Saṃyutta Nikāya
5. Mahā-Vagga
48. Indriya Saṃyutta
6. Sūkara-Khata Vagga
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
5. The Great Chapter
48. Kindred Sayings on the Faculties
6. Untitled
Sutta 57
Brahmā Suttaṃ
Brahmā[1]
Translated by F. L. Woodward
Edited by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Copyright The Pali Text Society
Commercial Rights Reserved
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[1] THUS have I heard:
Thus have I heard: On a certain occasion the Exalted One was staying at Uruvelā,
on the bank of the river Nerañjarā,
under the Goatherds' Banyan,
just after his attainment of perfect enlightenment.
[208] Now in the Exalted One, when he had retired to his solitary communing,
there arose this mental reflection:
"There are five controlling faculties which,
cultivated and made much of,
plunge into the Deathless,
have their end and goal in the Deathless.
What five?
The controlling faculty of faith,
if cultivated and made much of,
plunges into the Deathless,
has its end in the Deathless,
has its goal in the Deathless.
The controlling faculty of energy
if cultivated and made much of,
plunges into the Deathless,
has its end in the Deathless,
has its goal in the Deathless.
The controlling faculty of mindfulness
if cultivated and made much of,
plunges into the Deathless,
has its end in the Deathless,
has its goal in the Deathless.
The controlling faculty of concentration
if cultivated and made much of,
plunges into the Deathless,
has its end in the Deathless,
has its goal in the Deathless.
The controlling faculty of insight
if cultivated and made much of,
plunges into the Deathless,
has its end in the Deathless,
has its goal in the Deathless.
These five,
if cultivated and made much of,
plunge into the Deathless,
have their end and goal in the Deathless."
§
Then Brahmā Sahampati,
reading with his mind
the mental reflection of the Exalted One, -
just as a strong man might stretch out his bent arm
or bend his outstretched arm, -
even so did Brahmā Sahampati vanish from the Brahma World
and appear before the Exalted One.
Then did Brahmā Sahampati,
throwing his outer robe over one shoulder,
stretch out his folded palms towards the Exalted One
and thus address him:
"Even so, Exalted One!
Even so, O Happy One!
These five controlling faculties,
if cultivated and made much of,
plunge into the Deathless,
have their end in the Deathless,
have their goal in the Deathless.
What five?
The controlling faculty of faith,
if cultivated and made much of,
plunges into the Deathless,
has its end in the Deathless,
has its goal in the Deathless.
The controlling faculty of energy
if cultivated and made much of,
plunges into the Deathless,
has its end in the Deathless,
has its goal in the Deathless.
The controlling faculty of mindfulness
if cultivated and made much of,
plunges into the Deathless,
has its end in the Deathless,
has its goal in the Deathless.
The controlling faculty of concentration
if cultivated and made much of,
plunges into the Deathless,
has its end in the Deathless,
has its goal in the Deathless.
The controlling faculty of insight
if cultivated and made much of,
plunges into the Deathless,
has its end in the Deathless,
has its goal in the Deathless.
These five,
if cultivated and made much of,
plunge into the Deathless,
have their end and goal in the Deathless.
Once upon a time, sir,
when Kassapa was the supremely Enlightened One,
I was practising the holy life.
Men knew me then as Sahaka the monk.[2]
Then it was, sir, that by cultivating and making much of
these five controlling faculties,[3]
and by restraining[4] sensual lust in things of sense,
on the breaking up of body,
I was reborn in the Happy World after death,
in the Brahma-World.
Thereafter men knew me as Brahma Sahampati,
Brahma Sahampati!
So it is, Exalted One!
So it is, O Happy One!
I know it!
I see it, - that these five controlling faculties,
if cultivated and made much of,
do plunge into the Deathless,
do end and have their goal in the Deathless."
deus ex māchinā: an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as a contrived plot device in a play or novel.
— p.p.
[1] As in the two passages above, and often elsewhere, the Master's ideas are confirmed by the appearance of Brahma (deus ex māchinā).
[2] As at K.S. i, 172 n. (according to Comy.).
[3] In like manner Maghavā (Sakka, the Buddhist Indra) reached lordship of the deva-world by cultivating the quahty of appamāda (of previous section). Cf. Dhp. 30.
[4] Cf. SnA. 213 (virājeṭvā = vinetvā).
