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Dasa Pañhā

Kumāra Pañhā The 10 Questions, The Boy's Questions, The Great Questions

References:

BD: See the various "Lessons" in The Pāḷi Line, and
The 10 Questions
The 10 Questions (Graphical presentation of the 10 questions)
ATI: Samanera Pañha — The Novice's Questions, Thanissaro Bhikkhu trans
[AN 10.27 and 28] PTS: The Book of the Gradual Sayings, V: The Book of the Tens, The Great Chapter, The Great Questions, Woodward, trans., pp33ff
WP: The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, Bodhi, trans, pp731n18
PTS: The Minor Readings, Bhikkhu Nanamoli, trans, pp3 and 78ff
[SN 4.41.8]
PTS: Nigantha, IV.206

 


 

Pāḷi MO Hare Horner Punnaji Bodhi Nanamoli Piyadassa Thera Rhys Davids (Mrs)Rhys Davids Thanissaro Walshe Woodward Warren
Dasa Pañhā
Kumāra Pañhā
The Ten Questions The Boy's Questions Questions to be Answered by a Novice The Novices Questions The Great Questions
Āhāra Food. All beings Live on on Food Food food nutriment nutriment Food. All beings subsist on food. support, food support, food Nutriment. All animals live on food nutriment sustenance, helps, nutriment, support, food
Nāma/Rūpa There is Nama and there is Rupa Name and Form, name and form, psychophysicality Entity/Identity mentality/materiality name and form, mentality/materiality Name and Form (mind and matter) Mind and Body, Name and Form Mind and Body, Name and Form Name and Form (mental and physical phenomena) Mind and Body Name and visible body complex
Vedanā The Three Sensations feelings feeling sensation feelings feelings Three Kinds of Feeling feelings feelings The three types of feeling feelings feelings
Cattāri Ariya Saccāni The Quartered Aristocratic Truth, The Four Truths the four ariyan truths the four ariyan truths The Four Extra-Ordinary Truths The Four Noble Truths The Four Noble Truths Four Noble Truths The Four [Aryan] Ariyan Truths The Four Ariyan Truths The Four Noble Truths Four Noble Truths The Four sustenances, the Four Satipatthanas[1]
Pañc'Upādāna Kkhandhā The Five Stockpiles of Existance The Five Khandhas of Attachment The Five Groups of Grasping The Five Aggregates The Five Aggregates affected by clinging The Five categories of what is affected by clinging, The Five Aggregates affected by clinging Five Aggrigates Subject to Grasping The Five Aggregates, Groups that arise from Grasping The Five Aggregates, Groups that arise from Grasping The Five Aggrigates, five aggregates for clinging/sustenance The Five Aggregates of Grasping The five grasping heaps; five faculties
Saḷāyatana The Realm of the Senses The Six Bases of Sensory Impression Fields of Sense Experience The Sixfold Base six bases in oneself Internal Six-fold Base Sense The Six Internal Sense Media (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind) The Six Sense Bases The Six Spheres in the Self (salayatana); the six elements of deliverance (chasu nissara.niiyesu dhaatuusu)
Satta Sambojjhangā The Seven Dimensions of Awakening One's Own Wisdom, The Seven Dimensions of Self-Awakening Parts in Awakening the seven links in awakening Seven Components in the Process of Awakening the seven enlightenment factors the seven enlightenment factors Seven Factors of Enlightenment the Seven Factors of Enlightenment The Seven Factors of Awakening (mindfulness, analysis of qualities, persistance, rapture, serenity, concentration, equanimity) The Seven Factors of Enlightonment The Seven Stations of Consciousness, The Seven Limbs of Wisdom
Ariya Aṭṭhangika Magga Aristocratic Multidimensional Way, The Eight-Dimensional Way Ariyan Eightfold Way ariyan Eightfold Way Extra-ordinary Eightfold Way Noble Eightfold Path Noble Eightfold Path The Noble Eightfold Path Ariyan [Aryan] Eightfold Path Ariyan Eightfold Path The noble eightfold path Noble Eightfold Path The Eight Worldly Conditions, The Ariyan Eightfold Path, Way
Nava Sattavasa The Nine Habits [Habitats] of Beings Nine abodes of creatures Nine Abodes of Beings The Nine Abodes for Beings The Nine Abodes of Beings
Dasah'Angehi Samannagato Araha Ti Pavuccati The 10 Dimensions of Arahantship He that is endowed with ten factors is declared an Arahant He that is endowed with 10 Attributes is called an Arahant The 10 qualities of the Arahant Wrong-action-paths, Arahant's ten qualities[2]
Sammattam Having attained Devine Madness, a High Measure of Madness (understanding this to mean understanding things as they really are, considered madness by the world) attaining to rightness ?Rightly comprehend the meaning of things

 


 

Various Manners of Putting the Questions

Woodward [As Bhikkhus should put the questions to other Wanderers to confound them when they are being arrogant and suggesting that they have as much understanding as a Buddha. The whole idea in back of these questions is that the respondant is not only to be familiar with the Dhamma, but also to be able to understand the intent of the questioner ... i.e., have a certain amount of psychic power.]:
"The one question, the one statement, the one explanation; the two...etc"
[Then, to the Bhikkhus, in explanation]
"Monks, if in one thing a monk rightly feel revulsion, rightly feel fading interest (in the world), rightly be released, rightly have sight to the furthest bounds and rightly comprehend the meaning of things,then in this same visible state he makes an end of Ill."
[Then, in the following sutta, as taught by the Bhikkhuni of Kajangala]
"If in" ... "things, worthy sirs, a monk has rightly made good growth of mind, if rightly he have sight to the furthest bounds and rightly comprehend the aim (in things), thenin this same visible state he makes an end of Ill.
-- Book of the Tens vii (27)

As I put it:
EKA NAMA KIM? What is One?
What One [etc] Concept, when seen to the Root with Penetrating Knowledge, and understood to the broadest limits, such that their repellant nature is seen as it really is and one has released them in their entirety, [sometimes inserting: ...and after attaining a high degree of madness", or "and after attaining devine madness"] can bring one to the Uttermost Freedom of Detachment?

Person to person I usually suggest that one learn at least the first question so that when reaching the end of one's journey and being hauled off to Yama, Lord of Judgment, and being asked by him: "Well hombre, didja loin anythin when you vas dare?" one could at lease answer "Yasa, yaso sir! I lointa one thing!" An when Yama sa: "Ant watwatzat, prey tell?" "What is One? Ahara! All Beings Live On, On Food." ... Now how could Yama react with anything other than respect for that all-encompassing bit of wisdom? And one may have, by that, saved one's ... but let us not speak of that.

 


[1]Woodward has two versions of the 10 questions to deal with, one said to have been spoken by the Buddha as advise on how to deal with the question of what he taught asked by outsiders, and the other as taught by the nun of Kajangala. Gradual Sayings, V.10s, The Great Chapter #s 27 & 28, pp 33ff.

[2]The two sets of questions differ here in that the first (supposedly the Buddha's version) states the answer in the negative: "the 10 wrong ways of action," (not given in detail), footnoted by Woodward, quoting Netti, 43, as "The wrong actions of the first four precepts, with three of speech, coveting, harmfulness and wrong view." I think this is probably a mistake and that the way it is put by the Nun is more likely to have been the original, that is, in the positive, and following the 8-fold path with the addition of knowledge and freedom. Maybe not, as long as the idea of wrong view is there this does in fact produce a path to the way out, it's just not as elegant as ending with the Magga in it's 10-fold aspect. Re-inforcing the idea that the likely answer is the 10-fold Magga is the fact that in this version the answer to the fourth question is the four foods, not the four truths, and the answer to the eighth question is the eight worldly conditions, not the eightfold path, so without the Magga here, there is no mention of the Magga or Four Truths at all. This actually may represent an "older than Buddhism" version of the 10 questions.

Here is a comparative chart included in Woodward's version:

I (KhP.).

II (A.v, 50)

III (The Nun, p. 56)

All beings persist by food

The same.

The same.

Name and visible body-complex

The same

The same

Three knowings by sensation

The same

The same

The four truths

Four sustenances

Four satipaṭṭhānā

Five grasping-groups

The same

Five faculties

Six spheres in the self

The same

Six elements of deliverance

Seven limbs of wisdom

Seven stations of consciousness

Seven limbs of wisdom

The eightfold Way

Eight world-conditions (A.iv, 156)

The eightfold Way

Nine abodes of beings

The same

The same

Arahant's ten qualities

Good-action-paths

Arahant's ten qualities

 


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