Sandakasutta

Majjhima Nikāya 76

With Sandaka · Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral

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Hevaṁ natthi doṇamite sukhadukkhe pariyantakate saṁsāre, natthi hāyanavaḍḍhane, natthi ukkaṁsāvakaṁse.
Seyyathāpi nāma suttaguḷe khitte nibbeṭhiyamānameva paleti;
evameva bāle ca paṇḍite ca sandhāvitvā saṁsaritvā dukkhassantaṁ karissantī’ti.

Pleasure and pain are allotted. Transmigration lasts only for a limited period, so there’s no increase or decrease, no getting better or worse. It’s like how, when you toss a ball of string, it rolls away unraveling. In the same way, after transmigrating the foolish and the astute will make an end of suffering.’

Tatra, sandaka, viññū puriso iti paṭisañcikkhati:
‘ayaṁ kho bhavaṁ satthā evaṁvādī evaṁdiṭṭhi—
sattime kāyā akaṭā akaṭavidhā animmitā animmātā vañjhā kūṭaṭṭhā esikaṭṭhāyiṭṭhitā.
Te na iñjanti na vipariṇamanti na aññamaññaṁ byābādhenti.
Nālaṁ aññamaññassa sukhāya vā dukkhāya vā sukhadukkhāya vā.
Katame satta?
Pathavīkāyo āpokāyo tejokāyo vāyokāyo sukhe dukkhe jīve sattame—
ime satta kāyā akaṭā akaṭavidhā animmitā animmātā vañjhā kūṭaṭṭhā esikaṭṭhāyiṭṭhitā.
Te na iñjanti na vipariṇamanti na aññamaññaṁ byābādhenti.
Nālaṁ aññamaññassa sukhāya vā dukkhāya vā sukhadukkhāya vā.
Tattha natthi hantā vā ghātetā vā sotā vā sāvetā vā viññātā vā viññāpetā vā.
Yopi tiṇhena satthena sīsaṁ chindati, na koci kañci jīvitā voropeti.

A sensible person reflects on this matter in this way: ‘This teacher has such a doctrine and view.

Sattannaṁ tveva kāyānamantarena satthaṁ vivaramanupatati.
Cuddasa kho panimāni yonipamukhasatasahassāni saṭṭhi ca satāni cha ca satāni pañca ca kammuno satāni pañca ca kammāni tīṇi ca kammāni, kamme ca aḍḍhakamme ca, dvaṭṭhipaṭipadā, dvaṭṭhantarakappā, chaḷābhijātiyo, aṭṭha purisabhūmiyo, ekūnapaññāsa ājīvakasate, ekūnapaññāsa paribbājakasate, ekūnapaññāsa nāgāvāsasate, vīse indriyasate, tiṁse nirayasate, chattiṁsa rajodhātuyo, satta saññīgabbhā, satta asaññīgabbhā, satta nigaṇṭhigabbhā, satta devā, satta mānusā, satta pesācā, satta sarā, satta pavuṭā, satta papātā, satta papātasatāni, satta supinā, satta supinasatāni, cullāsīti mahākappino satasahassāni, yāni bāle ca paṇḍite ca sandhāvitvā saṁsaritvā dukkhassantaṁ karissanti.

Indeed, the sword pursues only through the gap between the seven bodies. Now these are the fourteen hundred-thousand kinds of generation, and the sixty hundred, and the six hundred, and the five hundred kammas, and the five kammas, and the three kammas, and kamma and half-kamma: the sixty-two ways, the sixty-two intermediate eons, the six classes, the eight stages of a person, the forty-nine hundred Ājīvakas, the forty-nine hundred wanderers, the forty-nine hundred nāga-abodes, the twenty hundred faculties, the thirty hundred hells, the thirty-six dust elements, the seven percipient wombs, the seven non-percipient wombs, the seven knotted wombs, the seven devas, the seven humans, the seven pisācas, the seven lakes, the seven chasms, the seven precipices, the seven hundred precipices, the seven dreams, the seven hundred dreams, the eighty-four hundred-thousand great eons, through which the fool and the wise person, having wandered and transmigrated, will make an end of suffering.

Tattha natthi imināhaṁ sīlena vā vatena vā tapena vā brahmacariyena vā aparipakkaṁ vā kammaṁ paripācessāmi, paripakkaṁ vā kammaṁ phussa phussa byantiṁ karissāmīti, hevaṁ natthi doṇamite sukhadukkhe pariyantakate saṁsāre, natthi hāyanavaḍḍhane, natthi ukkaṁsāvakaṁse.
Seyyathāpi nāma suttaguḷe khitte nibbeṭhiyamānameva paleti;
evameva bāle ca paṇḍite ca sandhāvitvā saṁsaritvā dukkhassantaṁ karissantī’ti.
Sace pana imassa bhoto satthuno saccaṁ vacanaṁ, akatena me ettha kataṁ, avusitena me ettha vusitaṁ.
Ubhopi mayaṁ ettha samasamā sāmaññaṁ pattā, yo cāhaṁ na vadāmi ‘ubho sandhāvitvā saṁsaritvā dukkhassantaṁ karissāmā’ti.

If what that teacher says is true, both I who have not accomplished this and one who has accomplished it have attained exactly the same level. Yet I’m not one who says that after transmigrating both of us will make an end of suffering.

Atirekaṁ kho panimassa bhoto satthuno naggiyaṁ muṇḍiyaṁ ukkuṭikappadhānaṁ kesamassulocanaṁ, yohaṁ puttasambādhasayanaṁ ajjhāvasanto kāsikacandanaṁ paccanubhonto mālāgandhavilepanaṁ dhārento jātarūparajataṁ sādiyanto iminā bhotā satthārā samasamagatiko bhavissāmi abhisamparāyaṁ.
Sohaṁ kiṁ jānanto kiṁ passanto imasmiṁ satthari brahmacariyaṁ carissāmi?
‘So abrahmacariyavāso ayan’ti—
iti viditvā tasmā brahmacariyā nibbijja pakkamati.

But it’s superfluous for this teacher to go nude, bald, persisting in squatting, tearing out their hair and beard. For I’m living at home with my children, using sandalwood imported from Kāsi, wearing garlands, fragrance, and makeup, and accepting gold and currency. Yet I’ll have exactly the same destiny in the next life as this teacher. What do I know or see that I should lead the spiritual life under this teacher? This negates the spiritual life.’ Realizing this, they leave disappointed.

Ayaṁ kho, sandaka, tena bhagavatā jānatā passatā arahatā sammāsambuddhena catuttho abrahmacariyavāso akkhāto yattha viññū puriso sasakkaṁ brahmacariyaṁ na vaseyya, vasanto ca nārādheyya ñāyaṁ dhammaṁ kusalaṁ.

This is the fourth way that negates the spiritual life.

Ime kho te, sandaka, tena bhagavatā jānatā passatā arahatā sammāsambuddhena cattāro abrahmacariyavāsā akkhātā yattha viññū puriso sasakkaṁ brahmacariyaṁ na vaseyya, vasanto ca nārādheyya ñāyaṁ dhammaṁ kusalan”ti.

These are the four ways that negate the spiritual life that have been explained by the Blessed One, who knows and sees, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha. A sensible person would, to the best of their ability, not practice such spiritual paths, and if they did practice them, they wouldn’t succeed in the system of the skillful teaching.”

“Acchariyaṁ, bho ānanda, abbhutaṁ, bho ānanda.
Yāvañcidaṁ tena bhagavatā jānatā passatā arahatā sammāsambuddhena cattāro abrahmacariyavāsāva samānā ‘abrahmacariyavāsā’ti akkhātā yattha viññū puriso sasakkaṁ brahmacariyaṁ na vaseyya, vasanto ca nārādheyya ñāyaṁ dhammaṁ kusalanti.
Katamāni pana tāni, bho ānanda, tena bhagavatā jānatā passatā arahatā sammāsambuddhena cattāri anassāsikāni brahmacariyāni akkhātāni yattha viññū puriso sasakkaṁ brahmacariyaṁ na vaseyya, vasanto ca nārādheyya ñāyaṁ dhammaṁ kusalan”ti?

“It’s incredible, worthy Ānanda, it’s amazing, how these four ways that negate the spiritual life have been explained by the Buddha. But worthy Ānanda, what are the four kinds of unreliable spiritual life?”

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