The Medium Discourses

Chapter 7: King Dīrghāyu

84. Thornless

1. Thus I have heard:[1] One time, the Buddha traveled to Vaiśālī and stayed near the tall pagoda on the bank of the *Markaṭa River.[2]

2. Many famous, elder, and senior great disciples were there: Cāla, Upacāla, *Aryabhadra, *Aryariṣṭa, Ariṣṭa, Yaśas, and *Yaśottara.[3] Thus were the names of the virtuous, elder, and senior great disciples who also traveled to Vaiśālī and stayed near the tall pagoda on the bank of the Markaṭa River. They had all gathered together by the side of the Buddha’s leaf hut.

3. The Licchavis of Vaiśālī heard that the Bhagavān had traveled to Vaiśālī to stay near the tall pagoda on the bank of the Markaṭa River. They then thought, “We’d better use great spiritual abilities and the authority of the king to make an announcement: ‘Let’s leave Vaiśālī and go to the Bhagavān to offer support and pay homage to him.’”[4]

4. Those famous, elder, and senior great disciples heard those Licchavis of Vaiśālī use great spiritual abilities and the authority of the king to make an announcement: ‘Let’s leave Vaiśālī and go to the Bhagavān to offer support and pay homage to him.’ The disciples thought, “Sound is the thorn for meditation. The Bhagavān also says that sound is the thorn for meditation. We ought to go to the Gośṛṅga Sal Grove and stay where there aren’t any disturbances. We’ll be secluded and alone there, staying in a quiet abode in a peaceful place, sitting in repose, and reflecting.”

5. Thereupon, those famous, elder, and senior great disciples went to Gośṛṅga Sal Grove and stayed where there weren’t any disturbances. They were secluded and alone, staying in a quiet abode in a peaceful place, sitting in repose, and reflecting.

6. It was then that a crowd of Licchavis from Vaiśālī had used great spiritual abilities and the authority of the king to make an announcement: ‘Let’s leave Vaiśālī and go to the Bhagavān to offer support and pay homage to him.’ Some of the Licchavis bowed their heads at the Buddha’s feet and withdrew to sit at one side. Others exchanged greetings and inquiries with the Buddha and then withdraw to sit at one side. Some saluted the Buddha with their palms together and withdrew to sit at one side. Others quietly looked at the Buddha from afar and sat down.

7. Once that crowd of Licchavis was seated, they settled down. The Bhagavān taught them Dharma, encouraging, rousing, and making them rejoice. After using measureless methods to teach them Dharma that encouraged, roused, and made them rejoice, he fell silent and waited.

8. Once the Bhagavān had taught Dharma for that crowd of Licchavis and encouraged, roused, and made them rejoice, they rose from their seats, bowed their heads at the Buddha’s feet, circled him three times, and departed.

9. Not long after those Licchavis had departed, the Bhagavān asked the monks, “Where did the elder and senior great disciples go?”

10. The monks said, “Bhagavān, the elder and senior great disciples heard those Licchavis use great spiritual abilities and the authority of the king to make an announcement: ‘Let’s leave Vaiśālī and go to the Buddha to offer support and pay homage to him.’ They thought, ‘Sound is the thorn for meditation. The Bhagavān also says that sound is the thorn for meditation. We ought to go to the Gośṛṅga Sal Grove and stay where there aren’t any disturbances. We’ll be secluded and alone there, staying in a quiet abode in a peaceful place, sitting in repose, and reflecting.’ Bhagavān, the elder and senior great disciples went there together.”

11. The Bhagavān sighed in admiration upon hearing this and said, “Good, good! Those elder and senior great disciples should say, ‘Sound is the thorn for meditation. The Bhagavān also says that sound is the thorn for meditation.’ Why is that?[5]

12. “I really do say that meditation has this thorn. For someone observing precepts, violating a precept is a thorn. For someone guarding their faculties, an adorned body is a thorn. For someone contemplating the foul discharges, cleanliness is a thorn. For someone cultivating kindness, anger is a thorn. For someone avoiding alcohol, drinking liquor is a thorn. For someone practicing celebacy, a woman’s form is a thorn.

13. “For someone entering the first meditation, sound is a thorn. For someone entering the second meditation, noticing and examining things are thorns. For someone entering the third meditation, joy is a thorn. For someone entering the fourth meditation, breathing in and out is a thorn.

14. “For someone entering the abode of space, perception of form is a thorn. For someone entering the abode of consciousness, perception of the abode of space is a thorn. For someone entering the abode of nothingness, perception of the abode of consciousness is a thorn. For someone entering the abode of no perception, perception of the abode of nothingness is a thorn. For someone entering the cessation of perceptions and experience samādhi[6], perceptions and experience are thorns.

15. “There are another three thorns: The thorn of desire, thorn of anger, and thorn of delusion. These three thorns have been eliminated by an arhat who has ended the contaminants. They’ve been recognized and their roots completely pulled out. They’ve been destroyed, never to grow again. This is the arhat’s lack of thorns, the arhat’s freedom from thorns, and the arhat’s lack of thorns and freedom from thorns.”

16. The Buddha spoke thus. Those monks who heard what the Buddha had taught rejoiced and approved.

Notes

1. For the source text, cf. T26.1.560b22-1a18. The parallel to this sūtra is AN 10.72. [back]
2. tall pagoda. C. 高樓臺觀. Lit. “high tower terrace for observation.” “Belvedere” might also translate the idea well enough. The Pali parallel has kūṭāgārasāla. *Markaṭa River. C. 獼猴江. Lit. “Monkey River.” The Pali instead places the location in the Great Forest (Mahāvana). [back]
3. Several of these names are only educated guesses: *Aryabhadra. C. 賢善. Lit. “Worthy Good.”
   *Aryariṣṭa. C. 賢患. Lit. “Worthy Trouble.”
   *Yaśottara. C. 上稱. Lit. “Superior Fame.”
   The others seem clear enough: Cāla. C. 遮羅, EMC. tʃɪă-la = G. *Cala. Upacāla. C. 優簸遮羅, EMC. ɪəu-pua-tʃɪă-la = G. *Upacala. Ariṣṭa. C. 無患. Lit. “Untroubled.” Yaśas. C. 耶舍, EMC. yiă-ʃɪă = G. Yaśa. [back]
4. AN 10.72 has a much more prosaic explanation for the disturbance made by the Licchavis: Their carts made a ruckus as they arrived to visit the Buddha. Perhaps that seemed too small a thing to disturb such great disciples. [back]
5. The list of thorns that follows is nearly twice as long as the one in AN 10.72, which was naturally limited to ten. The Pali list in Bhikkhu Bodhi’s translation is (1) Delight in company … solitude, (2) pursuit of an attractive object … meditation on the mark of the unattractive, (3) unsuitable shows … guarding the sense faculties, (4) keeing company with women … celibate life, (5) noise … first jhāna, (6) thought and examination … second jhāna, (7) rapture … third jhāna, (8) in-and-out breathing … fourth jhāna, (9) perception and feeling … attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling, and (10) lust, hatred, and delusion. That this sūtra may not have originally been located in AN 10 is suggested by lust, hatred, and delusion being artificially made into one item that doesn’t obstruct anything in particular. Here, they make a second list of three that follows the main list of thorns. [back]
6. cessation of perceptions and experience samādhi. C. 想知滅定, P. saññā-vedayita-nirodha-samāpatti. Typically translated from P. as “attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling.” The Chinese translator interpreted S. vedayita (G. vedayida) as “to know” (知), which can have the connotation of direct experience. He also must have considered P/S. samāpatti and samādhi synonymous, if we assume his original was the same as other Buddhist sources for this term, as he appears to translate both words as 定. [back]

Translator: Charles Patton

Last Revised: 14 October 2024