality, views, habits and observances, and doctrines of self? A teaching that misses that last one leaves its own followers holding the very thing it claims to free them from.

It is a short text about how to evaluate a claim, which makes it an unlikely but real companion to AN 3.65 back at the start of this reading order.

Translation

The Setting

So I heard.

At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī, in Jeta's Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery.

There the Buddha addressed the bhikkhus: "Bhikkhus."

"Bhadante," the bhikkhus replied.

The Buddha said this:

The Lion's Roar

"Bhikkhus, only here is there a recluse; only here a second recluse; only here a third recluse; only here a fourth recluse. Other schools are empty of recluses.

Bhikkhus, that is how you should rightly roar your lion's roar.

What Others Will Ask

Bhikkhus, wanderers of other schools may say: 'And on what confidence, on what strength, do the venerable ones say this — that only here is there a recluse, only here a second, only here a third, only here a fourth, and that other schools are empty of recluses?'

Wanderers of other schools who speak that way should be told: 'Friends, four things have been declared by the Buddha, who knows and sees, the arahant, the fully awakened one, and it is because we see them in ourselves that we speak this way.

What four?

Friends, we have confidence in the Teacher, we have confidence in the Dhamma, we fulfil the precepts, and our companions in the Dhamma are dear and agreeable to us — both those who live at home and those who have gone forth.

Friends, these are the four things declared by the Buddha, who knows and sees, the arahant, the fully awakened one, and it is because we see them in ourselves that we speak this way.'

When They Claim the Same

Bhikkhus, wanderers of other schools may say: 'Friends, we too have confidence in the Teacher — our own Teacher. We too have confidence in the Dhamma — our own Dhamma. We too fulfil the precepts — our own precepts. Our companions in the Dhamma are dear and agreeable to us too, both those who live at home and those who have gone forth. So what is the distinction here, friends, what is the difference, what sets you and us apart?'

Wanderers of other schools who speak that way should be told: 'Friends, is the goal one, or are there many goals?'

Answering rightly, bhikkhus, wanderers of other schools would answer: 'Friends, the goal is one, not many.'

'And is that goal for someone with passion, friends, or for someone free of passion?'

Answering rightly, they would answer: 'That goal is for someone free of passion, friends, not for someone with passion.'

'And is that goal for someone with aversion, or for someone free of aversion?'

Answering rightly, they would answer: 'That goal is for someone free of aversion, friends, not for someone with aversion.'

'And is that goal for someone with delusion, or for someone free of delusion?'

Answering rightly, they would answer: 'That goal is for someone free of delusion, friends, not for someone with delusion.'

'And is that goal for someone with ignorant wanting, or for someone free of ignorant wanting?'

Answering rightly, they would answer: 'That goal is for someone free of ignorant wanting, friends, not for someone with ignorant wanting.'

'And is that goal for someone who takes things personally, or for someone who does not?'

Answering rightly, they would answer: 'That goal is for someone who does not take things personally, friends, not for someone who does.'

'And is that goal for someone who understands, or for someone who does not?'

Answering rightly, they would answer: 'That goal is for someone who understands, friends, not for someone who does not.'

'And is that goal for someone who favours and opposes, or for someone who does neither?'

Answering rightly, they would answer: 'That goal is for someone who neither favours nor opposes, friends, not for someone who does.'

'And is that goal for someone who enjoys and delights in proliferation, or for someone who enjoys and delights in non-proliferation?'

Answering rightly, they would answer: 'That goal is for someone who enjoys and delights in non-proliferation, friends, not for someone who enjoys and delights in proliferation.'

The Two Views

There are these two views, bhikkhus: the view of becoming and the view of non-becoming.

Any recluses or brahmins who cleave to the view of becoming, who have gone over to it and hold to it, are opposed to the view of non-becoming.

Any recluses or brahmins who cleave to the view of non-becoming, who have gone over to it and hold to it, are opposed to the view of becoming.

Any recluses or brahmins who do not discern, as they have come to be, the arising, the vanishing, the gratification, the danger, and the escape of these two views — they have passion, they have aversion, they have delusion, they have ignorant wanting, they take things personally, they do not understand, they favour and oppose, they enjoy and delight in proliferation. They are not freed from birth, ageing, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, dissatisfaction, distress, and despair. They are not freed from dissatisfaction, I say.

Any recluses or brahmins who do discern, as they have come to be, the arising, the vanishing, the gratification, the danger, and the escape of these two views — they are free of passion, free of aversion, free of delusion, free of ignorant wanting, they do not take things personally, they understand, they neither favour nor oppose, they enjoy and delight in non-proliferation. They are freed from birth, ageing, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, dissatisfaction, distress, and despair. They are freed from dissatisfaction, I say.

The Four Kinds of Taking Personally

There are these four kinds of taking personally, bhikkhus.

What four?

Taking sensuality personally, taking views personally, taking habits and observances personally, and taking self-doctrine personally.

There are some recluses and brahmins, bhikkhus, who claim to teach the full understanding of all taking personally. They do not rightly describe the full understanding of all taking personally: they describe the full understanding of taking sensuality personally, but not of taking views personally, not of taking habits and observances personally, not of taking self-doctrine personally.

Why is that?

Because those good recluses and brahmins do not discern three of these as they have come to be. So although they claim to teach the full understanding of all taking personally, they do not rightly describe it.

There are some recluses and brahmins who claim to teach the full understanding of all taking personally. They describe the full understanding of taking sensuality personally and of taking views personally, but not of taking habits and observances personally, not of taking self-doctrine personally.

Why is that?

Because those good recluses and brahmins do not discern two of these as they have come to be.

There are some recluses and brahmins who claim to teach the full understanding of all taking personally. They describe the full understanding of taking sensuality personally, of taking views personally, and of taking habits and observances personally, but not of taking self-doctrine personally.

Why is that?

Because those good recluses and brahmins do not discern one of these as it has come to be.

Why Confidence There Does Not Lead Anywhere

Bhikkhus, in a Dhamma and discipline like that, confidence in the Teacher is said not to be rightly directed; confidence in the Dhamma is said not to be rightly directed; fulfilment of the precepts is said not to be rightly directed; and fondness for companions in the Dhamma is said not to be rightly directed.

Why is that?

Because, bhikkhus, that is what happens in a Dhamma and discipline badly declared, badly proclaimed, not leading out, not conducive to peace, not declared by a fully awakened one.

But the Tathāgata, bhikkhus, the arahant, the fully awakened one, claiming to teach the full understanding of all taking personally, does rightly describe it: he describes the full understanding of taking sensuality personally, of taking views personally, of taking habits and observances personally, and of taking self-doctrine personally.

Bhikkhus, in a Dhamma and discipline like that, confidence in the Teacher is said to be rightly directed; confidence in the Dhamma is said to be rightly directed; fulfilment of the precepts is said to be rightly directed; and fondness for companions in the Dhamma is said to be rightly directed.

Why is that?

Because, bhikkhus, that is what happens in a Dhamma and discipline well declared, well proclaimed, leading out, conducive to peace, declared by a fully awakened one.

Where They Come From

And these four kinds of taking personally, bhikkhus — what is their source? What is their origin? What are they born from? What produces them?

Ignorant wanting is their source, ignorant wanting is their origin; they are born from ignorant wanting, and ignorant wanting produces them.

And this ignorant wanting, bhikkhus — what is its source? What is its origin? What is it born from? What produces it?

Felt experience is its source, felt experience is its origin; it is born from felt experience, and felt experience produces it.

And this felt experience, bhikkhus — what is its source? What is its origin? What is it born from? What produces it?

Contact is its source, contact is its origin; it is born from contact, and contact produces it.

And this contact, bhikkhus — what is its source? What is its origin? What is it born from? What produces it?

The six fields of experience are its source, the six fields of experience are its origin; it is born from the six fields of experience, and the six fields of experience produce it.

And these six fields of experience, bhikkhus — what is their source? What is their origin? What are they born from? What produces them?

Name-and-form is their source, name-and-form is their origin; they are born from name-and-form, and name-and-form produces them.

And this name-and-form, bhikkhus — what is its source? What is its origin? What is it born from? What produces it?

Knowing is its source, knowing is its origin; it is born from knowing, and knowing produces it.

And this knowing, bhikkhus — what is its source? What is its origin? What is it born from? What produces it?

Putting things together is its source, putting things together is its origin; it is born from putting things together, and putting things together produces it.

And this putting things together, bhikkhus — what is its source? What is its origin? What is it born from? What produces it?

Ignorance is its source, ignorance is its origin; it is born from ignorance, and ignorance produces it.

When Ignorance Is Given Up

When a bhikkhu has given up ignorance, bhikkhus, and clear knowledge has arisen, then with the fading of ignorance and the arising of clear knowledge they no longer take sensuality personally, no longer take views personally, no longer take habits and observances personally, no longer take self-doctrine personally.

Not taking anything personally, they are not agitated. Not agitated, they personally reach final nibbāna.

They discern: 'Birth is worn away, the spiritual life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more of this state of being.'"

That is what the Buddha said. Those bhikkhus were glad and welcomed what the Buddha had said.

The Cūḷasīhanāda Sutta, the first, is finished.

Words used in this translation (25)
arahant
Someone who has completed the path and has nothing further to do. Left untranslated; "saint" and "perfected one" both mislead.
aversion
One of the three "roots" behind unwholesome action, alongside greed and delusion -- the pushback against what's unwanted or unpleasant.
becoming
This project's rendering of "bhava" -- the settling of experience into a way of being that feels like somebody being something. Often translated "existence."
bhikkhu
A Buddhist monk -- someone who has left household life to practise full time. Left untranslated because "monk" carries centuries of unrelated European associations.
bhikkhus
Buddhist monks -- those who have left household life to practise full time. The Buddha's usual way of addressing the assembly, roughly "friends" in force.
birth
This project's rendering of "jāti": birth, coming into being. In the dependent-arising sequence, ageing and dying depend on it. In MN 141 the word appears once in its everyday sense instead, in a simile about a mother.
contact
This project's rendering of "phassa" -- the meeting of a sense, its object, and the knowing of it. A technical link in the dependent-arising sequence, not physical touch specifically.
delusion
One of the three "roots" behind unwholesome action, alongside greed and aversion -- the confusion that keeps you from seeing what's actually happening.
Dhamma
The Buddha's teaching taken as a whole -- both what he taught and the way things actually are, which the teaching describes.
dissatisfaction
This translation's rendering of "dukkha," the Buddhist term for the unsatisfying, unstable quality of ordinary experience. Often translated "suffering," but that can sound more dramatic than the everyday sense of things not quite being right.
escape
This project's rendering of "nissaraṇa". It is the real way out of whatever the text is discussing, unlike the false escapes an untrained mind reaches for. In SN 36.6 the escape is from being stuck in a feeling; in Ud 8.3 it is from everything born, made, and conditioned.
fading
The fading away of attraction and investment in experience, as passion cools.
felt experience
This project's rendering of "vedanā", often translated "feeling". It is the immediate pleasant, painful, or mixed tone of an experience, before any story we build on top of it.
final nibbāna
The final-completion use of nibbāna language. It is not a synonym for death, annihilation, or heaven.
gratification
This project's rendering of "assāda": the real satisfaction something offers, which is why people hold on to it. The texts pair it with that thing's danger and the escape from it, so you see all three together.
ignorance
This project's rendering of "avijjā" -- not general stupidity, but specifically not seeing how dissatisfaction works and how it ends. The first link in the dependent-arising sequence.
ignorant wanting
Wanting something you can't have right now. This project's rendering of "taṇhā", often translated "craving". We call it ignorant because it comes from not seeing clearly; ordinary, sensible wanting is something else.
knowing
This project's rendering of "viññāṇa" (often translated "consciousness") -- bare awareness of an object through one of the senses or the mind.
name-and-form
The mental and physical sides of experience taken together: roughly, whatever you can name plus whatever has shape. One link in the dependent-arising sequence.
putting things together
This project's rendering of "saṅkhāra": the ongoing activity of assembling experience, and also what that activity assembles. Context shows which of the two the text means. Other translations often say "formations" or "fabrications", which this project avoids as needlessly opaque.
recluses
This project's rendering of "samaṇa": people who left ordinary working life to practise full time. They belonged to any of the traditions of the period, not only this one.
six fields of experience
The six channels through which you experience anything at all: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking. Other translations often say "sense bases".
spiritual life
The Buddhist path of practice as a whole -- not just a set of beliefs, but a whole way of living.
taking personally
This project's rendering of "upādāna" -- treating some piece of experience as "me" or "mine" and holding on to it. Usually translated "clinging" or "attachment."
Tathāgata
A title for the Buddha, traditionally left untranslated. It means roughly "the one who has arrived at things as they truly are."
Source and corrections