Snp 5.12 Bhadravudha-manava-puccha

[mikenz66]

Snp 5.12 PTS: Sn 1101-1104
Bhadravudha-manava-puccha: Bhadravudha's Questions
translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

[Bhadravudha:]
I entreat the one
who is very intelligent,
released, unperturbed —
who has abandoned home,
abandoned delight,
abandoned resemblances,
cut through craving, crossed over the flood.

Having heard the Great One, they will leave —
the many gathered from many lands,
hero, in hope of your words.
So tell them, please,
how this Dhamma has
been known to you.

[The Buddha:]
Subdue craving & clinging — all —
above, below,
across, in between. [1]
For whatever people cling to in the world,
it's through that
that Mara pursues them.

So a monk, mindful,
seeing these people
clinging to entanglement
as entangled in Death's realm,
should cling to nothing
in all the world,
every world.

Note

1. Nd.II gives six different valid interpretations for "above, below, across, in between":
* above = the future; below = the past; across and in between = the present
* above = the deva world; below = hell; across and in between = the human world
* above = skillfulness; below = unskillfulness; across and in between = indeterminate mental qualities
* above = the property of formlessness; below = the property of sensuality; across and in between = the property of form
* above = feelings of pleasure; below = feelings of pain; across and in between = feelings of neither pleasure nor pain
* above = the body from the feet on up; below = the body from the crown of the head on down; across and in between = the middle of the body

[mikenz66]

Snp 5.12 Bhadravudha-manava-puccha
Anandajoti Bhikkhu
http://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/T ... avaggo.pdf
Listen at: http://www.archive.org/details/The-Way-to-the-Beyond

The home-leaver, the craving-cutter, the unmoved one, said venerable Bhadràvudha.
the enjoyment-leaver, the flood-crosser, the free one,
the speculation-leaver, the intelligent one - (him) I beg,
after hearing the Strong One, they will go away from here.

Various people have come from the countries,
and are waiting for your saying, O hero,
you must explain (the Teaching) properly to them,
for this Teaching has been understood by you.

You must remove all attachment to craving, Bhadràvudha, said the Gracious One,
above, below, and across the middle,
for with whatever they are attached to in the world,
with just that Màra follows a man.

Therefore knowing (this), the mindful monk should
not be attached to anything in the whole world,
seeing that with what is called attachment to clinging,
these people are clinging to the realm of Death.

[mikenz66]

Some comments from Ven Nananada's Nibbana Sermon
http://lirs.ru/do/sutra/Nibbana_Sermons,Nanananda.pdf

Let us remind ourselves of the relevant section of a verse in
the Bhadrāvudhamāṇavappucchā of the Pārāyanavagga of the
Sutta Nipāta:

Yaṃ yaṃ hi lokasmiṃ upādiyanti,
ten' eva Māro anveti jantuṃ.

"Whatever thing they grasp in this world,
By that itself Māra pursues a man."

Because of grasping, there is becoming or existence and
with it birth, decay and death, etc., follow suit, all due to crav-
ing. That is the deep idea behind the Buddha's definition of the
five grasping groups in terms of Māra.

In fact, these six sense-spheres, the six bases, are within the
juris-diction of Māra. This is evident from Māra's own words
in the Kas-sakasutta of the Sagāthakavagga of the Saṃyutta
Nikāya. [SN 4.19 http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn04/sn04.019.than.html]

Once, when the Buddha was admonishing the monks with
a sermon on Nibbāna, it occurred to Māra, the Evil One: "Now
this recluse Gotama is admonishing the monks and the monks
are listening attentively. I must go and blind their eye of wis-
dom." With this evil intention, he came there in the guise of a
farmer, carrying a plough on his shoulder, a goad in his hand,
with dishevelled hair and muddy feet, and asked the Buddha:
"Recluse, did you see my oxen?" Then the Buddha retorted:
"What is the use of oxen for you, Evil One?" Māra understood
that the Buddha had recognized him and came out with the fol-
lowing boast of his superiority:

Mam eva, samaṇa, cakkhu, mama rūpā,
mama cakkhusamphas-saviññānāyatanaṃ, kuhiṃ me, samaṇa,
gantvā mokkhasi?
Mam eva, samaṇa, sotaṃ ... Mam eva, samaṇa, ghānaṃ
...Mam eva, samaṇa, jivhā ... Mam eva, samaṇa, kāyo ...
Mam eva, samaṇa, mano, mama dhammā, mama
manosamphas-saviññānāyatanaṃ, kuhiṃ me, samaṇa, gantvā
mokkhasi?

"Mine, O recluse, is the eye, mine are the forms and mine
the sphere of eye-contact, where will you, recluse, go to escape
me?
Mine, O recluse, is the ear ... Mine, O recluse is the nose ...
Mine, O recluse is the tongue ... Mine, O recluse is the body ...
Mine, O recluse is the mind, mine are the mind-objects and
mine the sphere of mind-contact, where will you, recluse, go to
escape me?"

Now this is how the Buddha responded to that challenge:

Taveva, pāpima, cakkhu, tava rūpā, tava
cakkhusamphassaviñ-ñāṇāyatanaṃ, yattha ca kho, pāpima, n'atthi cakkhu, n' atthi rūpā, n' atthi cakkhusamphassaviññāṇāy-
atanaṃ, agati tava tattha pāpima.
Taveva, pāpima, sotaṃ ... Taveva, pāpima, ghāṇaṃ ...
Taveva, pāpima, jivhaṃ ... Taveva, pāpima, kāyaṃ ...
Taveva, pāpima, mano,
tava dhammā, tava manosamphassaviñ-ñāṇāyatanaṃ, yattha ca
kho, pāpima, n' atthi mano, n' atthi dhammā, n' atthi manosam-
phassaviññāṇāyatanaṃ, agati tava tattha pāpima.

"Yours, O Evil One, is the eye, yours are the forms and
yours the sphere of eye-contact, but where there is no eye, no
forms and no sphere of eye-contact, there you cannot go, Evil
One.
Yours, Evil One, is the ear ... Yours, Evil One, is the nose ...
Yours, Evil One, is the tongue ... Yours, Evil One, is the body
...
Yours, Evil One, is the mind, yours are the mind-objects and
yours the sphere of mind-contact, but where there is no mind, no
mind-objects and no sphere of mind-contact, there you cannot
go, Evil One."

From the Buddha's reprisal to Māra's challenge, we can well
infer that there indeed is a place to which Māra has no access.
That is none other than the cessation of the six sense-spheres.
Since it is something realizable, it is referred to as a `sphere'
in such contexts as, for instance, in the discourse on Nibbāna
beginning with the words atthi, bhikkhave, tad āyatanaṃ,
[Ud 8.1 http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.8.01.irel.html]
"there is, monks, that sphere", etc.