Itivuttaka 112

Tipitaka >> Sutta Pitaka >> Khuddaka Nikaya >> Itivuttaka >> '''112. Lokasuttam'''

Adapted From the Translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu(Geoffrey DeGraff)

Compared with the Pali Tipitaka at www.tipitaka.org

112. Lokasuttam (All Worlds Known by Tathagata, Buddha)

This was said by the Lord Buddha(Bhagavata), said by the Arahant, so I have heard:

“Monks, the world[1] has been fully known by the Tathagata(Buddha). From the world, the Tathagata(Buddha) is disjoined. The origination of the world has been fully known by the Tathagata(Buddha). The origination of the world has, by the Tathagata (Buddha), been abandoned. The cessation of the world has been fully known by the Tathagata(Buddha). The cessation of the world has, by the Tathagata(Buddha), been realized. The path leading to the cessation of the world has been fully known by the Tathagata(Buddha). The path leading to the cessation of the world has, by the Tathagata, been developed.[2] “Whatever in this world—with its gods(angels), Maras(devils), & Brahmas(archangels), its generations complete with ascetics(monks)

& brahmans(priests), princes & men—is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect, that has been fully awakened to by the Tathagata(Buddha). Thus he is called the Tathagata (Buddha).“From the night the Tathagata(Buddha) fully attained Bodhi(awakening) to the unsurpassed Right Selfawakening to the night he is totally unbound(Nirvana achieved) in the Unbinding(Nirvanic) property with no fuel remaining(for rebirth),[3] whatever the Tathagata(Buddha) has said, spoken, explained is just so(tatha) and not otherwise. Thus he is called the Tathagata.

“The Tathagata is one who does what he teaches, one who teaches he does. Because he is one who does in line with what he teaches, one who teaches in line with what he does, he is thus called the Tathagata. “In this world with its gods(angels), Maras(deathlords), & Brahmas(archangels), its

generations complete with ascetics(monks) & brahmans, princes & men, the Tathagata(Buddha) is the unconquered conqueror, total seer, the wielder of power.[4] Thus he is called the Tathagata.”

Directly knowing all the world, all the world as it really is, from all the world disjoined, in all the world unmatched. Conquering all in all ways, enlightened, released from all bonds, he touches the foremost peace— Unbinding (nibbana), free from fear. He is free of asava(want/desire), of trouble, awakened, his doubts cut through; has attained the ending of action, <p style="text-align:center;">is released in the destruction of mental acquisitions <p style="text-align:center;">(attributes/cravings). <p style="text-align:center;">He is awakened, Buddha. <p style="text-align:center;">He is a lion, unsurpassed. <p style="text-align:center;">In the world with its devas(angels) <p style="text-align:center;">he set the Brahma-wheel going.5 <p style="text-align:center;">Thus do divine & human beings <p style="text-align:center;">who have gone to the Buddha for refuge, <p style="text-align:center;">gathering, pay homage <p style="text-align:center;">to the great one, thoroughly mature: <p style="text-align:center;">‘Tamed, he’s the best <p style="text-align:center;">of those who can be tamed; <p style="text-align:center;">calm, the seer <p style="text-align:center;">of those who can be calmed; <p style="text-align:center;">released, supreme <p style="text-align:center;">among those who can be released; <p style="text-align:center;">crossed, the foremost <p style="text-align:center;">of those who can cross.’ <p style="text-align:center;">Thus they pay homage <p style="text-align:center;">to the great one, thoroughly mature: <p style="text-align:center;">‘In this world with its devas(angels), <p style="text-align:center;">there’s no one <p style="text-align:center;">to compare <p style="text-align:center;">with you.’

This, too, was the meaning of what was said by the Lord Buddha, so I have heard.

NOTES:

1. SN 35:82 defines the “world“ as the six sense spheres, their objects, consciousness at those spheres, contact at those spheres, and whatever arises in dependence on that contact, experienced as pleasure, pain, or neither pleasure nor pain.

2. This passage parallels, with one change, the duties appropriate to the four nobles truths: abandoning the origination of suffering, realizing its cessation, and developing the path of practice leading to its cessation. The one deviation is that whereas the duty with regard to suffering is to comprehend it, here the Tathagata is disjoined from the world. See SN 56:11.

3. See No.44.

4. These are epithets usually associated with the Great Brahma. See No.22.

5. The Brahma-wheel = the Dhamma-wheel, the name of the Buddha’s first sermon, so called because it contains a “wheel” that lists all twelve combinations of two variables: the four noble truths—suffering, its origination, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation—and the three levels of knowledge appropriate to each truth: knowledge of the truth, knowledge of the task appropriate to the truth, and knowledge that the task

has been completed. This wheel constitutes the Buddha’s most central teaching.

This itivuttaka is identical with AN 4:23.

See also: MN 72; MN 140; MN 146; SN 22:36; SN 22:85–86; AN 4:24; AN 10:81; No.63; Sn

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