SuttaCentral
Hello! 7 years ago, I stayed in a few Buddhist monasteries. Then I have read a short sutta in which a person discovered 4 things:
I searched for that sutta for quite a while using Google, but I can’t find it because I don’t remember more details.
Does anyone of you remember this sutta and could point me to it?
Thank you!
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@ORsEnTURVi, thank you for the suggestion. I have read the sutta that you suggest with curiosity. But it’s not the one I am looking for, because it doesn’t speak about No Meaning. If you have other potential suttas that come to your mind (which talk about No Meaning, and other 3 characteristics), I will be grateful.
Hello. The only sutta I can think of is SN 22.95, which seems to have terms that can be difficult to translate. Personally, I impute the English term “pointless” upon the words below.
And a person with good eyesight would see it and contemplate it, examining it carefully. And it would appear to them as completely void, hollow and insubstantial.
Tassa taṁ passato nijjhāyato yoniso upaparikkhato rittakaññeva khāyeyya, tucchakaññeva khāyeyya, asārakaññeva khāyeyya.
ritta
devoid, empty
tuccha
empty; vain; fruitless; trifling; lacking substance; deserted
asāra
that which is not substance, worthlessness; adj. worthless, vain
It’s the four summaries of Dhamma in the Raṭṭhapālasutta, MN. 82. However, the “no creator” rendering of the second summary is only found in the translation of Tilt Billings.
Atāṇo loko anabhissaro.
“The universe is without a refuge, without a Supreme God.”
(Tilt Billings)
“The world is no refuge, no guard.”
(Horner)
“The world is without shelter, without protector.”
(Thanissaro)
“(Life in any) world has no shelter and no protector.”
(Ñanamoli / Bodhi)
On Dhamma Wheel I once argued against the Billings translation:
The “without a refuge/protector” translation supposes anabhissaro to be an adjective formed from “na abhissarati”, the passive form of the verb abhisarati, from the root *sar (the same root as sarana, refuge).
The “without a Supreme God” translation, since it posits a connection between anabhissaro and issaro (God) would need to be formed from an entirely different root: *is or *īs. But since there is no such verb as abhissati or abhīssati, one would first need to form the noun issaro, then prefix it with abhi-, then add the negative an-.
Both ways are possible, but the second is extremely improbable, for had the word been formed in this way we should expect to meet with instances of the unnegated form ‘abhissaro’ in the sense of “Supreme God”. But there is no such instantiation even in the commentaries, let alone the Suttas.
https://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?p=43615#p43615
But Billings was unpersuaded:
https://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?p=43626#p43626
As for “no meaning”, I suppose this would be a crude approximation of the third summary.
Thank you Bhante,
Here’s Bhikkhu Bodhi’s and Bhikkhu Sujato’s renderings of the MN82 passage:
“Great king, there are four summaries of the Dhamma that have been taught by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened. Knowing and seeing and hearing them, I went forth from the home life into homelessness. What are the four?
(1) “‘Life in any world is unstable, it is swept away’: this is the first summary of the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened. Knowing and seeing and hearing this, I went forth from the home life into homelessness.
(2) “‘Life in any world has no shelter and no protector’: this is the second summary of the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One who knows and sees…
(3) “‘Life in any world has nothing of its own; one has to leave all and pass on’: this is the third summary of the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One who knows and sees…
(4) “‘Life in any world is incomplete, insatiate, the slave of craving’: this is the fourth summary of the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One who knows and sees…
“Great king, these are the four summaries of the Dhamma that have been taught by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened. Knowing and seeing and hearing them, I went forth from the home life into homelessness.”
SuttaCentral
“Great king, the Blessed One who knows and sees, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha has taught these four summaries of the teaching for recitation. It was after knowing and seeing and hearing these that I went forth from the lay life to homelessness.
What four?
‘The world is unstable and swept away.’ This is the first summary.
‘The world has no shelter and no savior.’ This is the second summary.
‘The world has no owner—you must leave it all behind and pass on.’ This is the third summary.
‘The world is wanting, insatiable, the slave of craving.’ This is the fourth summary.
SuttaCentral
Thank you! Yes, that’s the one.
Dear @Dhammanando, thank you very much. This is the sutta that I was looking for. It seems though that my memory was not precise, it told me it has “no meaning” in it, when in fact it didn’t have anything about that. I am happy I found this sutta.
Dear @CurlyCarl, this is not the sutta that I was looking for, but it is very insightful and useful for my purpose. Thank you very much! I appreciate a lot. I saved to my collections of suttas that enriched my understanding. Your method, of looking for synonyms, is helpful.