Patthama-Jñānavaṭṭu Sutta
(The First Discourse on the Objects of Knowledge — On the Forty-four Knowledges / jñānavaṭṭu 44)
[118] — Setting & Introduction
Thus I have heard: — At one time the Blessed One was dwelling at Jetavana (Cetavana/Cetiyavana — the park/monastery of Anāthapiṇḍika) in Sāvatthī (Savatthi). The Blessed One said: “Monks, I will declare to you the forty-four objects of knowledge (jñānavaṭṭu 44 — jñāna = knowledge; vaṭṭu = object/field). Attend to those objects; pay close attention; I will speak.” The bhikkhus assented to the Blessed One.
[119] — The list: the 44 objects of knowledge (jñānavaṭṭu 44)
The Blessed One said: “Monks, what are the forty-four objects of knowledge? They are fourfold knowledges for each of the following items: (1) knowledge of the phenomenon itself, (2) knowledge of the cause/condition that is the field of origin for that phenomenon, (3) knowledge of the cessation of that phenomenon, and (4) knowledge of the course of practice (paṭipatā) that leads to the cessation of that phenomenon — and this pattern repeats for each of these ten items (plus the saṅkhāra group treated specially), yielding a total of forty-four. Concretely:
- Knowledge of aging-and-death (jarā-maraṇa — aging and death),
- Knowledge of the cause/field of origin of aging-and-death,
- Knowledge of the cessation of aging-and-death,
- Knowledge of the course of practice that leads to the cessation of aging-and-death.
5–8. Knowledge of birth (jāti — coming-to-be), its field of origin, its cessation, and the course of practice to the cessation of birth.
9–12. Knowledge of becoming / state-of-being (bhava), its origin, its cessation, and the course of practice to its cessation.
13–16. Knowledge of clinging / appropriation (upādāna), its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation.
17–20. Knowledge of craving (taṇhā), its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation.
21–24. Knowledge of feeling (vedanā), its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation.
25–28. Knowledge of contact (phassa), its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation.
29–32. Knowledge of the six external/internal sense-bases (ṣaḷāyatana — the six sense bases), their origin, their cessation, and the practice that leads to their cessation.
33–36. Knowledge of name-and-form (nāma-rūpa), its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation.
37–40. Knowledge of consciousness (viññāṇa), its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation.
41–44. Knowledge of conditioned formations / fabrications (saṅkhāra) — here: knowledge of saṅkhāra, knowledge of the cause/field of origin of saṅkhāra, knowledge of the cessation of saṅkhāra, and knowledge of the practice that leads to the cessation of saṅkhāra.
Monks, these are called the forty-four objects of knowledge (jñānavaṭṭu 44).”
(Note: the pattern is: for certain central doctrinal items — aging-death, birth, becoming, clinging, craving, feeling, contact, six bases, name-form, consciousness — for each there are four specific knowledges: knowledge of the item; of its originating cause/field; of its cessation; and of the path/practice leading to that cessation. The saṅkhāra group likewise receives the same fourfold treatment, giving 11 × 4 = 44.)
[120] — Definitions: aging & death (jarā & maraṇa)
“Monks, what is ‘aging’ (jarā)? Aging is the condition of senescence: teeth falling out, hair turning white, skin wrinkling, bodily decay, decline of bodily faculties — these are called aging. What is ‘death’ (maraṇa)? Death is dissolution, disappearance, extinction — mortality; the breaking-up of the aggregates, the abandonment of the corpse, the loss of bodily faculties in that animal kind — this is called death. Aging and death are thus described.
Because there is birth (jāti), aging and death arise; when birth ceases, aging and death cease. The Noble Eightfold Path (ariya-magga aṭṭhaṅgika — right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration) — this alone is the practice that leads to the ending of aging and death.”
[121] — The noble disciple’s penetrating knowledge (the “knowing that carries past & future”)
“Monks, a noble disciple (ariyasāvaka) knows aging and death thus; he knows the cause/field of origin of aging and death thus; he knows the cessation of aging and death thus; he knows the course of practice that leads to the cessation of aging and death thus. This is called the disciple’s knowledge of the Dhamma (dhamma-knowledge). That noble disciple carries (takes along) into the past and the future this Dhamma which he has seen and known; it bears fruit without limitation of time — what he has realized and what he has penetrated. Just as a particular sage (samaṇa or brāhmaṇa) of a past age knew aging and death, their origin, cessation, and the practice that leads to cessation — so too will sages of the future know them in the same way. This is called the disciple’s anu-knowledge (anuyāna / anuyāna-jñāna) — the knowledge that pertains across times.”
[122] — Two kinds of knowledge are pure and bright
“Monks, these two knowledges — the dhammaññāṇa (dhamma-knowledge / insight-knowledge) and the anujñāṇa (here rendered anuyāna — the knowledge that follows through past and future) — of the noble disciple are pure and luminous by nature. Such an ariyasāvaka is said to be one complete in right view (sampanna in diṭṭhi), one complete in right understanding (sampanna in ṭhassa/taṭṭhā?), one who has come to the true Dhamma, seen the true Dhamma, endowed with the knowledges of the sage (sekha), endowed with the higher wisdom (vijjā) of the sage, one who has reached the stream of the Dhamma (sotāpanna etc.), an ariya who by wisdom has begun to destroy defilements and who stands close to the door of deathlessness (nibbāna).”
(translation: the sutta praises the twofold knowledge of the noble disciple — direct insight and its continuing, timeless fruit — as immaculate and luminous; the disciple thereby is counted among those established in the Dhamma and close to final liberation.)
[123] — Short recapitulation of the sequence
“Monks, what is birth (jāti)? What is the realm of becoming (bhava)? What is clinging (upādāna)? What is craving (taṇhā)? What is feeling (vedanā)? What is contact (phassa)? What are the six bases (ṣaḷāyatana)? What are name-and-form (nāma-rūpa)? What is consciousness (viññāṇa)? What are saṅkhāras (fabrications)? — Saṅkhāra are threefold: bodily-fabrication (kāya-saṅkhāra), verbal-fabrication (vacī-saṅkhāra), and mental-fabrication (citta-saṅkhāra). Saṅkhāra arise because of ignorance (avijjā); when ignorance ceases, saṅkhāra cease. The Noble Eightfold Path (ariya-magga aṭṭhaṅgika) alone — right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration — is the practice that leads to the ending of these formations.”
[124] — The noble disciple’s comprehensive knowledge of saṅkhāra
“Monks, a noble disciple knows saṅkhāra in this way; he knows the cause/field of origin of saṅkhāra; he knows saṅkhāra’s cessation; he knows the course of practice that leads to the cessation of saṅkhāra. This too is the disciple’s knowledge of Dhamma — and, as before, that which one has seen and realized carries forward into past and future and bears fruit without limitation. Sages of the past knew saṅkhāra thus; sages of the future will know saṅkhāra thus. This is the anuyāna (continuing knowledge) of the noble disciple.”
[125] — Reprise of the purity of the two knowledges
“Monks, these two kinds of knowledge — the dhamma-knowledge and the anuyāna — of the noble disciple are pure and luminous. Such an ariyasāvaka is described as complete in right view, full in right understanding; one who has come into the true Dhamma and seen it; one endowed with the teachings (sekha-knowledge) and the penetrating wisdom (vijjā) of the sage; one who has reached the current/stream of the Dhamma; an ariya endowed with the intellect that cleanses defilements and who stands close to the gate of deathlessness (nibbāna).”
Thus ends the First Jñānavaṭṭu Sutta (Patthama-Jñānavaṭṭu), the third sutta in this set.
Compact Pāli glossary — intensive (strong explanations)
- jñānavaṭṭu (jñāna-vaṭṭu) — “objects/fields of knowledge” (jñāna = knowledge; vaṭṭu = object/area). Here: the canonical list of 44 specific knowledges.
- jarā-maraṇa (jarā-maraṇa) — aging-and-death (jarā = senescence/aging; maraṇa = dying/death).
- jāti (jāti) — birth / arising / coming-to-be.
- bhava (bhava) — becoming / the state or realm of existence; conditioned continuance.
- upādāna (upādāna) — clinging / appropriation (the grasping that fuels continued becoming).
- taṇhā (taṇhā) — craving / thirst (the urge that propels clinging and becoming).
- vedanā (vedanā) — feeling / affect (pleasant, painful, neutral).
- phassa (phassa) — contact (the meeting of sense-base, sense-object, and consciousness).
- ṣaḷāyatana (ṣaḷāyatana) — the six sense-bases (internal: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind — external: forms, sounds, odors, tastes, tactile objects, mental objects).
- nāma-rūpa (nāma-rūpa) — name-and-form (the psycho-physical complex: mental factors (nāma) + material form (rūpa)).
- viññāṇa (viññāṇa) — consciousness (the cognitional flow at sense-doors).
- saṅkhāra (saṅkhāra) — conditioned fabrications / volitional formations; here subdivided: kāya-saṅkhāra (bodily fabrications — e.g., breathing), vacī-saṅkhāra (verbal fabrications — e.g., thought-to-speech), citta-saṅkhāra (mental fabrications — e.g., perception & feeling).
- avijjā (avijjā) — ignorance / fundamental not-seeing (the root condition for saṅkhāra).
- ariya-magga aṭṭhaṅgika (ariya-magga aṭṭhaṅgika) — the Noble Eightfold Path (the practical course that leads to cessation of conditioned phenomena).
- dhammaññāṇa (dhamma-jñāṇa) — insight-knowledge into Dhamma (direct seeing/knowing of the phenomena).
- anuyāna / anuyāna-jñāna (anuyāna / anuyāna-jñāṇa) — (rendered here) the continuing or corollary knowledge that carries forward into past and future — the timeless, fruit-bearing knowledge of the noble disciple (often rendered in commentarial contexts as knowledge that applies across lifetimes or as the enduring result of insight).
- sekha / vijjā (sekha; vijjā) — sekha = one under training (here: the sage’s schooling / practical knowledges), vijjā = penetrating wisdom/knowledge.
- nibbāna (nibbāna) — the unbinding / final liberation; “the deathless” (goal to which the disciple stands close).