From the Dīgha Nikāya (Vinaya Piṭaka reference): The Resolution of Sakka’s Questions
(Dīgha Nikāya / Mahāvagga — Vol. 2, Part 2 — p.133 — Sakka’s interrogation and the Buddha’s replies)
Sakka’s First Question and the Buddha’s Answer
[255] Sakka, king of the devas, having obtained an audience, first asked the Blessed One this question: “Venerable Sir, devas, humans, asuras, nāgas, gandhabbas, and many other beings live without enemies, without wrongdoing, without rivals, and without affliction; they hope and wish to remain free from enmity and strife. Yet how is it that they still experience enmity, wrongdoing, foes, and distress — why does enmity befall them?”
The Blessed One replied to him: “May I be permitted to say, O great king: Devas, humans, asuras, nāgas, gandhabbas, and many other beings are bound by rivalry (issi) and miserliness (macchariya). Though they may be free from outward enemies, wrongdoing, and distress in certain respects and hope to remain so, still they are afflicted with enmity and trouble because of these inner bonds of jealousy and stinginess.”
Sakka’s heart was glad and he rejoiced in the Blessed One’s words and said: “Venerable Sir, that prediction is true. O Blessed One, that prediction is indeed so. I am freed from doubt on that point. I have no further question about that, having heard your answer and prediction.”
Sakka Probes the Roots: The Chain of Conditions
[256] Sakka then asked further: “Venerable Sir, what is the origin (nidāna), the causal condition (samudaya), the arising cause ( jāti ), and the ground (gocara) for jealousy and miserliness? In other words, when this is present, jealousy and miserliness arise; when that is absent, jealousy and miserliness cease. What are those ‘this’ and ‘that’?”
The Blessed One: “Listen, jealousy and miserliness arise dependent on objects that are liked and disliked; those liked-and-disliked objects are their origin, cause, birth, and ground. When those liked-and-disliked objects are present, jealousy and miserliness arise; when they are absent, those passions cease.”
Sakka: “And what are those liked-and-disliked objects dependent on — what is their origin, cause, birth, and ground? When that is present, the liked-and-disliked objects are present; when it is absent, they cease.”
The Blessed One: “They are dependent on chanda — desire or inclination. When chanda is present, liked-and-disliked objects arise; when chanda is absent, they do not.”
Sakka: “And what conditions bring chanda into being — what is the origin and basis of chanda?”
The Blessed One: “Chanda arises dependent on vitakka (initial application of mind, directing the mind to the object). When vitakka is present, chanda arises; when vitakka ceases, chanda ceases.”
Sakka: “And what brings vitakka into being?”
The Blessed One: “Vitakka arises dependent on that portion of saññā (perception/recognition) which is accompanied by the five long-standing tendencies (the pañcadhammika kilesas — sluggish defilements). When that portion of saññā is present, vitakka arises; when it is absent, vitakka ceases.”
[257] Sakka asked: “Venerable Sir, how should a bhikkhu conduct himself so as to follow a proper course of practice and reach the cessation of that portion of saññā which is accompanied by the pañcadhammika defilements?”
The Blessed One answered: “One should develop the faculties of somanassa (joy/rapture), domomanassa (sadness/displeasure), and upekkhā (equanimity) in twofold ways — recognizing that some instances of joy are to be partaken of and some are not. One should learn to distinguish which forms of rapture (somanassa) lead to an increase of unwholesome states (akusala) and a decline of wholesome states (kusala) — such rapture should be avoided — and which rapture leads to a decline of akusala and an increase of kusala — such rapture may be partaken of. Those raptures born of the first jhāna include vitakka and vicāra; raptures without vitakka and vicāra are more refined. Likewise, displeasure (domomanassa) and equanimity (upekkhā) have similar characteristics. A bhikkhu who practices in this discerning way is said to follow the proper training and to be able to reach the cessation of that portion of saññā accompanied by the pañcadhammika defilements.”
Sakka rejoiced, saying he had no remaining doubt on this point.
On Observance of the Pātimokkha and Restraint of the Sense-Doors
[258] Sakka next asked: “Venerable Sir, how should a bhikkhu conduct himself to be considered one who is observant of the Pātimokkha?”
The Blessed One replied: “One should know kāya-sammajjā (right bodily conduct), vācā-sammajjā (right verbal conduct), and modes of seeking (such as pursuits) — recognizing for each twofoldly which modes are fit to be partaken of and which are unfit. One should understand: when such bodily conduct, verbal conduct, and pursuits are indulged in, unwholesome states increase and wholesome states decline — those modes should be avoided; and when other modes produce the decline of akusala and growth of kusala, they are to be adopted. When a bhikkhu recognizes these distinctions and practices accordingly, he is said to observe the Pātimokkha.”
[259] Sakka asked: “Venerable Sir, how should a bhikkhu restrain or train the faculties (indriya)?”
The Blessed One answered: “One should attend to rūpa, sadda, gandha, rasa, phoṭṭhabba (tactile object), and dhamma-objects cognizable by eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind — and for each, discern twofoldly which modes of sense-contact are to be indulged and which are not. When one indulges careless sense-contact, unwholesome states increase and wholesome states decline — that kind of indulgence should be avoided. When one adopts sense-contact that diminishes akusala and increases kusala, that is to be taken up. If one practices thus, one sees the proper way.”
When the Blessed One had spoken thus, Sakka said he fully understood the condensed teaching in all its detail: that, depending on how one partakes of forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile objects, and mental objects through the six bases, either unwholesome states flourish and wholesome states decline (and such contact should be avoided), or unwholesome states decline and wholesome states flourish (and such contact should be taken up). Sakka declared that he was freed from doubt.
On Homogeneity among Ascetics and Brahmins
[260–261] Sakka next asked: “Venerable Sir, do all ascetics and brahmins speak the same doctrine, keep the same discipline, possess the same desire (chanda), and have the same final attainment?”
The Blessed One: “No, O great king.”
Sakka: “Why is it that all ascetics and brahmins are not uniform in speech, discipline, desire, and attainment?”
The Blessed One answered: “The world’s dispositions (dhātu) are not all the same; people cling to different elements and conform their beliefs strongly to what they cling to, asserting, ‘This is steadfast; the other is unstable.’ Therefore one cannot say that all ascetics and brahmins share identical speech, discipline, desire, and attainment.”
Sakka further asked whether all ascetics are perfected (trau and higher attainments etc.). The Blessed One replied they are not. The reason given: only those monks who are freed by the destruction of craving are truly perfected; hence not every ascetic is such.
Sakka rejoiced again, acknowledging he had no further doubt.
Sakka’s Earlier Encounters with Other Ascetics
[262] Sakka continued, reflecting: “Craving (taṇhā) is like a disease, like a boil, like an arrow — it destroys the person and causes rebirth in that state. Because of this I have no further questions to ask concerning other ascetic traditions; the Tathāgata has long ago answered those questions for me and has removed the arrow of my doubt.”
The Blessed One asked if Sakka had previously questioned other ascetics and understood their answers. Sakka affirmed he had.
Sakka recounted that when he approached various forest ascetics and questioned them about rapture and displeasure, they could not reply and instead asked him who he was. When he identified himself as Sakka, king of the devas, they asked what deeds led him to that station. He answered by teaching the Dhamma as he had heard it. Those ascetics rejoiced at having met Sakka and thinking themselves blessed as his listeners, yet they became Sakka’s disciples (in devotion) rather than Sakka becoming theirs. In truth, Sakka declared, he is himself a disciple of the Blessed One — a sotāpanna (stream-enterer) who will not decline and is assured of awakening in the future.
The Blessed One asked whether Sakka had experienced such joy before. He said yes, and affirmed that he knew how that came to be.
On Heavenly Warfare and the Fruit of Hearing Dhamma
[263] Sakka told of a past war between devas and asuras in which the devas prevailed. He admitted that rejoicing over a victory obtained by force, weapons, or killing is accompanied by wrongdoing and cannot be a cause for disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, peace, higher knowledge, awakening, or Nibbāna. But the joy and gladness he felt at hearing the Blessed One’s Dhamma were of a different kind: they led to disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, peace, supramundane knowledge, awakening, and Nibbāna.
When asked what benefits he saw that made him rejoice in that manner, Sakka listed six advantages:
[264] (1) As a deva, with mindfulness maintained, his lifespan is prolonged. [265] (2) He will pass away from his non-human (deva) body and, having renounced delusion, be reborn in a realm that pleases him. [266] (3) He rejoices, and within his religion there is no perplexing doubt — he will be well-informed, mindful, and conduct himself properly. [267] (4) If awakening should come to him through right conduct and full knowledge, then that awakening will be his final attainment. [268] (5) When he dies from a human body and human lifespan, he may again become a deva and rise to high rank in the deva-world. [269] (6) Ultimately, he expects to belong to the company of the higher, noble devas (the anuttara devas) who possess distinguished titles and honors.
Because Sakka perceived these six fruits, he declared his joy and rejoicing.
[270] Sakka then confessed that though his doubts were largely resolved, a trace of hesitation still remained; he had wandered far seeking the truth and therefore approached ascetics whom he thought to be fully enlightened. When he questioned those ascetics, they were unable to teach the path and instead asked him about his deeds. He then recounted that meeting the Blessed One — the Tathāgata who removes doubts and the arrow of craving — put an end to his fear and hesitation, and Sakka paid homage and addressed the Buddha with praise, declaring the Buddha the supreme Teacher unmatched in the human and deva worlds.
Sakka’s Exclamation and Homage
[271] At that time Sakka summoned the five-headed gandhabba (pañcasiṅgaka? — “pañcasiṅgha”/pañcasiṅgha-pañcasiṅgha — the text names five gandhabba princes) and said to them: “O my fivefold helpers, you have been of great service to me. If you first cause the Blessed One to rejoice, afterwards I shall approach him and summon him. I shall appoint you to high positions; I shall grant you favors such as Sūriyavajchasā.” He then struck the earth with his hand as a witness and exclaimed three times the homage: Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammāsambuddhassa — bowing to the Blessed One.
[272] Upon the end of the Blessed One’s concise teaching, a Dhamma-eye (dhamma-cakkhu) — an undefiled vision of the Dhamma — arose in Sakka. He saw clearly that whatever arises does so in due order; that phenomena have their proper sequence. Similar Dhamma-eyes were said to have arisen in eighty thousand other devas as well. All the questions Sakka wished to ask had been answered by the Blessed One’s predictions; thus this concise teaching came to be known as the Sakka-pañha (Sakka’s questions).