Aṇguttara Nikāya
Catukka Nipāta
XVIII: Sañcetaniya Vagga
Sutta 174 [DTO 173]
Kotthita Sutta
To Kotthita
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Proofed against and modified in accordance with the revised edition at dhammatalks.org
For free distribution only.
[1][pts][olds] Then Ven. Maha Kotthita went to Ven. Sāriputta and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with him.
After an exchange of friendly greetings and courtesies, he sat to one side.
As he was sitting there, he said to Ven. Sāriputta,
"With the remainderless fading and cessation
of the six contact-media
[vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and intellection]
is it the case that there is anything else?"
[Sāriputta:] "Don't say that, my friend."
[Maha Kotthita:] "With the remainderless fading and cessation
of the six contact-media,
is it the case that there is not anything else?"
[Sāriputta:] "Don't say that, my friend."
[Maha Kotthita:] "With the remainderless fading and cessation
of the six contact-media,
is it the case that there both is and is not anything else?"
[Sāriputta:] "Don't say that, my friend."
[Maha Kotthita:] "With the remainderless fading and cessation
of the six contact-media,
is it the case that there neither is nor is not anything else?"
[Sāriputta:] "Don't say that, my friend."
[2][pts][olds] [Maha Kotthita:] "Being asked if, with the remainderless fading and cessation
of the six contact-media,
there is anything else, you say,
'Don't say that, my friend.'
Being asked if, with the remainderless fading and cessation
of the six contact-media,
there is not anything else, you say,
'Don't say that, my friend.'
Being asked if, with the remainderless fading and cessation
of the six contact-media,
there both is and is not anything else, you say,
'Don't say that, my friend.'
Being asked if, with the remainderless fading and cessation
of the six contact-media,
there neither is nor is not anything else, you say,
'Don't say that, my friend.'
Now, how is the meaning of your words to be understood?"
[3][pts][olds] [Sāriputta:] "The statement,
'With the remainderless fading and cessation of the six contact-media
is it the case that there is anything else?'
objectifies the non-objectified.[1]
The statement,
'With the remainderless fading and cessation
of the six contact-media
is it the case that there is not anything else?'
objectifies the non-objectified.
The statement,
'With the remainderless fading and cessation
of the six contact-media
is it the case that there both is and is not anything else?'
objectifies the non-objectified.
The statement,
'With the remainderless fading and cessation
of the six contact-media
is it the case that there neither is nor is not anything else?'
objectifies the non-objectified.
However far the six contact-media go,
that is how far objectification goes.
However far objectification goes,
that is how far the six contact media go.
With the remainderless fading and cessation of the six contact-media,
there comes to be the cessation of objectification,
the stilling of objectification."
[1] "Objectification" is a translation of papañca. Although in some circles papañca has come to mean a proliferation of thinking, in the Canon it refers not to the amount of thinking, but to a type of thinking marked by the classifications and perceptions it uses. As Sn 4:14 points out, the root of the classifications and perceptions of objectification is the thought, "I am the thinker." This thought forms the motivation for the questions that Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita is presenting here: the sense of "I am the thinker" can cause either fear or desire for annihilation in the course of unbinding. Both sense of compunctions get in the way of the abandoning of clinging, which is essential for the attainment of unbinding, which is why the questions should not be asked.
DN 21 and MN 18 discuss the relationship between objectification and conflict. SN 43 lists non-objectification as one of many epithets for unbinding.
Of Related Interest:
DN 15;
MN 49;
SN 4:19;
SN 35:23;
SN 35:117;
SN 43;
AN 4:42;
AN 8:30
