Aṅguttara-Nikāya
III. Tika Nipāta
VI. Brāhmaṇa Vagga
The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha
III. The Book of the Threes
The Second Fifty
I. Brahmins
Sutta 59
Jāṇussoṇi Suttaṁ
Jāṇussoṇi
Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi.
© 2012 Bhikkhu Bodhi
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[1][pts] Then the brahmin Jāṇussoṇi approached the Blessed One ... and said to him:
"Master Gotama, whoever has a sacrifice, a memorial meal, an offering dish, or something to be given should give the gift to brahmins who are masters of the threefold knowledge."
[The Blessed One said:]
"But how, brahmin, do the brahmins describe a brahmin who is a master of the threefold knowledge?"
"Here, Master Gotama, a brahmin is well born on both sides ... [as in 3:58] ... and [skilled]
in the marks of a great man.
It is in this way that the brahmins describe a master of the threefold knowledge."
Brahmin, a master of the threefold knowledge in the Noble One's discipline is quite different from the one that the brahmins describe."
"But in what way, Master Gotama, is one a master of the threefold knowledge in the Noble One's discipline?
It would be good if Master Gotama would teach me the Dhamma in such [261] a way as to make clear how one is a master of the threefold knowledge in the Noble One's discipline."
"Well then, brahmin, listen and attend closely.
I will speak."
"Yes, sir," the brahmin Jāṇussoṇireplied.
The Blessed One said this:
"Here, brahmin, secluded from sensual pleasures ... [all as in 3:58, down to]
[167]... This is the third true knowledge attained by him.
Ignorance is dispelled, true knowledge has arisen; darkness is dispelled, light has arisen, as happens when one dwells heedful, ardent, and resolute."
Possessing virtue and observances,
resolute, concentrated,
his mind mastered,
one-pointed, well concentrated;
one who knows his past abodes
and sees heaven and the plane of misery;
the sage consummate in direct knowledge,
who has reached the end of birth:
[168] by possessing these three knowledges
one is a triple-knowledge brahmin.
I call him a triple-knowledge master,
not the other who utters incantations.
"It is in this way, brahmin, that one is a master of the threefold knowledge in the Noble One's discipline."
"A master of the threefold knowledge in the Noble One's discipline, Master Gotama, is quite different from a master of the threefold knowledge according to the brahmins.
And a master of the threefold knowledge according to the brahmins is not worth a sixteenth part of a master of the threefold knowledge in the Noble One's discipline.
"Excellent, Master Gotama!
... Let Master Gotama consider me a lay follower who from today has gone for refuge for life."
