The All Sabba Sutta (SN 35:23) · 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 - SN - SN 35:23 The All ## Browse Suttas Go to Saṃyutta Nikṅya index SN index ## The All Sabba Sutta Â (SNÂ 35:23) "Monks, I will teach you the All. Listen & pay close attention. I will speak." "As you say, lord," the monks responded to the Blessed One. The Blessed One said, "What is the All? Simply the eye & forms, ear & sounds, nose & aromas, tongue & flavors, body & tactile sensations, intellect & ideas. This, monks, is called the All.1 Anyone who would say, ), # Right single quote ('â', Repudiating this All, I will describe another,â if questioned on what exactly might be the grounds for his statement, would be unable to explain and, furthermore, would be put to grief. Why? Because it lies beyond range." Note 1. The Commentaryâs treatment of this discourse is very peculiar. To begin with, it delineates three other "Allâs" in addition to the one defined here, one of them supposedly larger in scope than the All of the six senses and their objects: the Allness of the Buddhaâs omniscience (literally, All-knowingness). This, despite the fact that the discourse says that the description of such an All lies beyond range. Secondly, the Commentary includes unbinding (nibbṅna) within the scope of the All described here—as a dhamma, or object of the intellect—even though there are many other discourses in the Canon specifically stating that unbinding lies beyond the range of the six senses and their objects. SnÂ 5:6, for instance, indicates that a person who has attained unbinding has gone beyond all phenomena (sabbe dhammṅ), and therefore cannot be described. SNÂ 35:117 speaks of a dimension that is to be experienced with the cessation of the six sense media and the fading of their objects. MNÂ 49 discusses a "consciousness without surface" (viā±ā±ṅṃaṃ anidassanaṃ) that is not experienced through the "Allness of the All." Furthermore, SNÂ 35:24 says that the "All" is to be abandoned. At no point does the Canon say that unbinding is to be abandoned. Unbinding follows on cessation (nirodha), which is to be realized. Once unbinding is realized, there are no further tasks to be done. Thus it seems more likely that this discourseâs discussion of "All" is meant to limit the use of the word "all" throughout the Buddhaâs teachings to the six sense media and their objects. As the following discourse shows, this would also include the consciousness, contact, and feelings connected with the sense media. Unbinding would lie outside of the word, "all." This would fit in with another point made several times in the Canon: that dispassion is the highest of all dhammas (ItiÂ 90), while the arahant has gone beyond even dispassion (SnÂ 4:6; SnÂ 4:10). This raises the question: If the word "all" does not include unbinding, does that mean that one may infer from the statement, "all phenomena are not-self" that unbinding is self? The answer is No. As DNÂ 15 notes, when all experience of the senses ceases, there would not be the thought, "I am." And as ANÂ 4:173 states, to even ask if there is anything remaining or not remaining (or both, or neither) after the cessation of the six sense media is to objectify non-objectification (see the Introduction to MNÂ 18). The range of objectification goes only as far as the "All." Perceptions of self or not-self, which would come under the classifications and perceptions of objectification, would not apply beyond the "All." When the cessation of the "All" is experienced, all objectification is allayed. See also: MNÂ 1; MNÂ 148; MNÂ 149; SNÂ 12:15; SNÂ 12:48 - --> - - - -