Dwelling Alone, Dwelling with Another (sutra)

Wisdom Quarterly translation, The Salayatana Book, Kindred Sayings on Sense (SN 63)

Grand Buddha at Ling Shan, near Wuxi, Jiangsu, China (Z4nclr4/flickr.com)

   

Hermit cabin (treehugger.com)

SAVATTHI, India - Venerable Migajala came to the Buddha.... And seated to one side, he addressed him:

"'Dwelling alone! Dwelling alone!' venerable sir, is the saying. To what extent is one a dweller alone, and to what extent is one a dweller with another (sadutiya, "with a second, with a mate"), venerable sir?"

"There are, Migajala, objects cognizable by the eye -- objects which are desirable, pleasant, delightful, and dear, fraught with passion, inciting lust. 

 

Letting go (newlotus.buddhistdoor.com)

"If one [a monastic or meditator] is enamored of them, if one welcomes them, if one persists in clinging to them, so enamored, so persisting, there comes a lure. Where there is a lure, there is infatuation. Where there is infatuation there is bondage. Bound in the bondage (fetter) of the lure, Migajala, one is called a 'dweller with another.'...

 

"There are, Mijagala, flavors cognizable by the tongue... sounds cognizable by the ear... tangibles cognizable by the skin... fragrances cognizable by the nose... mind-states cognizable by the mind... inciting lust. If one is enamored of them... there comes a lure. Where there is a lure, there is bondage.... Bound with the bondage of the lure, Migajala, a brother is called a 'dweller with another.'...

"One so dwelling, Migajala, though that person frequent jungle glades, hermitages, or forest lodgings, remote and silent, removed from the uproar, free from the [madness] of crowds, where one lodges far from humankind, places fit for solitude [withdrawal and serene meditation] -- yet that person is called a 'dweller with another.'...

"But, Migajala, there are objects cognizable by the eye -- objects which are desirable, pleasant, delightful, and dear, fraught with passion, inciting lust. If one is NOT enamored of them, does not welcome them, does not persist in clinging to them, in that person not enamored, not welcoming, not persisting in clinging to them, the lure fades away.

"Where there is no lure, there is no infatuation. Where there is no infatuation, there is no bondage. Freed from the bondage of the lure, Migajala, one is called a 'lone dweller.'

"So also with regard to flavors cognizable by the tongue... and mind-states cognizable by mind....

Moritz von Schwind (circa 1846)

"Thus dwelling, Migajala, one, though dwelling amid a village crowded with monastics, with laymen and laywomen, with rulers (rajas) and royal ministers, with other teachers and their followers -- yet one is called a 'lone dweller,' a dweller alone.

 

"Why? Craving is the mate, the other, the one left behind. Therefore, one is called a 'lone dweller.'"

Dwelling Alone, Dwelling with Another

Migajala II (SN 64)

...Then Venerable Migajala came to the Buddha [again]... And seated to one side, he said to him:

"Well for me, venerable sir, if the Exalted One should give me a teaching in brief, hearing which I might dwell solitary, secluded, zealous, ardent, and aspiring." TO BE CONTINUED