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Snp 5.15PTS Snp 2151 min read

The Questions of the Student Posala

Posālamāṇavapucchā

How to develop insight after mastering the perception of nothingness.

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

  • 0.1Sutta Nipāta 5.15Anthology of Discourses 5.15

0.2PosālamāṇavapucchāThe Question of Posāla

1.1“Yo atītaṁ ādisati,“To the one who reveals the past,”1.2(iccāyasmā posālo)said Venerable Posāla,1.3Anejo chinnasaṁsayo;“who is imperturbable, with doubts cut off,1.4Pāraguṁ sabbadhammānaṁ,and who has gone beyond all things,1.5Atthi pañhena āgamaṁ.I have come seeking with a question.

2.1Vibhūtarūpasaññissa,Consider one who perceives that form has vanished,12.2sabbakāyappahāyino;who has entirely given up the body,2.3Ajjhattañca bahiddhā ca,and who sees nothing at all2.4natthi kiñcīti passato;internally and externally.2.5Ñāṇaṁ sakkānupucchāmi,I ask the Sakyan about knowledge for them;22.6kathaṁ neyyo tathāvidho”.how should that sort be guided?”

3.1“Viññāṇaṭṭhitiyo sabbā,“The Realized One directly knows,”3.2(posālāti bhagavā)said the Buddha,3.3Abhijānaṁ tathāgato;“all planes of consciousness.3.4Tiṭṭhantamenaṁ jānāti,And he knows this one who remains,3.5Vimuttaṁ tapparāyaṇaṁ.committed to that as their final goal.3

4.1Ākiñcaññasambhavaṁ ñatvā,Understanding that desire for rebirth4.2Nandī saṁyojanaṁ iti;in the dimension of nothingness is a fetter,4.3Evametaṁ abhiññāya,and directly knowing what this really means,4.4Tato tattha vipassati;one then discerns that matter clearly.4.5Etaṁ ñāṇaṁ tathaṁ tassa,That is their knowledge of truth,4.6Brāhmaṇassa vusīmato”ti.the brahmin who has lived the life.”

4.7Posālamāṇavapucchā cuddasamā.

Translator’s notes

  1. See Snp 4.11. The question refers to a meditator who has attained the dimension of nothingness.

    ↩ snp5.15:2.1

  2. The Niddesa explains, in line with the Buddha’s answer, that the question is about the kind of knowledge needed to guide one with such an attainment. Thus the referent must be dative, not genitive.

    ↩ snp5.15:2.5

  3. Read ’dhimuttaṁ; see discussion in Bodhi’s translation, note 2150. The sense is the same as eg. AN 4.125. This refers to someone, such as Āḷāra Kālāma, whose spiritual goal is rebirth in the dimension of nothingness.

    ↩ snp5.15:3.5