Discourse on Nanda’s Questions (Sn 5.7)

By Satiman

Once Nanda asked Gotama Buddha thus :

There are sages in the world, they say.
In what way,
do they call one a sage?
for possessing knowledge
or posessing a way of life.

Purport 1:

The skilled ones or the wise advocate that there exist saints in this world.The saints are the Men of Perfection called Arahants in the Theravāda tradition. How do the wise define a saint, such as an Arahant? Is he defined on the basis of his acquisition of knowledge or according to his holy or noble way of life? A holy or noble life is the righteous way of living without mental corruptions or taints.

Gotama Buddha replied to Nanda thus :

Not account of his views,
Learning
or knowledge
do the skilled here, Nanda,
call one a sage.
Those who live
Disarmed,
Undesiring,
Untroubled.
Those, I say, are called sages.

Purport 2:

The skilled ones or the wise  do not define a true or genuine saint on the basis of his conventional views, learning or knowledge,that is, mere intellectual knowledge. The conventional views, learning or knowledge are the substantialist views which are not compatible with the Buddhist fundamental view of Insubstantiality (Anattā) and Dependent Co-arising (Paṭiccasamuppāda). Insubstantiality is the ultimate Truth of Unity or Non-duality. Insubstantiality is the non-self vision that every thing is empty of self, ego or any permanent substance, such as self-nature, intrinsic nature, sign or form. Succintly put, nothing exists as a discrete, permanent entity. All phenomena are interdependent co-arisen unity.

A substantialist view is the paradigm or vision of the multiplicity or manifoldness of the world. It is the false view of diverfying differentiations fabricated by discriminative view of ontology. As the true nature of the phenomenal world is insubstantial or dependently co-arisen unity by nature, the multiplicity is a cosmic illusion and unreal. Only insubstantiality or the dependently co-arisen unity or non-duality is the eternal Truth. Any saint, who discerns the illusion and unreality of the multiplicity of permanent signs, marks, characteristics or self-natures perceives the eternal Truth of Insubstantiality, Unity or Non-duality Such seer of the suchness of all phenomena is a true or genuine saint.

Having perceived the illusory and unreal multiplicity of forms, a saint obliterates his grasping upon the five aggregates of form, feelings, perceptions, volitions and consciousness as this is I; this is mine ; this belongs to me. There is no sense of private ownership or proprietorship of anything acquired, possessed and utilized by the saint. Non-grasping of the five aggregates connotes that the saint has annihilated the illusive, superimposed self or ego which does not exist in the first place. A saint is One whose sensual activities are not directed and empowered by self-centred ego. Hence, a saint is liberated from the corruptions or cankers of self or ego.

Having relinquished the notion of I or mine, the saint has no sense of either armed or disarmed. To be armed or disarmed connotes notion of either possession or non-possession and increase or decrease. Since the human personality is insubstantial or empty of inherent existence, any object possessed is also insubstantial or empty of inherent existence. As both the subject and the object are empty or non-dualistic, the saint is said to be disarmed, that is, he has no conception of personal ownership. Non-ownership is the message of Insubstantiality or Non-self formulated by the Buddha as this is not I ; this is not mine; this does not belong to me.

With such emptiness, non-dualistic or non-discriminative wisdom, the saint desires without the notion of I or mine. This is the wisdom of undesiring. It is desiring without desiring, that is selfless desiring. It is non-action of all actions. Undesiring connotes unconditioned or selfless desiring - the desire for the one’s own interest but only the interests of others. It does mean a saint rejects or denies all desires. Undesiring is the psychological elimination of desires directed by self-centred ego. It is actually the execution of human desires directed by the wisdom of Insubstantiality or Non-self. The desire directed towards the public interests instead of self-interests is actively promoted and fostered This is the true essence of sainthood.

No saint is free from all desires. Without psychological desire, how could a saint develop the desire to help and benefit others benevolently and compassionately. How could he have the desire to meditate, eat, sleep, or expound the Dhamma? A saint’s desires differ from those of an ordinary worldling. The desires of a saint are directed and empowered by selfless, pure, infinite consciousness. Conversely, the desires of the ordinary worldling are directed, empowered, and contaminated by illusive self or ego – the selfish, impure, finite consciousness.

Furthermore, a saint is emancipated from volitional activities or kammic activities. With the appeasement of volitional activities, he ceases to conceptualize falsely or fabricate imaginations. With the appeasement of false conceptualization, his mind is not diffused and obsessed. With the appeasement of mental diffusion and obsession, he is mentally calm, concentrated, composed and unperturbed. Being unperturbed by any environmental stimulus, favourable or adverse assailing him, he is said to be untroubled. The saint is delivered as he functions with the divine heart rather than with the intellectual mind. The divine heart is the pure, luminous, infinite and non-manifestative consciousness of an Arahant.

Editor’s Note:

All religious saints are similarly produced on the basis of the same first principle – Discernment of the illusion of the multiplicity and the obliteration of illusive, superimposed self or ego. The mind of a Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Muslim saint are essentially or intrinsically the same.There is one and the only eternal Truth discerned by religious saints of all religious denominations. That Truth is ‘One in many and many in One’. The monotheists advocate that everything belongs to God and nothing belongs to us. This declaration also concurs with Buddhist doctrine of Anattā expounded by the Buddha as This is not I; This is not Mine ; This does not belong to me.