430 LESSON 08 11 2011 Gilaana
dassana m Sutta Seeing the Sick Citta
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DharmadharmatΔvibhΔga: The Distinction between
Phenomena and the Nature of Phenomena
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LESSON 430
Practice a Sutta a Day Keeps Dukkha Away
SN 41.10
PTS: S iv 302
CDB ii 1330
Gilaana-dassana.m Sutta: Seeing the Sick
(Citta)
translated from the Pali by
Maurice O’Connell Walshe
Alternate translation: Thanissaro
The Pali title of this sutta is based on the
PTS (Feer) edition.
At that time Citta the
householder was a sick man, suffering from a serious illness. Then a number of
devas that dwell in gardens, forests and trees, the devas of healing herbs and
of great trees in the forest, gathered together and said to Citta the
householder: “Make a resolve, householder: ‘In some future time may I be a
king, a world-ruler!
To this Citta replied…
“That is something impermanent, something to be rejected and passed
over.”
Now Citta’s friends,
colleagues and blood-relations heard him say this, and they said to him:
“Sir! Set up mindfulness, don’t ramble!”
“What have I said
that makes you tell me to set up mindfulness and not to ramble?”
“Why, sir, you just
said: ‘That is something impermanent, something to be rejected and passed
over.’”
“Yes, but I said
that to the devas who dwell in gardens… who bade me make a resolve that in
some future time I might be a king, a world-ruler.”
“Sir, what purpose
did those devas have in mind in urging you to make such a resolve?”
“This is what those
devas thought: ‘This householder Citta is a virtuous man, of noble disposition.
If he makes a resolve that in some future time he may be a king, a world-ruler,
this will be profitable to that virtuous man, having made such a resolve with a
pure heart, and will bring the just man a just and great reward…’ So then I
said, ‘That is something impermanent, something to be rejected and passed
over.’”
[Citta then instructs
them to have perfect faith in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, and passes
away.]
Notes
A whole
Samyutta (SN 41) is devoted to this householder (see
also Vol. II, No 23), who is held up as a model
layman in SN 17.23 (not translated here). His name is not the same as citta
“mind,” but means “bright, shining.”
Cakkavatti lit. “a wheel-turning monarch,” the Indian term for a
universal ruler. This was what Gotama could have become if he had not become a
Buddha. The devas are aware of Citta’s great virtues (though they possibly
exaggerate in thinking he could become a world-ruler!), but are not wise enough
to think of his spiritual progress (cf. SN 1.20, n. 4).
Ayyaputta = Ariyaputta lit. “son of the Ariyans” (cf. SN 22.7, n. 1).
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DOB770 DharmadharmatΔvibhΔga: The Distinction between Phenomena and the
Nature of Phenomena - 2 credits
Delivery Mode: Residential & Online
Course Description:
This course is an in-depth study of the DharmadharmatΔvibhΔga by Maitreya (ca. 4th
century) - a short YogΔcΔra work of the pith instructions class - based on commentaries
by the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje (1284β1339) and Ju
Mipham (1846β1912). We will
study the distinction and correlation (vibhΔga) between phenomena (dharma) and the
nature of phenomena (dharmatΔ) and discover the key
instructions on how to proceed in
accessing this nature.
Prerequisite: DOB 760