Re: Dutiya Anuruddha Sutta AN 3.131

 

Dear Ven.,

My interpretation is that Anuruddha has too much attention on his mind and his self which is why he is having trouble achieving liberation. So Sāriputta tells him that his statement about the divine eye is conceit, his statement about the state of his mind is uddhacca, i. e. a distraction, and his statement about not being released is kukkacca, worry. In other words he is fooling himself, if he thinks his mind is ekaggatā, etc., as he has too much attention on himself. So Sāriputta tells him to get rid of these thoughts and his attention on himself, and that will lead to liberation and that's what happens.

So the doctrinal issue isn't what you suggest, but Anuruddha having too much self-consciousness. Whether he has one-pointedness or not, to put his attention on it is distraction, which suggests that indeed he doesn't have ekaggatā, which is a unified mind, if he is looking back at himself.

That's my interpretation of the sutta. As a meditator, I have experienced this many times. The moment I start looking at "myself" or "my mind", it in fact creates the nīvaraṇa that I am trying to dispel.

Hope that helps,

Best wishes,

Bryan

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From: "Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu yuttadhammo@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2016 1:23 PM
Subject: [palistudy] Dutiya Anuruddha Sutta AN 3.131

 

Dear friends,

I'm confused by a passage in the Anguttara:

“yaṃ kho te, āvuso anuruddha, evaṃ hoti — ‘ahaṃ dibbena cakkhunā visuddhena atikkantamānusakena sahassaṃ lokaṃ volokemī’ti, idaṃ te mānasmiṃ. yampi te, āvuso anuruddha, evaṃ hoti — ‘āraddhaṃ kho pana me vīriyaṃ asallīnaṃ, upaṭṭhitā sati asammuṭṭhā, passaddho kāyo asāraddho, samāhitaṃ cittaṃ ekaggan’ti, idaṃ te uddhaccasmiṃ. yampi te, āvuso anuruddha, evaṃ hoti — ‘atha ca pana me nānupādāya āsavehi cittaṃ vimuccatī’ti, idaṃ te kukkuccasmiṃ.

It's a doctrinal issue: shouldn't the first be uddhacca and the second be maana? It's hard to understand how a mind that is ekagga could be causing uddhacca...

My question is whether there might be editions of this sutta, or in the agamas where the order is the other, more easily understandable, one? Or if anyone can assuage my suspicion?

It's AN 3.131 in the Myanmar pali, and 130 in Bhante Bodhi's translation.

Thanks,

Yuttadhammo