Anguttara Nikaya
4. Catukkanipata
III. Uruvelā Vaggo
Sutta 24
Kalaka Sutta
At Kalaka's Park
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For free distribution only.
[1][pts][bodh] On one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Saketa at Kalaka's park.||
There he addressed the monks:||
"Monks!"
"Yes, lord," the monks responded.
The Blessed One said:||
"Monks, whatever in the cosmos||
— with its devas, Maras, and Brahmas,||
its generations with their contemplatives and priests||
royalty and common people —||
is seen, heard, sensed, cognized,||
attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect:||
That do I know.
Whatever in the cosmos||
— with its devas, Maras, and Brahmas,||
its generations with their contemplatives and priests,||
their royalty and common people —||
is seen, heard, sensed, cognized,||
attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect:||
That I directly know.
That has been realized by the Tathagata,||
but in the Tathagata[1] it has not been established.[2]
"If I were to say,||
'I don't know whatever in the cosmos ...||
is seen, heard, sensed, cognized ...||
pondered by the intellect,'||
that would be a falsehood in me.
If I were to say,||
'I both know and don't know whatever in the cosmos ...||
is seen, heard, sensed, cognized ...||
pondered by the intellect,'||
that would be just the same.
If I were to say,||
'I neither know nor don't know whatever in the cosmos ...||
is seen, heard, sensed, cognized ...||
pondered by the intellect,'||
that would be a fault in me.
"Thus, monks, the Tathagata,||
when seeing what is to be seen,||
doesn't construe an [object as] seen.||
He doesn't construe an unseen.||
He doesn't construe an [object] to-be-seen.||
He doesn't construe a seer.
"When hearing....
"When sensing....
"When cognizing what is to be cognized,||
he doesn't construe an [object as] cognized.
He doesn't construe an uncognized.
He doesn't construe an [object] to-be-cognized.
He doesn't construe a cognizer.
Thus, monks, the Tathagata||
— being the same with regard to all phenomena||
that can be seen, heard, sensed, and cognized —||
is 'Such.'
And I tell you:||
There's no other 'Such'||
higher or more sublime.
"Whatever is seen or heard or sensed
and fastened onto as true by others,
One who is Such — among the self-fettered —
wouldn't further claim to be true or even false.
"Having seen well in advance that arrow
where generations are fastened and hung
— 'I know, I see, that's just how it is!' —
there's nothing of the Tathagata fastened."
[1] Reading tathagate with the Thai edition.
[2] I.e., the Tathagata hasn't taken a stance on it.
References:
MN 2
MN 58
MN 63
MN 72
AN X.93
AN X.94
AN X.95
AN X.96
Ud I.10
Ud VIII.1.
