Saṃyutta Nikāya
3. Khandha Vagga
22. Khandha Saṃyutta
7. Arahatta Vagga
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
3. The Book Called the Khandhā-Vagga
Containing Kindred Sayings on the Elements of Sensory Existence and other Subjects
22. Kindred Sayings on Elements
7. On the Arahant
Sutta 68
Anattā Suttaṃ
No Self
Translated by F. L. Woodward
Edited by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Copyright The Pali Text Society
Commercial Rights Reserved
For details see Terms of Use.
The Exalted One was staying at Sāvatthī.
Then a certain brother came to the Exalted One, saluted him and sat down at one side.
So seated that brother thus addressed the Exalted One:
"Well for me, lord, if the Exalted One would teach me a doctrine,
so that hearing the doctrine of the Exalted One
I might dwell solitary,
secluded,
zealous,
ardent
and aspiring."
No self. Please do not mistake this for saying that there is no self! In English this means that such and such is not the self. The Pali is anatta: not-self.
— p.p.
"For that which is no self, brother,
you must put away desire."
"I understand, Exalted One!
I understand, Well-farer!"
"But how, brother, do you understand in full
that which I said concisely?"
"Body, lord, is no self.
I must put away desire for that.
Feeling, lord, is no self.
I must put away desire for that.
Perception, lord, is no self.
I must put away desire for that.
The activites, lord, are no self.
I must put away desire for that.
Consciousness, lord, is no self.
I must put away desire for that.
That is how I understand in full
what was concisely spoken by the Exalted One."
"Well said!
Well said, brother!
Well indeed do you understand in full
the meaning of what I said concisely.
Body, brother, is indeed no self.
You must put away desire for that.
Feeling, brother, is no self.
You must put away desire for that.
Perception, brother, is no self.
You must put away desire for that.
The activites, brother, are no self.
You must put away desire for that.
Consciousness, brother, is no self.
You must put away desire for that.
That is how, brother, the meaning of what I said concisely
is to be understood in full."
Thereupon that brother gladly heard the words of the Exalted One
and welcomed them,
and he rose from his seat,
saluted the Exalted One
and departed.
Thereafter that brother,
dwelling solitary,
secluded,
zealous,
ardent
and aspiring,
in no long time
attained that goal supreme of the righteous life,
to win which the clansmen rightly go forth from home to the homeless,
so that in that very life
of himself
he fully understood it,
realized it
and abode therein,
and knew:
"Destroyed is rebirth,
lived is the righteous life,
done is the task,
for life in these conditions there is no hereafter."
So that brother was yet another of the Arahants.
