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Snp 4.12PTS Snp 171Cūḷaviyūha2 min read

The Shorter Discourse on Arrayed For Battle

Cūḷabyūhasutta

If the truth is one, how should a person behave in a world where many different truths are taught?

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

  • 0.1Sutta Nipāta 4.12Anthology of Discourses 4.12

0.2CūḷabyūhasuttaThe Shorter Discourse on Arrayed For Battle

1.1“Sakaṁsakaṁdiṭṭhiparibbasānā,“Each maintaining their own view,1.2Viggayha nānā kusalā vadanti;those who are skilled disagree, arguing:1.3Yo evaṁ jānāti sa vedi dhammaṁ,‘Whoever sees it this way <j>understands the teaching;11.4Idaṁ paṭikkosamakevalī so.those who reject this are inadequate.’

2.1Evampi viggayha vivādayanti,So arguing, they dispute,2.2Bālo paro akkusaloti cāhu;saying, ‘The other is a fool, an amateur!’2.3Sacco nu vādo katamo imesaṁ,Which of these is a true statement,2.4Sabbeva hīme kusalāvadānā”.for all of them profess to be experts?”

3.1“Parassa ce dhammamanānujānaṁ,“If not accepting another’s teaching3.2Bālomako hoti nihīnapañño;makes you a useless fool lacking wisdom,23.3Sabbeva bālā sunihīnapaññā,then they’re all fools lacking wisdom,3.4Sabbevime diṭṭhiparibbasānā.for they all maintain their own view.

4.1Sandiṭṭhiyā ceva na vīvadātā,But if having your own view makes you pristine—4.2Saṁsuddhapaññā kusalā mutīmā;pure in wisdom, expert and thoughtful—4.3Na tesaṁ koci parihīnapañño,then none of them lack wisdom,4.4Diṭṭhī hi tesampi tathā samattā.for such is the view they have all embraced.

5.1Na vāhametaṁ tathiyanti brūmi,I do not say that it is correct35.2Yamāhu bālā mithu aññamaññaṁ;when they call each other fools.45.3Sakaṁ sakaṁ diṭṭhimakaṁsu saccaṁ,Each has built up their own view to be the truth,55.4Tasmā hi bāloti paraṁ dahanti”.which is why they take the other as a fool.”

6.1“Yamāhu saccaṁ tathiyanti eke,“What some say is true and correct,6.2Tamāhu aññe tucchaṁ musāti;others say is hollow and false.6.3Evampi vigayha vivādayanti,So arguing, they dispute;6.4Kasmā na ekaṁ samaṇā vadanti”.why don’t ascetics say the same thing?”

7.1“Ekañhi saccaṁ na dutīyamatthi,“The truth is one, there is no second,7.2Yasmiṁ pajā no vivade pajānaṁ;understanding which folk would not dispute.67.3Nānā te saccāni sayaṁ thunanti,But those ascetics each boast of different truths;7.4Tasmā na ekaṁ samaṇā vadanti”.that’s why they don’t say the same thing.”

8.1“Kasmā nu saccāni vadanti nānā,“But why do they speak of different truths,8.2Pavādiyāse kusalāvadānā;these proponents who profess to be experts?8.3Saccāni sutāni bahūni nānā,Are there really so many different truths,78.4Udāhu te takkamanussaranti”.or do they just follow their own lines of reasoning?”

9.1“Na heva saccāni bahūni nānā,“No, there are not many different truths9.2Aññatra saññāya niccāni loke;that, apart from perception, <j>are lasting in the world.89.3Takkañca diṭṭhīsu pakappayitvā,Having formed their reasoning <j>regarding different views,9.4Saccaṁ musāti dvayadhammamāhu.they say there are two things: true and false.

10.1Diṭṭhe sute sīlavate mute vā,The seen, heard, or thought, <j>or precepts or vows—910.2Ete ca nissāya vimānadassī;based on these they show disdain.10.3Vinicchaye ṭhatvā pahassamāno,Standing in judgment, they scoff,10.4Bālo paro akkusaloti cāha.saying, ‘The other is a fool, an amateur!’

11.1Yeneva bāloti paraṁ dahāti,They take the other as a fool on the same grounds1011.2Tenātumānaṁ kusaloti cāha;that they speak of themselves as an expert.11.3Sayamattanā so kusalāvadāno,Professing to be expert on their own authority,11.4Aññaṁ vimāneti tadeva pāva.they disdain the other while saying the same thing.

12.1Atisāradiṭṭhiyā so samatto,They are perfect, <j>according to their own extreme view;12.2Mānena matto paripuṇṇamānī;drunk on conceit, imagining themselves proficient.12.3Sayameva sāmaṁ manasābhisitto,They have anointed themselves in their own mind,12.4Diṭṭhī hi sā tassa tathā samattā.for such is the view they have embraced.

13.1Parassa ce hi vacasā nihīno,If the word of your opponent makes you deficient,13.2Tumo sahā hoti nihīnapañño;then they too are lacking wisdom.13.3Atha ce sayaṁ vedagū hoti dhīro,But if on your own authority <j>you’re a knowledge master, an attentive one,1113.4Na koci bālo samaṇesu atthi.then there are no fools among the ascetics.

14.1Aññaṁ ito yābhivadanti dhammaṁ,‘Those who proclaim a teaching other than this14.2Aparaddhā suddhimakevalī te;have fallen short of purity, and are inadequate’:14.3Evampi titthyā puthuso vadanti,so say each one of the sectarians,14.4Sandiṭṭhirāgena hi tebhirattā.for they are deeply attached to their own view.

15.1Idheva suddhiṁ iti vādayanti,‘Here alone is purity,’ they say,15.2Nāññesu dhammesu visuddhimāhu;denying that there is purification in other teachings.15.3Evampi titthyā puthuso niviṭṭhā,Thus each one of the sectarians, being dogmatic,15.4Sakāyane tattha daḷhaṁ vadānā.speaks forcefully within the context <j>of their own journey.

16.1Sakāyane vāpi daḷhaṁ vadāno,But in that case, so long as they are speaking forcefully <j>of their own journey,16.2Kamettha bāloti paraṁ daheyya;how can they take the other as a fool?16.3Sayaṁva so medhagamāvaheyya,They are the ones who provoke conflict16.4Paraṁ vadaṁ bālamasuddhidhammaṁ.when they call the other a fool <j>with an impure teaching.

17.1Vinicchaye ṭhatvā sayaṁ pamāya,Standing in judgment, <j>measuring by their own standard,17.2Uddhaṁsa lokasmiṁ vivādameti;they dispute with the world more and more.1217.3Hitvāna sabbāni vinicchayāni,But a personage who has given up all judgments17.4Na medhagaṁ kubbati jantu loke”ti.creates no conflict in the world.”

17.5Cūḷabyūhasuttaṁ dvādasamaṁ.

Translator’s notes

  1. Here, as often in the Aṭṭhakavagga, jānāti implies different ways of knowing, which may be right or wrong (to degrees). We can “see” things differently, but we can’t “know” them differently.

    ↩ snp4.12:1.3

  2. Preferring omako over mago (“beast”), which seems harsh.

    ↩ snp4.12:3.2

  3. I think “this is correct” refers, not to the assertion of a view, but to the assertion that the other is a fool. Niddesa takes it to mean the assertion of one of the 62 views, but this seems to be reading into the text.

    ↩ snp4.12:5.1

  4. Here I take bālā as the quoted speech, as in the lines above and below. The commentary supplies the expected quotation indicator: ‘bālo’ti āhu. If we take bālā as subject of the verb here, per Bodhi, Norman, and Ñāṇadīpa, then the Buddha is adopting the reductive language of those he seeks to counter, obscuring the sense of the verse.

    ↩ snp4.12:5.2

  5. It’s important to maintain the past sense of akaṁsu here: a view is something they have constructed and built up over time; it has solidified and become part of them, which is why it’s so hard to give up.

    ↩ snp4.12:5.3

  6. The readings and interpretation of this line is tricky; see discussions in Norman and Bodhi. Niddesa and Arthapada are in agreement, and I follow.

    ↩ snp4.12:7.2

  7. Read su tāni.

    ↩ snp4.12:8.3

  8. The Niddesa glosses aññatra saññāya niccaggāhā, which is translated by Bodhi as “apart from the grasping of permanence by perception”. But this seems impossible to me: saññāya is an ablative constructed with aññatra, and niccāni surely agrees with saccāni. Further, the sense of this reading is a stretch, as we haven’t dealt with impermanence at all so far. I think the allusion is, rather, to the idea of dhammaniyāmatā, the “fixity” or “regularity” of the Dhamma as an “eternal truth”.

    ↩ snp4.12:9.2

  9. This verse begins a rather striking pattern where the first couplet is essentially restated in the second couplet.

    ↩ snp4.12:10.1

  10. Again the two couplets repeat the same meaning.

    ↩ snp4.12:11.1

  11. This must refer back to the previous verse, where sayaṁ means “on one’s own account”.

    ↩ snp4.12:13.3

  12. Here uddhaṁ has the sense “further, all the more”.

    ↩ snp4.12:17.2