If you grasp at the aggregates as a self, you will meet with calamity, like a man swept down by a mountain river, grasping at grass or rushes.At Sāvatthī. “Suppose, mendicants, there was a mountain river that flowed swiftly, going far, carrying all before it. If wild sugarcane, kusa grass, reeds, vetiver, or trees grew on either bank, they’d overhang the river. And if a person who was being swept along by the current grabbed the wild sugarcane, kusa grass, reeds, vetiver, or trees, it’d break off, and they’d come to ruin because of that. [Read More]

Rāhula asks how to contemplate to let go of conceit and be free. The Buddha urges him to see the aggregates as not-self.At Sāvatthī. Seated to one side, Rāhula said to the Buddha: “Sir, how does one know and see so that the mind is rid of ego, possessiveness, and conceit for this conscious body and all external stimuli; and going beyond discrimination, it’s peaceful and well freed?” “Rāhula, when one truly sees any kind of form at all—past, future, or present; internal or external; coarse or fine; inferior or superior; far or near: all form—with right understanding: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self,’ one is freed by not grasping. [Read More]

Rāhula asks how to contemplate to let go of conceit. The Buddha urges him to see the aggregates as not-self.At Sāvatthī. Then Venerable Rāhula went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Sir, how does one know and see so that there’s no ego, possessiveness, or underlying tendency to conceit for this conscious body and all external stimuli?” “Rāhula, one truly sees any kind of form at all—past, future, or present; internal or external; coarse or fine; inferior or superior; far or near: all form—with right understanding: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self. [Read More]

Remorseful after being admonished by the Buddha on his deathbed, Venerable Channa asks for teachings from the mendicants. Unsatisfied, he seeks out Ānanda, who teaches him the address to Kaccāyana (SN 12.15).At one time several senior mendicants were staying near Benares, in the deer park at Isipatana. Then in the late afternoon, Venerable Channa came out of retreat. Taking a key, he went from dwelling to dwelling, going up to the senior mendicants and saying, “May the venerable senior mendicants advise me and instruct me! [Read More]

Venerable Khemaka is ill, and some senior mendicants ask Dāsaka to convey their concern to him. There follows a series of exchanges mediated by Dāsaka until eventually Khemaka, despite his illness, goes to see the other mendicants himself. The seniors are asking to determine Khemaka’s understanding of the Dhamma, and he says that although he has let go of the five lower fetters, he still has a residual attachment to the five aggregates. [Read More]