Dear John, Nina and friends,

thanks. To-date the sutta will be as follows:

The Greater Instruction to Rahula [notes 1]

Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One stayed in the garden
of Anathapindika, in Jeta's forest, near Savatthi. Then, when it was
morning, the Blessed One, having dressed and taken his robe and bowl,
entered Saavatthi for alms. Venerable Raahula too, when it was
morning, having dressed and taken his robe and bowl, followed the
Blessed One closely from behind. And then the Blessed one, looking
back towards Rahula, addressed him:

"Rahula, whatever form, - past, future or present, internal or
external, gross or subtle, base or exalted, whether it is far or
near, - all form should be seen as it really is with right wisdom in
such a way: "This is not mine, I am not this, this is not me".

"Form only, Blessed One? Form only, Sugata [the Well-gone, see notes
2]?"

"Also feeling, apperception, determinations and consciousness,
Rahula, as well as form."

Then the venerable Rahula thought, "Who indeed [nu from n'ajja],
after being personally exhorted by the Blessed One himself today,
would go into the village for alms?" Turning back, he sat down at the
foot of a certain tree, crossed his legs and, keeping his body
upright, established mindfulness before him. The venerable Sariputta
saw the venerable Rahula seated at the foot of that tree, cross-
legged and body upright with mindfulness established before him.
Having seen the venerable Rahula, he addressed him: "Cultivate the
development of mindfulness on in and out breathing, Rahula. The
development ofmindfulness on in and out breathing, Rahula, is of
great fruit and profit."

Then, at evening time, the venerable Rahula got up from solitude
[and] approached the Blessed One. Having approached and paid respect
to the Buddha, [Ven. Rahuala] sat down on one side. Then, sitting on
one side, the venerable Rahula said this to the Blessed One, "Sir,
how [is] mindfulness of breathing developed? How is there great
benefits, great fruits [when] practised frequently?"

Rahula, whatever internally, and individually, is solid, solidified,
and clung to, namely: head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, skin,
flesh, veins, bones, bone-marrow, kidney, heart, liver, pleura,
spleen, lungs, large intestine, small intestine, stomach, excreta, or
whatever else internally is separate, solid, solidified, and clung
to. This, Rahula, is called internal earth element. Thus that
internal earth element and that external earth element are simply
earth element. Thus "this is not mine, I am not this, this is not
myself" is to be seen with right wisdom just as it is. Having seen
this with right wisdom just as it is, one is detached from and
becomes dispassionate towards earth element.

Notes:
[1] The Commentary, the papa~ncasuudanii, states that Rahula was so
attached to his body, to attabhaava, this is why the Buddha explained
to him the meditation on rupa and why Sariputta explained to him
aanaapaanasati.

[2] Sugataa - Frequent epithet of the Buddha.
Common renderings:
I: emphasis on the '-gata'
the Well-gone.
the Well-farer (Rhys Davids, Woodward, Horner, Walshe, Norman.
Most common PTS rendering).
II: emphasis on the 'su-'
the Sublime One (~Naa.namoli)
the Fortunate One (Bodhi)
the Blissful One


metta,
Yong Peng.

--- nina van gorkom wrote:

> Dear John,
> I think I understand now the trilinear trans. First litteral, than

more in fluent English? The directness of the Pali I find so
impressive, like Ong Peng said, the beauty of the language. See the
directness of Rahula's questions. In English so much gets lost.

> Yes, the trans is fine.
> Nina.
> op 26-01-2003 23:27 schreef John Kelly op palistudent@...:
>
> > Dear Nina,
> > Thanks for your feedback.