English
14. Explanation of the Tuvaṭṭaka Sutta Now, the explanation of the Tuvaṭṭaka Sutta will be given: 150. I ask you, Kinsman of the Sun, about seclusion and the state of peace, O Great Seer; How does a monk, seeing what, become cool, clinging to nothing in the world? "I ask you, Kinsman of the Sun." "Ask" refers to three kinds of asking: asking to illuminate the unseen, asking to confirm the seen, and asking to resolve doubt. What is asking to illuminate the unseen? When a characteristic is naturally unknown, unseen, unweighed, unexamined, unmanifested, unrevealed, one asks a question for the sake of knowing it, seeing it, weighing it, examining it, revealing it—this is asking to illuminate the unseen. What is asking to confirm the seen? When a characteristic is naturally known, seen, weighed, examined, manifested, revealed, one asks a question for the sake of confirming it with other wise people—this is asking to confirm the seen. What is asking to resolve doubt? When one is naturally assailed by doubt, assailed by uncertainty, caught in a dilemma, thinking, "Is it so, or is it not so? What is it, how is it?" one asks a question for the sake of resolving that doubt—this is asking to resolve doubt. These are the three kinds of asking. There are also another three kinds of asking: asking by humans, asking by non-humans, and asking by emanations. What is asking by humans? Humans approach the Buddha, the Blessed One, and ask questions; monks ask, nuns ask, male lay followers ask, female lay followers ask, kings ask, khattiyas ask, brahmins ask, vessas ask, suddas ask, householders ask, renunciants ask—this is asking by humans. What is asking by non-humans? Non-humans approach the Buddha, the Blessed One, and ask questions; nāgas ask, supaṇṇas ask, yakkhas ask, asuras ask, gandhabbas ask, great kings ask. They ask, Indas ask, Brahmas ask, Deities ask – This is the non-human question. What is the created-being question? That which the Blessed One creates, a mind-made form, with all limbs and minor parts, with unimpaired faculties. That created being approaches the Buddha, the Blessed One, and asks a question. The Blessed One answers him – This is the created-being question. These are the three questions. Again, three questions: The self-benefit question, The other-benefit question, The both-benefit question. Again, three questions: The present-life benefit question, The future-life benefit question, The ultimate-benefit question. Again, three questions: The blameless-benefit question, The defilement-free benefit question, The purification-benefit question. Again, three questions: The past question, The future question, The present question. Again, three questions: The internal question, The external question, The internal-and-external question. Again, three questions: The wholesome question, The unwholesome question, The indeterminate question. Again, three questions: The aggregates question, The elements question, The sense-bases question. Again, three questions: The foundations-of-mindfulness question, The right-exertions question, The bases-of-power question. Again, three questions: The faculties question, The powers question, The factors-of-enlightenment question. Again, three questions: The path question, The fruit question, The Nibbāna question. I ask you, I ask you, I entreat you, I implore you, I please you, "Tell me," I ask you. O Kinsman of the Sun. Ādicca is called the sun. The sun is Gotama by clan. The Blessed One is also Gotama by clan. The Blessed One is a clan-relative, a clan-kinsman of the sun. Therefore, the Buddha is the Kinsman of the Sun – I ask you, Kinsman of the Sun. Solitude and the state of peace, O Great Seeker. Solitude: there are three solitudes: Bodily solitude, Mental solitude, Solitude from the bases of existence. What is bodily solitude? Here a monk resorts to a secluded dwelling, a forest, the root of a tree. He dwells in physical seclusion in a mountain, a cave, a mountain grotto, a charnel ground, a forest thicket, an open space, a heap of straw. He goes alone, he stands alone, he sits alone, he lies down alone, he enters the village for alms alone, he returns alone, he sits in seclusion alone, he undertakes walking meditation alone, he moves, dwells, acts, behaves, maintains, lives, passes his life alone – This is physical seclusion. What is mental seclusion? For one who has attained the first jhana, the mind is secluded from the hindrances. For one who has attained the second jhana, the mind is secluded from initial and sustained application. For one who has attained the third jhana, the mind is secluded from rapture. For one who has attained the fourth jhana, the mind is secluded from pleasure and pain. For one who has attained the dimension of infinite space, the mind is secluded from perception of form, perception of sensory impact, perception of diversity. For one who has attained the dimension of infinite consciousness, the mind is secluded from the perception of the dimension of infinite space. For one who has attained the dimension of nothingness, the mind is secluded from the perception of the dimension of infinite consciousness. For one who has attained the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, the mind is secluded from the perception of the dimension of nothingness. For a stream-enterer, the mind is secluded from identity view, doubt, adherence to rites and rituals, the latent tendency of views, the latent tendency of doubt, and from defilements associated with these. For a once-returner, the mind is secluded from gross sensual desire fetters, gross ill-will fetters, gross latent tendencies of sensual desire, gross latent tendencies of ill-will, and from defilements associated with these. For a non-returner, the mind is secluded from subtle sensual desire fetters, subtle ill-will fetters, subtle latent tendencies of sensual desire, subtle latent tendencies of ill-will, and from defilements associated with these. For an Arahant, the mind is secluded from craving for form, craving for the formless, conceit, restlessness, ignorance, the latent tendency of conceit, the latent tendency of craving for existence, the latent tendency of ignorance, and from defilements associated with these, and from all external signs. This is mental seclusion. What is seclusion from supports? Supports are called defilements and aggregates. and non-formations. Detachment from substrata is called the deathless Nibbāna. That which is the calming of all formations, the relinquishing of all substrata, the destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, Nibbāna – this is detachment from substrata. And bodily seclusion for those whose bodies are secluded, who delight in renunciation. And mental seclusion for those with purified minds, who have attained supreme clarity. And detachment from substrata for persons without substrata, who have gone to the unconditioned. "Peace" – in one aspect, peace itself, the state of peace, is that very deathless Nibbāna, that which is the calming of all formations, the relinquishing of all substrata, the destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, Nibbāna. And this was said by the Blessed One: "This is the peaceful state, this is the sublime state, namely, the calming of all formations, the relinquishing of all substrata, the destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, Nibbāna." Then, in another aspect, those qualities that lead to the attainment of peace, to the experience of peace, to the realization of peace, namely – the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right exertions, the four bases of psychic power, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven factors of enlightenment, the Noble Eightfold Path – these are called the state of peace, the state of protection, the state of refuge, the state of shelter, the state of fearlessness, the unshakeable state, the deathless state, the state of Nibbāna. "Great Seeker" – the Blessed One is a Great Seeker. He sought, searched for, investigated the great aggregate of virtue, thus he is a Great Seeker. He sought, searched for, investigated the great aggregate of concentration, the great aggregate of wisdom, the great aggregate of liberation, the great aggregate of the knowledge and vision of liberation, thus he is a Great Seeker. He shattered the great mass of darkness, broke the great perversion, drew out the great dart of craving, untangled the great tangle of views, brought down the great banner of conceit, calmed the great formations, crossed the great flood, laid down the great burden, cut off the great cycle of transmigration, the great... He sought, he searched, he investigated the extinguishing of fever, the calming of great anguish, the raising of the great banner of Dhamma— thus he is the Great Seeker. He sought, he searched, he investigated the great foundations of mindfulness, the great right efforts, the great bases of psychic power, the great faculties, the great powers, the great factors of awakening, the great Noble Eightfold Path, the great ultimate, deathless Nibbāna— thus he is the Great Seeker. Or, he is sought, searched, investigated by beings of great power: “Where is the Buddha? Where is the Blessed One? Where is the God of gods? Where is the Bull among men?”— thus he is the Great Seeker. He sought seclusion and the state of peace. “How does a monk, having seen, attain Nibbāna?” How does a monk, having seen, having observed, having weighed, having determined, having made clear, having made manifest, extinguish his own passion, extinguish hatred, extinguish delusion, anger… resentment… denigration… domineering… envy… avarice… deceit… fraud… obstinacy… presumption… conceit… over-conceit… intoxication… heedlessness… all defilements… all evil conduct… all distresses… all anguishes… all fevers… all unwholesome volitional formations— extinguishes, calms, tranquilizes, pacifies, allays them? “Monk” means either a virtuous ordinary person