The City Parable
A Comparison of EĀ 39.4, AN 7.67, and MĀ 3
I’m not sure if this particular set of early texts has been written about in detail - perhaps it has come up somewhere in Analayo’s writings. I began editing my translation of MĀ 3 today and decided to translate EĀ 39.4 as well, given how significant it is to understanding the origins of MĀ 3 and AN 7.67.
AN 7.67 is an oddity. It does contain a list of seven metaphors that makes it’s placement in the Book of Sevens ostensibly appropriate, but it also has another list of four items. Effectively, it has eleven items, which would seem to make it better placed in the Book of Elevens. But it isn’t.
When we turn to MĀ 3, we find a sūtra that is a bit more verbose than AN 7.67 but otherwise almost identical in the essentials. These two parallels seem unremarkable until we look at EĀ 39.4.
EĀ 39.4 looks like a proper member of the Book of Sevens: It has a single list of seven items. What’s more, however, is that most of the items in this list are directly parallel to those found in AN 7.67. The remainder share similarities that show a relationship between the two texts, such as having the same basic meaning or certain wordings in their descriptions in common.
The result is that AN 7.67 and MĀ 3 both look like a single expanded version of an older sūtra like EĀ 39.4. A single version that became more verbose in the hands of Sarvāstivādins. But otherwise, it’s the same version as we find in AN.
Let’s look at the lists in these three sūtras in more detail. First, let’s compare the parables of the frontier city. Generally speaking, this parable describes the practice of establishing small fortified outposts or forts to control territory in ancient times when the territory was largely empty compared to modern times. The ways that such an outpost was made defensible was used as a metaphor for a monk’s practice to make his mind defensible against Māra.
| EĀ 39.4 | AN 7.67 | MĀ 3 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. A lofty well-ordered city | 1. Unshakable pillar | 1. Indestructible tower |
| 2. Sturdy gates | 2. Deep moat | 2. Deep moat |
| 3. Deep moat | 3. Patrol path | 3. Patrol path |
| 4. Much grain | 4. Weapons | 4. Garrison |
| 5. Much wood and hay | 5. Garrison | 5. Weapons |
| 6. Weapons | 6. Astute gatekeeper | 6. Astute commander |
| 7. Astute lord | 7. High wall | 7. High wall |
| a. Hay, wood, water | a. Hay, wood, water | |
| b. Rice and barley | b. Rice and barley | |
| c. Beans | c. Beans | |
| d. Oil, honey, etc. | d. Oil, honey, etc. |
Above, the items that are directly parallel are in bold, and the items that are very similar are in italics. For example, I consider the sturdy gates and the high walls in the two versions to be very similar since sturdy gates are of little use without walls around the city. All three versions have an astute leader, but they each call him a different kind of leader. Still, the leader is described as astute and talented and keeps the population of the city safe.
We can see here that EĀ 39.4 had items that were placed in both lists in the expanded version, showing that the four item list was not entirely fabricated. Rather, a couple items that could be considered types of food or consumables were placed in a separate list and then a couple more added to it to make four. The reason it needed to be four items was because it was designed to correspond to the four jhānas (dhyānas).
When we turn to the Dharma items that are paired with this parable of the frontier city, we see a greater difference between EĀ 39.4 and the other two sūtras. But the same basic outline of a monk’s religious practice from start to finish can be discerned in both.
| EĀ 39.4 | AN 7.67 | MĀ 3 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Accomplish the precepts | 1. Faith in the Tathāgata | 1. Faith in the Tathāgata |
| 2. Guard the senses | 2. Conscience | 2. Conscience |
| 3. Learn the Dharma | 3. Prudence | 3. Prudence |
| 4. Cultivate the religious life | 4. Learn the Dharma | 4. Right effort |
| 5. Attain four meditations | 5. Right Effort | 5. Learn the Dharma |
| 6. Attain four spiritual abilities | 6. Mindfulness | 6. Mindfulness |
| 7. Discern aggregates, etc. & DO | 7. Wisdom | 7. Wisdom |
| a. First meditation | a. First meditation | |
| b. Second meditation | b. Second meditation | |
| c. Third meditation | c. Third meditation | |
| d. Fourth meditation | d. Fourth meditation |
Again, there are a couple items in the two versions that are direct parallels and several that serve the same basic function. For example, conscience and prudence are basically the same as accomplishing the precepts, and mindfulness is very similar to guarding the senses. Wisdom, being usually defined as discernment, also has the same basic theme as discerning subjects like the aggregates or dependent origination.
What’s striking, though, is the incoherence caused by pulling the four jhānas out of the original list and placing them after it as a separate list. Perhaps it was intended to give them more emphasis since they then become the last topic that’s covered. EĀ 39.4 doesn’t include the traditional descriptions of the four jhānas, either. In fact, we only know they were item five because it refers to them as the four higher or progressive minds. So, perhaps the decision to include each description made it necessary to create four separate items, and this second list was the solution for the redactor(s).
They may have also wanted the sūtra to remain where it was in the Book of Sevens with the other parables involving seven items. So, a list of seven was needed for that to make sense, and a second list was created. It was only later on that it found it’s way into MĀ when this group of parable sūtras became its first chapter. The Theravādins kept it in AN where it belonged.
In any case, this is one more example of the development that’s evident in Buddhist texts, whether they are EBTs or later works. These developments tended toward expansion and more specific and verbose texts. This sometimes changed them quite a bit, though the teachings themselves were generally left intact or recombined.
It also highlights the fact that comparing Theravāda Nikāyas to Sarvāstivāda Āgamas is not very illuminating when it comes to discerning the origins of these texts. They both represent late, well-developed canons that appear to have copied each other. It’s when we compare them to other sources like EĀ that we discover just how developed they are (by comparison).