The Noble Search Ariyapariyesana Sutta (MN 26) · 莲华归心开放中文佛学资料库

- suttas - - evening talks - short morning talks - lectures - guided meditations - talk collections - other themes - chants - - - - à¹à¸à¸¢ - Franā§ais - Espaā±ol - - Portuguāªs - Ð ÑÑÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹ - - - Ð£ÐºÑÐ°ÑÐ½ÑÑÐºÐ° Submit Search - Home - Suttas - MN - MN 26 The Noble Search ## Browse Suttas Go to Majjhima Nikṅya index MN index Show outline show outline ## Outline - (Top) - Introduction const prefersTocHidden = window.sessionStorage.getItem('user-prefers-toc-hidden') ?? window.localStorage.getItem('user-prefers-toc-hidden') ?? false; if (prefersTocHidden) { const tocToggleButton = document.getElementById("tocToggle"); const bookToc = document.getElementById("bookToc"); bookToc.classList.remove("show"); tocToggleButton.setAttribute("aria-expanded", false); tocToggleButton.querySelectorAll("[data-show-text]").forEach(el => { el.setAttribute("data-hide-text", el.innerText); el.innerText = el.getAttribute("data-show-text"); }); } ## The Noble Search Ariyapariyesana SuttaÂ Â (MNÂ 26) ## Introduction Some scholars have suggested that, of the many autobiographical accounts of the Buddhaâs awakening presented in the Pali Canon, this is the earliest. From that assumption, they have further suggested that because this account does not mention the four noble truths, either in connection with the awakening or with the Buddhaâs instructions to his first disciples, the four noble truths must have been a later doctrine. There is little reason, however, to accept these suggestions. To begin with, the sutta does not recount the Buddhaâs period of austerities prior to his awakening, nor does it tell of how the group of five monks attended to him during that period and later left him when he abandoned his austerities, and yet toward the end of the sutta those two incidents are alluded to in a way that indicates that the Buddha assumes them to be familiar to his listeners. Thus, if anything, the accounts that do explicitly relate those events—such as the one in MNÂ 36—would seem to be earlier. Secondly, the lack of reference to the four noble truths does not indicate that they were not actually involved in the awakening or the first sermon. As is always the case in the Buddhaâs autobiographical accounts in the Canon, this account is designed to convey a lesson, and the lesson is clearly articulated toward the beginning of the sutta: the difference between noble search and ignoble search. The account then illustrates the Buddhaâs own noble search and his later teaching career in the terms introduced by the lesson: the search for the "unborn, aging-less, illness-less, deathless, sorrow-less, undefiled, unexcelled rest from the yoke: unbinding." In particular, all the events mentioned in the account revolve around the issue of the deathless: the discovery of the deathless, the teaching of the deathless, and the Buddhaâs success in helping others to attain the deathless. Had the lesson of the sutta concerned the four noble truths, they would probably have been mentioned in the account. Thus there seems little reason to regard this sutta as "proof" that the four noble truths were a later teaching. Nevertheless, this sutta offers many excellent lessons in the Dhamma, in addition to mentioning a few incidents in the Buddhaâs life that are found nowhere else in the Sutta Piṭaka. *Â *Â * I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Sṅvatthī in Jetaâs Grove, Anṅthapiṃṇikaâs monastery. Then early in the morning—having adjusted his lower robe and taking his bowl & outer robe—he went into Sṅvatthī for alms. Then a large number of monks went to Ven. ṅnanda and said, "It has been a long time, friend ṅnanda, since we have heard a Dhamma talk in the Blessed Oneâs presence. It would be good if we could get to hear a Dhamma talk in the Blessed Oneâs presence." "In that case, venerable ones, go to the hermitage of Rammaka the brahman. Perhaps you will get to hear a Dhamma talk in the Blessed Oneâs presence." "As you say, friend," the monks replied to Ven. ṅnanda and left. Then the Blessed One, having gone for alms, after his meal, on returning from his alms round, said to Ven. ṅnanda, "ṅnanda, letâs go to the Eastern Park, the palace of Migṅraâs mother, for the dayâs abiding." "As you say, lord," Ven. ṅnanda replied to the Blessed One. So the Blessed One, together with Ven. ṅnanda, went to the Eastern Park, the palace of Migṅraâs mother, for the dayâs abiding. Then, emerging from his seclusion in the evening, he said to Ven. ṅnanda, "ṅnanda, letâs go to the Eastern Gatehouse to bathe our limbs." "As you say, lord," Ven. ṅnanda replied to the Blessed One. So the Blessed One, together with Ven. ṅnanda, went to the Eastern Gatehouse to bathe his limbs. Having bathed his limbs at the Eastern Gatehouse, coming out of the water, he stood in his lower robe, drying his limbs. Then Ven. ṅnanda said to him, "Lord, the hermitage of Rammaka the brahman is not far away. Pleasing is the hermitage of Rammaka the brahman. Delightful is the h