The Related Discourses

2. The Sense Fields

（二〇七）如實知	80 (207). Truly Knowing (2)
如是我聞：一時，佛住毘舍離、耆婆拘摩羅藥師菴羅園。	1. Thus I have heard:¹ One time, the Buddha was staying in Doctor Jīvaka Kumāra’s Mango Park of Vaiśālī.
爾時，世尊告諸比丘：「當修無量三摩提，精勤繫念。所以者何？修無量三摩提，精勤繫念已，則如實顯現。於何如實顯現？於眼如實顯現」⋯如是廣說乃至⋯「此諸法無常、有為，此如實顯現。」	2. It was then that the Bhagavān addressed the monks, “You should cultivate a measureless samādhi and earnestly tie your thoughts to it. Why is that? Having cultivated a measureless samādhi and earnestly tied one’s thoughts to it, then things appear as they really are. What truly appears? The eye truly appears … and so on as in previous sūtra … These things truly appear as impermanent and created.”
佛說此經已，諸比丘聞佛所說歡喜，奉行。	3. After the Buddha spoke this sūtra, the monks who heard what the Buddha taught rejoiced and approved.

This is sūtra no. 207 in the Taisho edition and no. 258 in Yinshun (T99.2.52b29-c6). This and the previous sūtra are similar to SN 35.160-161. See the notes to SĀ 2.79 for more about these sūtras. The difference here is that the practice recommended is tying one’s thoughts to a “measureless samādhi.” The equivalent passage in Pali reads more simply: “Mendicants, develop immersion. For a mendicant with immersion, things become truly clear” (Samādhiṁ, bhikkhave, bhāvetha. Samāhitassa, bhikkhave, bhikkhuno yathābhūtaṁ okkhāyati.). [back]

Translator: Charles Patton

Last Revised: 30 January 2025