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SN 12.48PTS SN 2.771 min read

A Cosmologist

Lokāyatikasutta

A brahmin cosmologist asks the Buddha whether all exists or nothing exists. The Buddha rejects both views as extreme.

Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 12.48Linked Discourses 12.48
  • 0.25. Gahapativagga5. Householders

0.3LokāyatikasuttaA Cosmologist

1.1Sāvatthiyaṁ viharati.At Sāvatthī.

1.2Atha kho lokāyatiko brāhmaṇo yena bhagavā …pe…Then a brahmin cosmologist went up to the Buddha …11.3ekamantaṁ nisinno kho lokāyatiko brāhmaṇo bhagavantaṁ etadavoca:Seated to one side he said to the Buddha:

2.1“Kiṁ nu kho, bho gotama, sabbamatthī”ti?“Worthy Gotama, does all exist?”

2.2“‘Sabbamatthī’ti kho, brāhmaṇa, jeṭṭhametaṁ lokāyataṁ”.“‘All exists’: this is the oldest cosmology, brahmin.”2

3.1“Kiṁ pana, bho gotama, sabbaṁ natthī”ti?“Then does all not exist?”

3.2“‘Sabbaṁ natthī’ti kho, brāhmaṇa, dutiyametaṁ lokāyataṁ”.“‘All does not exist’: this is the second cosmology.”

4.1“Kiṁ nu kho, bho gotama, sabbamekattan”ti?“Well, is all oneness?”

4.2“‘Sabbamekattan’ti kho, brāhmaṇa, tatiyametaṁ lokāyataṁ”.“‘All is oneness’: this is the third cosmology.”3

5.1“Kiṁ pana, bho gotama, sabbaṁ puthuttan”ti?“Then is all expansiveness?”4

5.2“‘Sabbaṁ puthuttan’ti kho, brāhmaṇa, catutthametaṁ lokāyataṁ.“‘All is expansiveness’: this is the fourth cosmology.

6.1Ete te, brāhmaṇa, ubho ante anupagamma majjhena tathāgato dhammaṁ deseti:Avoiding these two extremes, the Realized One teaches by the middle way:6.2‘avijjāpaccayā saṅkhārā;‘Ignorance is a requirement for choices.

6.3saṅkhārapaccayā viññāṇaṁ …pe…Choices are a requirement for consciousness. …6.4evametassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa samudayo hoti.That is how this entire mass of suffering originates.6.5Avijjāya tveva asesavirāganirodhā saṅkhāranirodho;When ignorance fades away and ceases no residue left behind, choices cease.6.6saṅkhāranirodhā viññāṇanirodho …pe…When choices cease, consciousness ceases. …6.7evametassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa nirodho hotī’”ti.That is how this entire mass of suffering ceases.’”

7.1Evaṁ vutte, lokāyatiko brāhmaṇo bhagavantaṁ etadavoca:When he said this, the brahmin cosmologist said to the Buddha,7.2“abhikkantaṁ, bho gotama …pe…“Excellent, worthy Gotama! Excellent! …7.3ajjatagge pāṇupetaṁ saraṇaṁ gatan”ti.From this day forth, may the worthy Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge for life.”

7.4Aṭṭhamaṁ.

Translator’s notes

  1. “Cosmology” (lokāyata) was a branch of Vedic study concerned with the nature and extent of the world and how this may be known (AN 9.38, SN 12.48; cf. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.3.1). Vedic metaphysics posited “existence” as a primordial “oneness” from which the diversity of the world spread out.

    ↩ sn12.48:1.2

  2. The “oldest cosmology” is quite literal. The oldest Indian cosmology is found in a few late Rig Vedic hymns, especially the Nāsadīya Sūkta, which begins: “The nonexistent did not exist, nor did the existent exist at that time” (Rig Veda 10.129.1, Jamison/Brereton translation). RV 10.72.2 says that for the oldest gods, “what exists was born from what does not exist”.

    ↩ sn12.48:2.2

  3. After discussing existence for six lines, the seventh line of the Nāsadīya Sūkta begins, “That One breathed without wind by its independent will. There existed nothing else beyond that.” Then, “that One was born by the power of heat”. Thus the one is the immortal Divinity, confirming the commentary’s identification of this with eternalism (and the following with annihilationism). Similarly, RV 10.121 speaks of the anonymous Creator who “existed alone”.

    ↩ sn12.48:4.2

  4. Puthutta is used elsewhere of a “spreading” poison, but only here in a philosophical sense. Throughout the Rig Veda, pṛthu is the broad expanse of earth or waters, spread out by Indra (eg. RV 10.113.4) and burned over by Agni (RV 10.156.3). It has sexual connotations, too: an ample womb (RV 10.99.2) or a fat ass (RV 10.86.8; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 1.2.5.16, 3.5.1.11). Thus while “oneness” suggests the Divinity that underlies all, “expansiveness” suggests the broad, pregnant world in which humans live. Thus the sacrificial cake should be spread expansively, but not too expansively, for that would make it human and therefore mortal (ŚB 1.2.2.9). In the Nāsadīya Sūkta instead of pṛthu we find tiraścīna (“stretched across”; the two terms are synonymous at ŚB 6.3.3.19) describing the searching minds of the sage-poets: “Their cord was stretched across: Did something exist below it? Did something exist above?” (RV 10.129.5). Moreover, Pali puthu stands for both Sanskrit pṛthu (“broad, wide, expansive”) and pṛthak (“separate, individual”). Both senses apply here, and indeed, they are not separate even in the Rig Veda, for things that proceed separately (pṛthak, rays of the sun, rivers, cows) spread out (pṛthu) across the broad earth (pṛthivī).

    ↩ sn12.48:5.1