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Snp 4.4PTS Snp 1541 min read

Eight on the Pure

Suddhaṭṭhakasutta

How to avoid the trap of letting go of one thing only to cling to something more subtle.

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

  • 0.1Sutta Nipāta 4.4Anthology of Discourses 4.4

0.2SuddhaṭṭhakasuttaEight on the Pure

1.1Passāmi suddhaṁ paramaṁ arogaṁ,“I see someone pure, perfectly healthy;11.2Diṭṭhena saṁsuddhi narassa hoti;it is vision that grants a person purity.”1.3Evābhijānaṁ paramanti ñatvā,Recalling this notion of the ultimate,21.4Suddhānupassīti pacceti ñāṇaṁ.they believe in the notion <j>that there is one who observes purity.3

2.1Diṭṭhena ce suddhi narassa hoti,If a person were granted purity through what is seen,2.2Ñāṇena vā so pajahāti dukkhaṁ;or if by a notion they could give up suffering,2.3Aññena so sujjhati sopadhīko,then one with attachments is purified by another:2.4Diṭṭhī hi naṁ pāva tathā vadānaṁ.their view betrays them as one who asserts thus.

3.1Na brāhmaṇo aññato suddhimāha,The brahmin speaks not of purity from another3.2Diṭṭhe sute sīlavate mute vā;in terms of what has been seen, heard, or thought; <j>or by precepts or vows.3.3Puññe ca pāpe ca anūpalitto,They are unsullied in the midst of good and evil,3.4Attañjaho nayidha pakubbamāno.letting go what was picked up, <j>without creating anything new here.

4.1Purimaṁ pahāya aparaṁ sitāse,Having let go the last they lay hold of the next;4.2Ejānugā te na taranti saṅgaṁ;following impulse, they don’t pass the chain.4.3Te uggahāyanti nirassajanti,They grab on and let loose like a monkey4.4Kapīva sākhaṁ pamuñcaṁ gahāyaṁ.grabbing and releasing a branch.4

5.1Sayaṁ samādāya vatāni jantu,Having undertaken their own vows, a personage5.2Uccāvacaṁ gacchati saññasatto;visits various teachers, <j>being attached to perception.55.3Vidvā ca vedehi samecca dhammaṁ,One who knows, having comprehended the truth <j>through the knowledges,65.4Na uccāvacaṁ gacchati bhūripañño.does not visit various teachers, being of vast wisdom.

6.1Sa sabbadhammesu visenibhūto,They are remote from all things6.2Yaṁ kiñci diṭṭhaṁ va sutaṁ mutaṁ vā;seen, heard, or thought.6.3Tameva dassiṁ vivaṭaṁ carantaṁ,Seeing them living openly,6.4Kenīdha lokasmi vikappayeyya.how could anyone in this world judge them?

7.1Na kappayanti na purekkharonti,They don’t make things up or promote them,7.2Accantasuddhīti na te vadanti;or speak of the uttermost purity.7.3Ādānaganthaṁ gathitaṁ visajja,After untying the tight knot of grasping7.4Āsaṁ na kubbanti kuhiñci loke.they long for nothing in the world.

8.1Sīmātigo brāhmaṇo tassa natthi,The brahmin has stepped over the perimeter;8.2Ñatvā va disvā va samuggahītaṁ;knowing and seeing, they adopt nothing.78.3Na rāgarāgī na virāgaratto,Neither in love with passion <j>nor besotted by dispassion,8.4Tassīdha natthi paramuggahītanti.there is nothing here they adopt as the ultimate.

8.5Suddhaṭṭhakasuttaṁ catutthaṁ.

Translator’s notes

  1. The sight of saint or holy person was believed to grant blessings (see AN 6.30, MN 81:6.5, Snp 2.4:10.2, SN 46.3:1.1, DN 14:2.14.1). As Bodhi remarks, aroga (“healthy”) refers to the “self”, which is frequently described as the subtle body that survives death (DN 1:2.38.3: rūpī attā hoti arogo). Here, however, what is “seen” is the soul as a physical body manifesting purity and wellness, as in the case of Māgaṇḍiya (MN 75:19.15).

    ↩ snp4.4:1.1

  2. Here as in Snp 4.3, ñāṇa is used in the sense of “notion”. Bodhi, Norman, and Ñāṇadīpa all follow Niddesa in taking abhijāna in its usual sense of “understanding, direct knowing”. But here the secondary sense of “recall” fits better. Someone thinking about their vision of a holy man believes that there must be an observer of such purity, i.e. a self.

    ↩ snp4.4:1.3

  3. Pacceti is a standard verb for someone who “believes” in a religious rite or idea.

    ↩ snp4.4:1.4

  4. The monkey grabs the branches, not the trunk, as a metaphor for missing the essence. And to drive home the pun, religious orders are called “branches”.

    ↩ snp4.4:4.4

  5. See uccāvacaṁ vā pana dassanāya gacchati at AN 6.30:2.2. In the current poem, it refers to someone who visits a variety of teachers or sects, as per Niddesa.

    ↩ snp4.4:5.2

  6. Here the plural vedehi stands for the tevijjā.

    ↩ snp4.4:5.3

  7. Note that samuggahīta is used here in the same sense as Snp 4.3:6.2 or Snp 2.12:11.1, i.e. the “adoption” of a theory or view.

    ↩ snp4.4:8.2