wh208 AN anthology part II.pdf

Aṅguttara Nikāya

An Anthology

Part II

Selected and translated from the Pali

Nyanaponika Thera

and

Bhikkhu Bodhi

Buddhist Publication Society

Kandy • Sri Lanka

The Wheel Publication No. 208–211

For this edition, the revised translations by Venerable Bodhi as given in the Numerical Discourses

of the Buddha have been used with his kind permission.

First edition: 1975

Second edition: 1988.

BPS Online Edition © (2008)

For free distribution. This work may be republished, reformatted, reprinted, and redistributed

in any medium. However, any such republication and redistribution is to be made available to

the public on a free and unrestricted basis and translations and other derivative works are to be

clearly marked as such.

Contents

The Chapter of the Fives . .........................................................................................................................4

1. The Trainee’s Powers . .......................................................................................................................4

2. Conditions of Good and Evil . ..........................................................................................................4

3. The Simile of the Infant ....................................................................................................................5

4. Another Five Powers ........................................................................................................................6

5. Criteria of the Five Powers . ..............................................................................................................6

6. The Five Helpers of Right View . .....................................................................................................7

7. The Bliss of Detachment . ..................................................................................................................7

8. The Benefits of Alms-giving . ............................................................................................................8

9. Five Desirable Things . ......................................................................................................................9

10. Five Contemplations for Everyone . ..............................................................................................9

11. The Repulsive and the Unrepulsive . ...........................................................................................11

12. The Right Way of Teaching Dhamma . ........................................................................................12

13. How to Remove Grudges . ............................................................................................................13

14. Wrong Livelihood . ........................................................................................................................13

15. Praising the Buddha . .....................................................................................................................13

16. The Five Dreams of the Bodhisatta . ............................................................................................15

17. Well-spoken Words . ......................................................................................................................16

18. Five Routes of Escape . ..................................................................................................................16

The Chapter of the Sixes . ........................................................................................................................18

19. Sensual Desire ................................................................................................................................18

20. The Six Things Unsurpassed . .......................................................................................................18

21. Causes for the Origination of Actions . ........................................................................................20

22. Don’t Judge Others! ......................................................................................................................20

23. Poverty . ...........................................................................................................................................23

24. Scholars and Meditators . ..............................................................................................................24

25. The Visible Teaching . ....................................................................................................................25

26. Professing Enlightenment . ...........................................................................................................25

27. Step by Step . ...................................................................................................................................26

28. The Aims of People .......................................................................................................................27

29. The Simile of the Lute . ..................................................................................................................27

30. A Penetrative Exposition . .............................................................................................................30

31. Non-returning . ...............................................................................................................................34

32. Arahatship . .....................................................................................................................................34

33. Six Rarities . .....................................................................................................................................35

34. The Blessings of Stream-entry . .....................................................................................................35

35. Conviction in Conformity with the Dhamma . ...........................................................................35

36. Advantages of Contemplating Impermanence . .........................................................................36

37. Advantages of Contemplating Suffering . ...................................................................................36

38. Advantages of Contemplating Non-self . ....................................................................................36

The Chapter of the Sevens . .....................................................................................................................37

39. Getting Rid of Drowsiness . ..........................................................................................................37

40. Loving-kindness . ...........................................................................................................................39

41. Seven Kinds of Wives . ..................................................................................................................40

42. Mental Development . ...................................................................................................................41

43. Life’s Brevity . .................................................................................................................................42

44. The Master’s Teaching . .................................................................................................................43

The Chapter of the Eights . ......................................................................................................................45

45. Vicissitudes of Life . .......................................................................................................................45

46. Nanda . ............................................................................................................................................46

47. Sīha the General . ............................................................................................................................47

48. The Simile of the Ocean . ...............................................................................................................47

49. The Householder Ugga . ................................................................................................................50

50. The Lay Follower . ..........................................................................................................................52

51. The Eight Thoughts of a Great Man . ...........................................................................................52

52. Ways of Giving . .............................................................................................................................56

53. Reasons for Giving . .......................................................................................................................56

54. Rebirth on account of Giving . ......................................................................................................56

55. Ways of Meritorious Action . ........................................................................................................57

56. Streams of Merit . ...........................................................................................................................58

57. Mindfulness of Death–I . ...............................................................................................................59

58. Mindfulness of Death–II . ..............................................................................................................60

The Chapter of the Fives

1. The Trainee’s Powers

Monks, there are five powers of one in higher training. 1 What five?

The trainee’s powers of faith, shame, moral dread, energy, and wisdom.

And what is the power of faith? Here, monks, a noble disciple has faith; he places faith in the

enlightenment of the Tathāgata: “The Blessed One is an arahat, fully enlightened, accomplished

in true knowledge and conduct, sublime, knower of the world, unsurpassed leader of persons to

be tamed, teacher of devas and humans, the Enlightened One, the Blessed One.”

And what is the power of shame? Here, monks, a noble disciple has a sense of shame; he feels

ashamed of bad behaviour by body, speech, and mind; he feels ashamed of anything evil and

unwholesome. 2

And what is the power of moral dread? Here, monks, a noble disciple has moral dread; he

dreads bad behaviour by body, speech, and mind; he dreads anything evil and unwholesome.

And what is the power of energy? Here, monks, a noble disciple lives with energy set upon

the abandoning of everything unwholesome and the acquiring of everything wholesome; he is

steadfast and strong in his effort, not shirking his task in regard to wholesome qualities.

And what is the power of wisdom? Here, monks, a noble disciple is wise; he possesses that

wisdom which sees into the rise and fall of phenomena, which is noble and penetrating, and

leads to the complete destruction of suffering. 3

These, monks, are the five powers of one in higher training.

Therefore, O monks, you should train yourselves thus: “We will acquire the powers of faith,

shame, moral dread, energy, and wisdom possessed by one in higher training!” Thus should

you train yourselves.

(5:2)

2. Conditions of Good and Evil

So long, O monks, as faith exists in wholesome qualities, then what is unwholesome will not

gain entry. But when faith (in the wholesome) has vanished and disbelief takes a hold and

prevails, then what is unwholesome will gain entry. 4

1 Sekhabala . A sekha (a trainee, or a learner) is one who, in pursuing the three kinds of training ( sikkhā ) in

virtue, concentration and wisdom, has attained to one of the four supramundane paths or one of the three

lower fruits. One who has attained to the fourth fruition, the arahat, is called an asekha , i.e. one beyond

training, one perfect in training.

2 While shame ( hiri ) is motivated by self-respect and is inward-looking, moral dread ( ottappa ) is outward-

looking, being the fear of such consequences as blame, bad reputation, and punishment.

3 AN 5:12 says: “Of these five powers of one in higher training, this is the highest, this is what holds

them together, namely, the power of wisdom.”

4 While, in the preceding text, these five qualities have been treated as powers of the trainee, here they

are shown in their general capacity for warding off the intrusion of unwholesome states of mind. This

conveys the encouraging message that moral qualities of an average level carry in themselves the seed of

highest development. In another text (AN 5:4), the possession of these five qualities is said to lead to

So long, O monks, as a sense of shame exists in regard to wholesome qualities, then what is

unwholesome will not gain entry. But when such a sense of shame has vanished and

shamelessness takes a hold and prevails, then what is unwholesome will gain entry.

So long, O monks, as moral dread exists in regard to wholesome qualities, then what is

unwholesome will not gain entry. But when such moral dread has vanished and moral

recklessness takes a hold and prevails, then what is unwholesome will gain entry.

So long, O monks, as there is energy directed to wholesome qualities, then what is

unwholesome will not gain entry. But when such energy has vanished and indolence takes a

hold and prevails, then what is unwholesome will gain entry.

So long, O monks, as there is wisdom concerning wholesome qualities, then what is

unwholesome will not gain entry. But when such wisdom has vanished and stupidity takes a

hold and prevails, then what is unwholesome will gain entry.

(5:6)

3. The Simile of the Infant

Generally, monks, beings find sensual pleasures enjoyable. Now if a young man of good family

has discarded sickle and carrying-pol e 5 and has gone forth from home into the homeless life,

one may rightly suppose that he has done so out of faith. And why can this be assumed?

Because for the young, sensual pleasures are easily accessible. Of whatsoever kind, coarse,

average or refined—they all count as sensual pleasures.

Now suppose, monks, there is a tender infant lying on its back. Through the nurse’s

negligence, the child has put a little stick or a shard into its mouth. Then the nurse very quickly

would consider what has happened, and very quickly she would remove the object. But if she is

unable to remove it quickly, she would hold the infant’s head with her right hand, and crooking

a finger, she would extract the object, even if she had to draw blood. And why? Though

certainly it hurts the infant—and I do not deny this—yet the nurse had to act like this, wishing

the best for the child, being concerned with its welfare, out of pity, for compassion’s sake. But

when the child has grown up and is sensible enough, the nurse can be unconcerned about the

child, knowing that now it can watch over itself and will no longer be negligent.

Similarly, monks, as long as a monk has not yet proved his faith in things wholesome, not yet

proved his sense of shame and moral dread, his energy and wisdom as to things wholesome, so

long do I have to watch over him. But when he has proved himself in all these things, I can be

unconcerned about that monk, knowing that he can now watch over himself and will no longer

be negligent. 6

(5:7)

A-a: “The sickle for cutting grass, the pole for carrying it away.” This is given as an example of means

of livelihood.

According to A-a, this refers to a stream-enterer.

rebirth in a celestial world, while the lack of them causes rebirth in the lower realms.

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