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SN 35.83PTS SN 4.521 min read

Phagguna’s Question

Phaggunapañhāsutta

The Buddhas of the past cannot be described in terms of the six senses.

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

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 35.83Linked Discourses 35.83
  • 0.28. Gilānavagga8. Sick

0.3PhaggunapañhāsuttaPhagguna’s Question

1.1Atha kho āyasmā phagguno …pe… ekamantaṁ nisinno kho āyasmā phagguno bhagavantaṁ etadavoca:And then Venerable Phagguna went up to the Buddha … and said to him:

2.1“Atthi nu kho, bhante, taṁ cakkhu, yena cakkhunā atīte buddhe parinibbute chinnapapañce chinnavaṭume pariyādinnavaṭṭe sabbadukkhavītivaṭṭe paññāpayamāno paññāpeyya …pe…“Sir, suppose someone were to describe the Buddhas of the past who have become fully quenched, cut off proliferation, cut off the course, finished off the cycle, and passed beyond all suffering. Does the eye exist by which they could be described?1

2.2atthi nu kho, bhante, sā jivhā, yāya jivhāya atīte buddhe parinibbute chinnapapañce chinnavaṭume pariyādinnavaṭṭe sabbadukkhavītivaṭṭe paññāpayamāno paññāpeyya …pe…Does the ear … nose … tongue … body exist …?2.3atthi nu kho so, bhante, mano, yena manena atīte buddhe parinibbute chinnapapañce chinnavaṭume pariyādinnavaṭṭe sabbadukkhavītivaṭṭe paññāpayamāno paññāpeyyā”ti?Does the mind exist by which they could be described?”

3.1PTS 4.53“Natthi kho taṁ, phagguna, cakkhu, yena cakkhunā atīte buddhe parinibbute chinnapapañce chinnavaṭume pariyādinnavaṭṭe sabbadukkhavītivaṭṭe paññāpayamāno paññāpeyya …pe…“Phagguna, suppose someone were to describe the Buddhas of the past who have become fully quenched, cut off proliferation, cut off the course, finished off the cycle, and passed beyond all suffering. The eye does not exist by which they could be described.

3.2natthi kho sā, phagguna, jivhā, yāya jivhāya atīte buddhe parinibbute chinnapapañce chinnavaṭume pariyādinnavaṭṭe sabbadukkhavītivaṭṭe paññāpayamāno paññāpeyya …pe…The ear … nose … tongue … body does not exist ….3.3natthi kho so, phagguna, mano, yena manena atīte buddhe parinibbute chinnapapañce chinnavaṭume pariyādinnavaṭṭe sabbadukkhavītivaṭṭe paññāpayamāno paññāpeyyā”ti.The mind does not exist by which they could be described.”

3.4Dasamaṁ.

3.5Gilānavaggo tatiyo.

4.0Tassuddānaṁ

4.1Gilānena duve vuttā,4.2rādhena apare tayo;4.3Avijjāya ca dve vuttā,4.4bhikkhu loko ca phaggunoti.

Translator’s notes

  1. Cited at Kv 1.6:95.3 with slight change.

    This is the only doctrinal context where we find vaṭuma (“course”). The commentary explains it as the “course of craving”. However, in Buddhist Sanskrit we find the phrases chinnaṁ vartmaṁ na vartati (Mahāvastu 2.416) and chinnaṁ vartma na pravartate (Nidāna Saṁyukta 11.6), which recall the Pali phrase vaṭṭaṁ vattati (DN 15:22.6), where vaṭṭa occurs in the next word of the current passage. This suggests that the sense is, rather, the “course of transmigration”, as in the later Sanskrit phrase saṁsāravartmani.

    ↩ sn35.83:2.1