LUST IS LIKE FIRE: Sutra (MN 75), Part 2

Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Magandiya Sutra: "To Magandiya" (excerpt) (MN 75 PTS: M i 501) based on Ven. Thanissaro (trans.), Wisdom Quarterly

SEE PART 1. ...When this was said, Magandiya the wandering ascetic said to the Blessed One (the Buddha):

"Teacher Gotama, it's amazing, it's astounding how this, too, is well-stated: 'Freedom from disease is the foremost fortune. Nirvana is the foremost ease!'

"I have heard this said by previous wandering ascetics in the lineage of our teachers: 'Freedom from disease is the foremost fortune. Nirvana is the foremost ease.' We are in agreement."

"Magandiya, as for what you have heard said by previous wandering ascetics in the lineage of your teachers — 'Freedom from disease is the foremost fortune. Nirvana is the foremost ease!' — which freedom from disease is that and which nirvana?"

When this was asked, the wandering ascetic Magandiya, rubbing his body with his hands answered, "This [body] is that freedom from disease, Teacher Gotama, and this [body] is that nirvana. For I am now free from disease, happy, and nothing afflicts me."

"Magandiya, it is just as if there were a man blind from birth unable to see black... white... blue... yellow... red... or pink objects, who could see neither even nor uneven places, nor stars, the sun, or the moon. He hears a man with good eyesight saying, 'How wonderful, good sirs, is this white cloth — beautiful, spotless, and clean!'

"He goes in search of something white. Then [sales]man fools him with a grimy, stained rag: 'Here, good man, is a white cloth — beautiful, spotless, and clean!'

"The blind man takes it and puts it on. Having put it on, gratified, he exclaims words of gratification, such as, 'How wonderful, good sirs, is this white cloth — beautiful, spotless, and clean!'

"What do you think, Magandiya: When that blindman took up the grimy, stained rag and put it on and, gratified, exclaimed words of gratification, 'How wonderful, good sirs, is this white cloth — beautiful, spotless, and clean!' did he do so knowing and seeing, or out of faith in the [sales]man with good eyesight?"

"Teacher Gotama, of course, he did it neither knowing nor seeing but out of faith in the [sales]man with good eyesight."

"Magandiya, in the same way, the wandering ascetics of other schools are blind and without vision. Without knowing freedom from disease, without seeing [actual] nirvana, they still say:

Freedom from disease is the foremost fortune.

Nirvana [non-clinging] is the foremost ease!

"This verse was stated by previous worthy ones [arahants], who themselves were fully awakened:

Freedom from disease is the foremost fortune.

Nirvana [non-clinging] is the foremost ease!

The ennobling eightfold path is the foremost of paths

Leading to the Deathless, secure from all suffering.

"But now it has gradually become a verse uttered by ordinary people [who do not themselves know and see].

The body

"This body, Magandiya, is a disease, a cancer, an arrow, an affliction, and painful. Yet you say, referring to this body -- which is a disease, a cancer, an arrow, an affliction, and painful -- 'This is that freedom from disease, Teacher Gotama, and this is that nirvana,' for you do not have the noble vision to know freedom from disease and see nirvana."

"Teacher Gotama, I am convinced that you can teach me the Dharma [Truth] in such a way that I would know freedom from disease, that I would see nirvana."

"Magandiya, it is as if there were a blindman, blind from birth, who could see neither black... white... blue... yellow... [nor] red objects... the sun or the moon. His friends, companions, and relatives take him to the doctor. The doctor makes a medicine for him. But in spite of this medicine, his eyesight does not appear or grow clear.

"What do you think, Magandiya: Would that doctor reap only but weariness and disappointment?"

"Yes, Teacher Gotama."

"In the same way, Magandiya, if I were to teach you the Dharma — 'This is that freedom from disease, this is that nirvana' — and you for your part did not know freedom from disease nor see nirvana, that would be wearisome for me, that would be troublesome for me."

"[Yet,] Teacher Gotama, I am convinced that you can teach me the Dharma in such a way that I would know freedom from disease, that I would see nirvana."

"Magandiya, it is as if there were a blindman, blind from birth, who could neither see black... white... blue... yellow... [nor] red objects... the sun or the moon. Now suppose a certain man were to take a grimy, stained rag and fool him, saying, 'Here, good man, is a white cloth — beautiful, spotless, and clean!' The blindman takes it and puts it on.

"Then his friends, companions, and relatives take him to the doctor. The doctor makes medicine for him: purges from above and purges from below, ointments and counter-ointments, and treatments through the nose. Thanks to this medicine, his eyesight appears and grows clear. Then together with the arising of his eyesight, he abandons whatever passion and delight he felt for that grimy, stained rag. He regards that [sales]man as an enemy and no friend at all and thinks that he deserves to be killed:

"Goodness, how long have I been fooled, cheated, and deceived by that [sales]man and his grimy, stained rag, saying to me: 'Here, good man, is a white cloth — beautiful, spotless, and clean!'?"

"Magandiya, in the same way, if I were to teach you the Dharma — 'This is that freedom from disease and this is that nirvana' — and you for your part were to know that freedom from disease and see that nirvana, then together with the arising of your vision, you would abandon whatever passion and delight you felt with regard to the Five Aggregates clung to as self.

"And it would occur to you, 'My gosh, how long have I been fooled, cheated, and deceived by this mind? For in clinging,

1. it was just form being clung to...
2. it was just feeling being clung to...
3. it was just perception being clung to...
4. it was just formations being clung to...
5. it was just consciousness being clung to.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The question may arise, isn't it an actual soul, self, or ego that is doing the clinging to the aggregates? No. In an ultimate sense, it is form (the Four Elements) that forms (the gross or subtle physical basis). Feeling feels. Perception perceives. Mental formations form. And consciousness is conscious.]

"Dependent on clinging as a requisite condition, there arises becoming [rebirth]... birth... aging and death... sorrow, lamentation, pains, disappointment, and despair. Thus arises this entire mass of suffering/disappointment.'"

"Teacher Gotama, I am convinced that you can teach me the Dharma in such a way that I might rise up from this seat cured of blindness."

"Magandiya, in that case, associate with noble friends [enlightened/awakened beings]. When you associate with noble friends, you will hear the noble [ennobling] Dharma. When you hear the noble Dharma, you will practice the Dharma in accordance with the Dharma [practice this path in accordance with the Truth].

"When you practice the Dharma in accordance with the Dharma, you will know and see for yourself: 'These things are diseases, cancers, arrows, and here is where diseases, cancers, and arrows cease without remainder. With the cessation of clinging [to these aggregates] comes the cessation of becoming.

"With the cessation of becoming comes the cessation of birth. With the cessation of birth comes the cessation of aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, suffering, and all disappointment. Such comes about the cessation of this entire mass of suffering/disappointment."

When this was said, Magandiya the wandering ascetic exclaimed: "Magnificent, Teacher Gotama, magnificent! It is just as if one were to place upright what had been overturned, or reveal what had been hidden, or point the way to one who were lost, or to carry a lamp into the darkness so that those with eyes could see forms!

"In the same way has Teacher Gotama — through many lines of reasoning — made the Dharma clear. I go to Teacher Gotama for guidance, go to the Dharma for guidance, and to the [Noble] Sangha for guidance! Let me obtain the going forth [ordination into the Buddhist Monastic Order] in Teacher Gotama's presence! Let me obtain admission!"

"Magandiya, anyone who has previously belonged to another order and who desires the going forth and admission into this Dharma and Discipline [Teaching and Path], must first undergo probation for four months. If, at the end of four months, the monastics feel so moved, they give him the going forth and admit one into the monastic state. But I recognize distinctions among individuals in this matter."

"Teacher Gotama, if anyone who has previously belonged to another order and desires the going forth and admission in this Dharma and Discipline must first undergo probation for four months and if, at the end of four months, the monastics feel so moved, they give one the going forth and admission to the monastic state, then I will remain on probation for four years! If, at the end of four years, the monastics feel so moved, let them give me the going forth and admission into the monastic state."

Then Magandiya the wandering ascetic received the going forth and admission in the Blessed One's presence. And in no long time — dwelling withdrawn, secluded, heedful, ardent, and resolved — reached and remained in the supreme goal of the supreme life, for which nobles rightly go forth from home into the home-free life, knowing and seeing for himself here and now:

"Rebirth is ended, the supreme life has been fulfilled, the task is done. There is no more of this to come for the sake of this world." Thus Venerable Magandiya [the Buddhist wandering ascetic] became another one of the awakened ones (arahants).