Aṇguttara Nikāya
Catukka Nipāta
XVIII: Sañcetaniya Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
The Book of the Fours
Chapter XVIII: Intentional
Sutta 173
Sāriputta - Paṭisambhidā Suttaṃ
Analysis[1]
Translated from the Pali by f. L. Woodward, M.A.
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[1] Thus have I heard:
"Then the venerable Sāriputta addressed the monks, saying,
"Your reverences."
[167] "Yes, your reverence,"
replied those monks
to the venerable Sāriputta.
The venerable Sāriputta said this:
"Your reverences, when I had been six months ordained a monk,
I grasped the analysis of meanings,
specifically
and according to the letter.[2]
That I explain in various ways,
I teach it,
expound it,
proclaim it,
lay it down,
open it up,
analyse it
and make it clear.
If anyone has a doubt or perplexity,
then what is the use of his questioning
and my explaining,[3]
when here is the Teacher
face to face with us,
he who is to us the well-skilled in things?[4]
Your reverences, when I had been six months ordained a monk,
I grasped the analysis of conditions,
specifically
and according to the letter.
That I explain in various ways,
I teach it,
expound it,
proclaim it,
lay it down,
open it up,
analyse it
and make it clear.
If anyone has a doubt or perplexity,
then what is the use of his questioning
and my explaining,
when here face to face with us
is the Teacher,
who is to us the well-skilled in things?
Your reverences, when I had been six months ordained a monk
I grasped the analysis of definitions,
specifically
and according to the letter.
That I explain in various ways,
I teach it,
expound it,
proclaim it,
lay it down,
open it up,
analyse it
and make it clear.
If anyone has a doubt or perplexity,
then what is the use of his questioning
and my explaining,
when here face to face with us
is the Teacher,
who is to us the well-skilled in things?
Your reverences, when I had been six months ordained a monk
I grasped the analysis of intellect,
specifically
and according to the letter.
That I explain in various ways,
I teach it,
expound it,
proclaim it,
lay it down,
open it up,
analyse it
and make it clear.
If anyone has a doubt or perplexity,
then what is the use of his questioning
and my explaining,
when here face to face with us
is the Teacher,
who is to us the well-skilled in things?
[1] The four branches of analytical knowledge - viz., of meanings (attha), of conditions (dhammā), of definitions (nirutti), of intellect (paṭibhāna).
[2] Odhiso (and vyañjanaso); the former word (limit) means 'within bounds,' 'limited to a particular sense.' Anodhiso = 'speaking generally.' Cf. UdA. 214 (eka-vacanena). Here Comy. expl. both as kāra-naso and akkharaso.
[3] So maṃ pañhena, ahaṃ veyyākaraṇena. (There is no verb here. Comy. supplies upagacchatu and cittaṃ āradhessāmi.) Cf. the similar forcible ellipse at S. iii, 108, Ahaṃ ovādena. Ahayṃ anuggahena. Ahaṃ anusāsaniyā, said to Tissa. Here Comy. supplies a verb, uggṇanhāmi. I think it highly probable, as Mrs. Rhys Davids suggests (Sakya, 336-7), that this idiom has the meaning of 'What is the use of when ...?'
[4] Dhammānaṃ sukusalo. This is like the often repeated phrase, Bhagavammūlakā no dhamma. Cf. S. ii, 24, 80, 198, etc. Comy. here supposes the Master to be present and to have requested S. to instruct the company.
