The Great Elephant Footprint Simile Mahṅ Hatthipadopama Sutta (MN 28)

- 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 28 The Great Elephant Footprint Simile ## Browse Suttas Go to Majjhima Nikṅya index MN index Show outline show outline ## Outline - (Top) - The Earth Property - The Liquid Property - The Fire Property - The Wind Property - Dependent Co-arising 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 Great Elephant Footprint Simile Mahṅ Hatthipadopama SuttaÂ Â (MNÂ 28) I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Sṅvatthī in Jetaâs Grove, Anṅthapiṃṇikaâs monastery. There Ven. Sṅriputta addressed the monks, "Friend monks!" "Yes, friend," the monks responded to him. Ven. Sṅriputta said, "Friends, just as the footprints of all legged animals are encompassed by the footprint of the elephant, and the elephantâs footprint is reckoned the foremost among them in terms of size; in the same way, all skillful qualities are included in the four noble truths. In which four? In the noble truth of stress, in the noble truth of the origination of stress, in the noble truth of the cessation of stress, and in the noble truth of the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress. "And what is the noble truth of stress? Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are stressful; not getting what is wanted is stressful. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful. And which are the five clinging-aggregates? The form clinging-aggregate, the feeling clinging-aggregate, the perception clinging-aggregate, the fabrication clinging-aggregate, and the consciousness clinging-aggregate. "And what is the form clinging-aggregate? The four great existents and the form derived from them. And what are the four great elements? The earth property, the liquid property, the fire property, & the wind property. ## The Earth Property "And what is the earth property? The earth property may be either internal or external. What is the internal earth property? Whatever internal, within oneself, is hard, solid, & sustained (by craving): head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, tendons, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, contents of the stomach, feces, or whatever else internal, within oneself, is hard, solid, & sustained: This is called the internal earth property. Now both the internal earth property and the external earth property are simply earth property. And that should be seen as it has come to be with right discernment: ), # Right single quote ('â', This is not mine, this is not what I am, this is not my self.â When one sees it thus as it has come to be with right discernment, one becomes disenchanted with the earth property and makes the mind dispassionate toward the earth property. "Now there comes a time, friends, when the external liquid property is provoked,1 and at that time the external earth property vanishes. So when even in the external earth property—so vast—inconstancy will be discerned, destructibility will be discerned, a tendency to decay will be discerned, changeability will be discerned, then what of this short-lasting body, sustained by clinging, is ), # Right single quote ('â', Iâ or ), # Right single quote ('â', mineâ or ), # Right single quote ('â', what I amâ? It has here only a ), # Right single quote ('â', no.â "Now if other people insult, malign, exasperate, & harass a monk (who has discerned this), he discerns that âA painful feeling, born of ear-contact, has arisen within me. And that is dependent, not independent. Dependent on what? Dependent on contact.â And he sees that contact is inconstant, feeling is inconstant, perception is inconstant, consciousness is inconstant. His mind, with the (earth) property as its object/support, leaps up, grows confident, steadfast, & released. "And if other people attack the monk in ways that are undesirable, displeasing, & disagreeable—through contact with fists, contact with stones, contact with sticks, or contact with knives—the monk discerns that ), # Right single quote ('â', This body is of such a nature that contacts with fists come, contacts with stones come, contacts with sticks come, & contacts with knives come. Now the Blessed One has said, in his exhortation of t