The Related Discourses
7. The Abodes of Mindfulness
| （六一二） | 10-11 (612). The Archer |
|---|---|
| 如是我聞： 一時，佛住舍衛國、祇樹、給孤獨園。 | 1. Thus I have heard:1 One time, the Buddha was staying at Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park in Jeta’s Grove of Śrāvastī. |
| 爾時，世尊告諸比丘： 「如人執持四種強弓，大力方便射多羅樹影，疾過無閡。 如是如來四種聲聞增上、方便、利根、智慧。 盡百年壽，於如來所百年說法教授。 唯除食息、𥙷寫、睡眠。 中間常說、常聽。 智慧明利，於如來所說，盡底受持，無諸障閡。 於如來所不加再問。 如來說法無有終極，聽法盡壽，百歲命終，如來說法猶不能盡。 | 2. It was then that the Bhagavān addressed the monks, “Suppose a person holds the four kinds of bow and shoots arrows with great power and skill at a palm tree’s shadow, and they fly beyond it without obstruction. Thus are the progress, skill, sharp faculties, and wisdom of the Tathāgata’s four kinds of disciple. For a whole hundred-year lifespan, they are given a hundred years’ worth of the Tathāgata’s teaching and instruction. The only exceptions are when they stop to eat, mend, bathe, or sleep. In between, they always discuss and always listen [to his teaching]. Wise, insightful, and sharp, they fully fathom, accept, and retain the Tathāgata’s teaching without obstructions. They don’t need to ask repeated questions of the Tathāgata. The Tathāgata’s teaching having no final end, they might listen to the Dharma for an entire lifetime, and the Tathāgata’s teaching would still be unending when a person’s life ends after a hundred years. |
| 「當知如來所說無量無邊， 名、句、味身亦復無量，無有終極。 所謂四念處。 何等為四？ 謂身念處，受、心、法念處。」 | 3. “You should know that the Tathāgata’s teaching is measureless and limitless. Their bodies of names, lines, and themes are also measureless and without any final end. That teaching is the four abodes of mindfulness. What are the four? They are the mindful abode of the body … feelings … the mind, and the mindful abode of principles. [11] Therefore, monks, cultivation of these four abodes of mindfulness produces motivation. You should train yourselves with diligence, skill, right mindfulness, and right knowledge.” |
| 佛說此經已，諸比丘聞佛所說，歡喜奉行。 | 4. After the Buddha spoke this sūtra, the monks who heard what the Buddha taught rejoiced and approved. |
| （一切四念處經，皆以此總句，所謂： 「是故，比丘，於四念處修習，起增上欲。 精勤、方便、正念、正智，應當學。」） | (All of the four abodes of mindfulness sutras have this general line,2 which says: “Therefore, monks, cultivation of these four abodes of mindfulness produces motivation. You should train yourselves with diligence, skill, right mindfulness, and right knowledge.”) |
Notes
This is sūtra no. 612 in the Taisho edition and nos. 769-770 in Yinshun (T99.2.171c6-21, Y30.247a1-10). It’s parallel with the archer parable found in MN 12 and T 757 (which was a translation of the Romaharṣaṇa Sūtra from the Sarvāstivāda Dīrgha Āgama). [back]
It’s unclear what this note is intended to mean. It sounds as though every sūtra in this saṃyukta should have a similar conclusion, when the majority do not in the Chinese translation. Yinshun treated it as a single variant to this sūtra, and I’ve done the same for lack of a better idea. [back]
Translator: Charles Patton
Last Revised: 18 March 2026
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