Like-minded Samacitta Sutta (AN 2:35)
- suttas - - evening talks - short morning talks - lectures - guided meditations - talk collections - other themes - chants - - - - à¹à¸à¸¢ - Franā§ais - Espaā±ol - - Portuguāªs - Ð ÑÑÑкий - - - УкÑаÑнÑÑка Submit Search - Home - Suttas - AN - AN 2:35 Like-minded ## Browse Suttas Go to Aṃguttara Nikṅya index AN index ## Like-minded Samacitta Sutta  (AN 2:35) On one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Sṅvatthī in Jetaâs Grove, Anṅthapiṃṇikaâs monastery. And on that occasion Ven. Sṅriputta was staying near Sṅvatthī in the Eastern Monastery, the palace of Migṅraâs mother. There he addressed the monks, "Friend monks!" "Yes, friend," the monks responded to him. Ven. Sṅriputta said, "Friends, I will teach you the person fettered outside & the person fettered inside. Listen to that & pay careful attention. I will speak." "As you say, friend," the monks responded to him. Ven. Sṅriputta said, "And which, friends, is the person fettered inside? There is the case where a monk is virtuous. He dwells restrained in accordance with the Pṅṭimokkha, consummate in his behavior & sphere of activity. He trains himself, having undertaken the training rules, seeing danger in the slightest faults. He—with the breakup of the body, after death—reappears in a certain deva-host. Falling from there, he is a returner, one who returns to this state of being.1 This is called a person fettered inside, a returner, one who returns to this state of being. "And which is the person fettered outside? There is the case where a monk is virtuous. He dwells restrained in accordance with the Pṅṭimokkha, consummate in his behavior & sphere of activity. He trains himself, having undertaken the training rules, seeing danger in the slightest faults. He enters & remains in a certain peaceful awareness release.2 He—with the breakup of the body, after death—reappears in a certain deva-host. Falling from there, he is a non-returner, one who doesnât return to this state of being.3 This is called a person fettered outside, a non-returner, one who doesnât return to this state of being. "Then again, a monk is virtuous. He dwells restrained in accordance with the Pṅṭimokkha, consummate in his behavior & sphere of activity. He trains himself, having undertaken the training rules, seeing danger in the slightest faults. He is one who practices for disenchantment, for dispassion, for & the cessation of sensuality. He is one who practices for disenchantment, for dispassion, for & the cessation of becoming. He is one who practices for the ending of craving. He is one who practices for the ending of greed. He—with the breakup of the body, after death—reappears in a certain deva-host. Falling from there, he is a non-returner, one who doesnât return to this state of being. This is called a person fettered outside, a non-returner, one who doesnât return to this state of being." Then many Like-minded Devas went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, stood to one side. As they were standing there, they said to him, "Lord, Ven. Sṅriputta, in the Eastern Monastery, the palace of Migṅraâs mother, is teaching the monks about the person fettered inside & the person fettered outside. The assembly is overjoyed. It would be good, lord, if the Blessed One went to Ven. Sṅriputta, out of sympathy."4 The Blessed One acquiesced with silence. Then—just as a strong man might extend his flexed arm or flex his extended arm—the Blessed One disappeared from Jetaâs Grove and re-appeared in the Eastern Monastery, the palace of Migṅraâs mother, right in front of Ven. Sṅriputta. He sat down on a seat laid out. Ven. Sṅriputta, bowing down to the Blessed One, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One said to him, "Just now, Sṅriputta, many Like-minded Devas went to me and, on arrival, having bowed down to me, stood to one side. As they were standing there, they said to me, ),
# Right single quote
('â', Lord, Ven. Sṅriputta, in the Eastern Monastery, the palace of Migṅraâs mother, is teaching the monks about the person fettered inside & the person fettered outside. The assembly is overjoyed. It would be good, lord, if the Blessed One went to Ven. Sṅriputta, out of sympathy.â "Those devas, Sṅriputta— whether there are ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, or sixty—can stand on an area the size of a hole pierced by the point of an awl5 and not disturb one another. And if the thought should occur to you, ),
# Right single quote
('â', Surely it was there [in their heaven] that those devas developed such a mind-state that—whether there are ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, or sixty—they can stand on an area the size of a hole pierced by the point of an awl and not disturb one another,â it shouldnât be seen that way. It was right here6 that they developed such a mind-state that—whether there are ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, or sixty—they can stand on an area the size of a hole pierced by the point of an awl and not disturb one another. "Therefore, Sṅriputta, you should train yourselves, ),
# Right single quote
('â', We will be peaceful in our faculties & peaceful in our hearts.â Thatâs how you should train yourselves. When you are peaceful in your faculties & peaceful in your hearts, peaceful will be your bodily actions, peaceful your verbal actions, peaceful your mental actions. [Thinking,] ),
# Right single quote
('â', We will render only peaceful service to our fellows in the holy lifeâ: Thatâs how you should train yourselves. "The wanderers of other sects are lost, Sṅriputta, in that they donât get to hear this Dhamma sequence." Notes 1. This state = the human realm. According to the Commentary, "inside" here means sensual levels of becoming; "outside" means form and formless levels of becoming. Alternatively, it says that "inside" denotes the five lower fetters, whereas "outside" denotes the five higher fetters. It illustrates the idea that a person fettered inside can sojourn in the higher levels of becoming before returning to this state with an analogy: a calf fettered by a tether to a post inside a corral but whose tether is long enough for it to lie down for a while outside of the corral. Similarly, a person fettered outside who is currently alive in this state is like a calf tethered to a post outside of a corral but who is currently lying down in the corral. 2. A concentration attainment. See AN 2:30, AN 6:13; SN 42:8, AN 8:63, and SN 46:54. 3. This individual, after leaving that deva realm, will either be reborn in one of the Pure Abodes or will gain unbinding. See AN 3:88. 4. The Commentary states that there were many more devas present at Ven. Sṅriputtaâs talk than the ones who went to see the Buddha, and that a large number of the devas listening to the discourse attained noble attainments. In fact, the Commentary, groups this sutta with the Mahṅsamaya Sutta (DN 20), the Cūḍarṅhulovṅda Sutta (MN 147), and the Maṃgala Sutta (Sn 2:4) as having been particularly fruitful in this regard. Of these suttas, however, only MN 147 states that devas reached a noble attainment while listening to it. 5.ṅragga-koṭi-nitudana-mattam-pi (-matte-pi in the Burmese and Sri Lankan editions). NDB misses the word nitudana, "piercing," in this compound, and so defines the space as equal to the tip of the awl. The translation in GSB, however, is correct. 6. According to the Commentary, "here" can mean either here in the human realm or here in the Dhamma-Vinaya of a Buddha. See also: AN 3:77–78; AN 3:85–87; AN 4:123–126; Ud 4:4 - --> - - - -