#1. Nakula’s Father

The aggregates are not-self in the past and future as in the present.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, form of the past and future is not-self, let alone the present. Seeing this, a learned noble disciple doesn’t worry about past form, doesn’t look forward to enjoying future form, and they practice for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding present form. Feeling … Perception … Choices … Consciousness of the past and future is not-self, let alone the present. [Read More]

The aggregates are suffering in the past and future as in the present.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, form of the past and future is suffering, not to mention the present. Seeing this, a learned noble disciple doesn’t worry about past form, doesn’t look forward to enjoying future form, and they practice for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding present form. Feeling … Perception … Choices … Consciousness of the past and future is suffering, let alone the present. [Read More]

The aggregates are impermanent in the past and future as in the present.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, form of the past and future is impermanent, let alone the present. Seeing this, a learned noble disciple doesn’t worry about past form, doesn’t look forward to enjoying future form, and they practice for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding present form. Feeling … Perception … Choices … Consciousness of the past and future is impermanent, let alone the present. [Read More]

An ordinary person identifies their self with the five aggregates and suffers anxiety when the aggregates change. But a noble disciple, free of such identification, does not suffer.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, I will teach you how grasping leads to anxiety, and how not grasping leads to freedom from anxiety. Listen and pay close attention, I will speak. And how does grasping lead to anxiety? It’s when an uneducated ordinary person regards form like this: ‘This is mine, I am this, this is my self. [Read More]

An ordinary person identifies their self with the five aggregates and suffers anxiety when the aggregates change. But a noble disciple, free of such identification, does not suffer.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, I will teach you how grasping leads to anxiety, and how not grasping leads to freedom from anxiety. Listen and pay close attention, I will speak.” “Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this: “And how does grasping lead to anxiety? [Read More]

A mendicant should develop immersion (samādhi) in order to truly understand the origin and ending of the five aggregates.So I have heard. At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, develop immersion. A mendicant who has immersion truly understands. What do they truly understand? The origin and ending of form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness. And what is the origin of form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness? It’s when a mendicant approves, welcomes, and keeps clinging. [Read More]

The householder Hāliddakāni approaches the Venerable Mahākaccāna in the Avanti country and asks how to understand a passage on liberation from “The Questions of Sakka” (see MN 37 and DN 21). Mahākaccāna explains it in terms of freedom from attachment to the aggregates.So I have heard. At one time Venerable Mahākaccāna was staying in the land of the Avantis near Kuraraghara on Steep Mountain. Then the householder Hāliddikāni went up to Venerable Mahākaccāna … and asked him, “Sir, this was said by the Buddha in ‘The Questions of Sakka’: ‘Those ascetics and brahmins who are freed due to the ending of craving have reached the ultimate goal, the ultimate sanctuary, the ultimate spiritual life, the ultimate end, and are best among gods and humans. [Read More]

The householder Hāliddakāni approaches the Venerable Mahākaccāna in the Avanti country and asks how to understand a verse from “The Questions of Māgandiya” of the Aṭṭhakavagga (Snp 4.9). Though the verse appears to be pitched at an ethical level, describing a sage intimate with none in the village, Mahākaccāna explains it in philosophical terms as non-attachment to the aggregates.So I have heard. At one time Venerable Mahākaccāna was staying in the land of the Avantis near Kuraraghara on Steep Mountain. [Read More]

A number of mendicants are heading for lands west, but the Buddha advises them to speak with Sāriputta before they go. Sāriputta reminds them that in foreign lands they will be scrutinized for their understanding, so they need to be able to answer questions on the teaching. He goes on to explain that the Dhamma is for the removal of desire for the five aggregates.So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying in the land of the Sakyans, where they have a town named Devadaha. [Read More]