Cūḷamālukyasutta

Majjhima Nikāya 63

The Shorter Discourse With Māluṅkya · Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral

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‘na hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā’ti, ‘na hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā’ti me bhagavā byākarotu.
No ce bhagavā jānāti:
‘hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā’ti vā, ‘na hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā’ti vā, ajānato kho pana apassato etadeva ujukaṁ hoti yadidaṁ:
‘na jānāmi na passāmī’ti.
Sace bhagavā jānāti:
‘hoti ca na ca hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā’ti, ‘hoti ca na ca hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā’ti me bhagavā byākarotu;
sace bhagavā jānāti:
‘neva hoti na na hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā’ti, ‘neva hoti na na hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā’ti me bhagavā byākarotu.
No ce bhagavā jānāti:

or no longer exists, or both still exists and no longer exists, or neither still exists nor no longer exists, please tell me. If you don’t know

‘hoti ca na ca hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā’ti vā, ‘neva hoti na na hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā’ti vā, ajānato kho pana apassato etadeva ujukaṁ hoti yadidaṁ:
‘na jānāmi, na passāmī’”ti.

any of these things, then it is straightforward to simply say: ‘I neither know nor see.’”

“Kiṁ nu tāhaṁ, mālukyaputta, evaṁ avacaṁ:
‘ehi tvaṁ, mālukyaputta, mayi brahmacariyaṁ cara, ahaṁ te byākarissāmi:
“sassato loko”ti vā, “asassato loko”ti vā, “antavā loko”ti vā, “anantavā loko”ti vā, “taṁ jīvaṁ taṁ sarīran”ti vā, “aññaṁ jīvaṁ aññaṁ sarīran”ti vā, “hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā”ti vā, “na hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā”ti vā, “hoti ca na ca hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā”ti vā, “neva hoti na na hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā”ti vā’”ti?
“No hetaṁ, bhante”.
“Tvaṁ vā pana maṁ evaṁ avaca:
‘ahaṁ, bhante, bhagavati brahmacariyaṁ carissāmi, bhagavā me byākarissati:

“What, Māluṅkyaputta, did I ever say to you: ‘Come, Māluṅkyaputta, lead the spiritual life under me, and I will declare these things to you’?” “No, sir.” “Or did you ever say to me: ‘Sir, I will lead the spiritual life under the Buddha, and the Buddha will declare these things to me’?”

“sassato loko”ti vā, “asassato loko”ti vā, “antavā loko”ti vā, “anantavā loko”ti vā, “taṁ jīvaṁ taṁ sarīran”ti vā, “aññaṁ jīvaṁ aññaṁ sarīran”ti vā, “hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā”ti vā, “na hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā”ti vā, “hoti ca na ca hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā”ti vā, “neva hoti na na hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā”ti vā’”ti?
“No hetaṁ, bhante”.
“Iti kira, mālukyaputta, nevāhaṁ taṁ vadāmi:
‘ehi tvaṁ, mālukyaputta, mayi brahmacariyaṁ cara, ahaṁ te byākarissāmi:
“sassato loko”ti vā, “asassato loko”ti vā …pe…
“neva hoti na na hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇāti vā”’ti;
napi kira maṁ tvaṁ vadesi:
‘ahaṁ, bhante, bhagavati brahmacariyaṁ carissāmi, bhagavā me byākarissati:

“No, sir.” “So it seems that I did not say to you: ‘Come, Māluṅkyaputta, lead the spiritual life under me, and I will declare these things to you.’ And you never said to me: ‘Sir, I will lead the spiritual life under the Buddha, and the Buddha will declare these things to me.’

“sassato loko”ti vā “asassato loko”ti vā …pe…
“neva hoti na na hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā”ti vā’ti.
Evaṁ sante, moghapurisa, ko santo kaṁ paccācikkhasi?

In that case, you futile man, who are you and what do you disavow?

Yo kho, mālukyaputta, evaṁ vadeyya:
‘na tāvāhaṁ bhagavati brahmacariyaṁ carissāmi yāva me bhagavā na byākarissati:
“sassato loko”ti vā, “asassato loko”ti vā …pe…
“neva hoti na na hoti tathāgato paraṁ maraṇā”ti vā’ti,
abyākatameva taṁ, mālukyaputta, tathāgatena assa, atha so puggalo kālaṁ kareyya.
Seyyathāpi, mālukyaputta, puriso sallena viddho assa savisena gāḷhapalepanena.
Tassa mittāmaccā ñātisālohitā bhisakkaṁ sallakattaṁ upaṭṭhapeyyuṁ.
So evaṁ vadeyya:
‘na tāvāhaṁ imaṁ sallaṁ āharissāmi yāva na taṁ purisaṁ jānāmi yenamhi viddho, khattiyo vā brāhmaṇo vā vesso vā suddo vā’ti;
so evaṁ vadeyya:
‘na tāvāhaṁ imaṁ sallaṁ āharissāmi yāva na taṁ purisaṁ jānāmi yenamhi viddho, evaṁnāmo evaṅgotto iti vā’ti;
so evaṁ vadeyya:

Suppose someone were to say this: ‘I will not lead the spiritual life under the Buddha until the Buddha declares to me that the cosmos is eternal, or that the cosmos is not eternal … or that after death a realized one neither still exists nor no longer exists.’ That would still remain undeclared by the Realized One, and meanwhile that individual would die. Suppose a man was struck by an arrow thickly smeared with poison. His friends and colleagues, relatives and kin would get a surgeon to treat him. But the man would say: ‘I won’t extract this arrow as long as I don’t know whether the man who wounded me was an aristocrat, a brahmin, a peasant, or a menial.’ He’d say: ‘I won’t extract this arrow as long as I don’t know the following things about the man who wounded me: his name and clan;

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