Introduction
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammāsambuddhassa
Introduction to 3.2.7 Mahācattārīsakasuttaṃ - Discerning Wrong View and Developing Right View
In the Mahācattārīsakasutta, the ‘Great Forty’ selected from the Majjhimanikāya, the Buddha specifies the links of the Noble Eightfold Path, their interrelation and also shows how sammādiṭṭhi precedes all other links. Here the eight constituents is increased by sammāñāṇa (right knowledge) and sammāvimutti (right liberation) to ten.1
In reference to all, the Buddha points out that each one of them needs to be understood first in their micchā qualities in order to abandon those and to be able, resultant from this, to develop their sammā qualities. All are congruently with sammādiṭṭhi. They are with taints and taintless, mundane and supramundane:2
dvāyaṃ vadāmi – atthi, sāsavā puññabhāgiyā upadhivepakkā;3 atthi, ariyā anāsavā lokuttarā maggaṅgā.4
I say (they are) twofold: affected by impurities, partaking of merit and yielding fruit on the side of attachment; and (they are) without impurities, supramundane and a factor of the path.
According to the Venerable Mahāthera Ledi Sayadaw, it is important to realise the three kinds of right view:5
• Catusacca sammādiṭṭhi: The correct understanding of the four realities of the four Noble Truths.6
• Kammassakatā sammādiṭṭhi: The correct understanding of the fact that all unwholesome and wholesome actions, that are performed by any being, are their own properties and keep on accompanying them wherever they may arise in any further existence and they cannot escape them.7
• Dasavatthuka sammādiṭṭhi: The correct understanding of the ten kinds (grounds, foundation — vatthuka) of misleading beliefs (that were prevailing in the days of the Buddha).8
In the Mahācattārīsakasutta the Buddha first depicts how this dasavatthuka micchādiṭṭhi needs to be overcome and removed to gain the base of sammādiṭṭhi. Right view then precedes all respective other links, because one has to understand, comprehend and realize them likewise in their micchā as well as in their sammā characteristics:
Micchāsaṅkappaṃ ‘micchāsaṅkappo’ti pajānāti, sammāsaṅkappaṃ ‘sammāsaṅkappo’ti pajānāti, sāssa hoti sammādiṭṭhi.
Sammadiṭṭhi always precedes the respective other links9 as precursor in two ways:
• It is the right view that is being developed with Vipassana and scrutinizes all conditioned formations10 thoroughly in their qualities of anicca, dukkha and anatta:
Vipassanāsammādiṭṭhi tebhūmakasaṅkhāre11 aniccādivasena parivīmaṃsati.
• And it is the right view of the Path, which is being developed through systematic and thorough investigation (Vipassana) that uproots and cools rolling on in the rounds of acquired existence like cold water that gets sprinkled from a vessel manifold on one’s head:
Maggasammādiṭṭhi pana parivīmaṃsanapariyosāne12 bhūmiladdhaṃ vaṭṭaṃ13 samugghāṭayamānā14 vūpasamayamānā sītudakaghaṭasahassaṃ15 matthake āsiñcamānā viya uppajjati.16
1. The sutta is called the ‘Great Forty’ because it elucidates the eight factors of the Path plus the two factors of sammāñāṇa and sammāvimutti in the results one derives from developing them. There are ten wholesome (sammā) factors that produce ten wholesome states and the ten unwholesome (micchā) factors that get abolished along with their respective ten unwholesome results. Thus there are forty results in all which are ‘great’ because they culminate in profitable results and final liberation:
‘‘Tatra, bhikkhave, sammādiṭṭhi pubbaṅgamā hoti. Kathañca, bhikkhave, sammādiṭṭhi pubbaṅgamā hoti? Sammādiṭṭhissa, bhikkhave, micchādiṭṭhi nijjiṇṇā hoti. Ye ca micchādiṭṭhipaccayā aneke pāpakā akusalā dhammā sambhavanti te cassa nijjiṇṇā honti. Sammādiṭṭhipaccayā aneke kusalā dhammā bhāvanāpāripūriṃ gacchanti.
Sammāsaṅkappassa, bhikkhave, micchāsaṅkappo nijjiṇṇo hoti…pe… sammāvācassa, bhikkhave, micchāvācā nijjiṇṇā hoti… sammākammantassa, bhikkhave, micchākammanto nijjiṇṇo hoti… sammāājīvassa, bhikkhave, micchāājīvo nijjiṇṇo hoti… sammāvāyāmassa, bhikkhave, micchāvāyāmo nijjiṇṇo hoti… sammāsatissa, bhikkhave, micchāsati nijjiṇṇā hoti… sammāsamādhissa, bhikkhave, micchāsamādhi nijjiṇṇo hoti… sammāñāṇassa, bhikkhave, micchāñāṇaṃ nijjiṇṇaṃ hoti… sammāvimuttassa, bhikkhave, micchāvimutti nijjiṇṇā hoti. Ye ca micchāvimuttipaccayā aneke pāpakā akusalā dhammā sambhavanti te cassa nijjiṇṇā honti. Sammāvimuttipaccayā ca aneke kusalā dhammā bhāvanāpāripūriṃ gacchanti. Iti kho, bhikkhave, vīsati kusalapakkhā, vīsati akusalapakkhā” …
“Thus, right view, Bhikkhus, comes first. And how, Bhikkhus, right view comes first? In one of right view, wrong view gets removed and along with this the many evil unwholesome states that derive from wrong view as condition also get removed. In one with right view the many wholesome states that originate with right view as condition get completely fulfilled and developed.
In one of right thought, wrong thought gets removed, … In one of right speech, wrong speech gets removed, …
In one of right action, wrong action gets removed, … In one of right livelihood, wrong livelihood gets removed, … In one of right effort, wrong effort gets removed, … In one of right awareness, wrong awareness gets removed, …
In one of right concentration, wrong concentration gets removed, … In one of right knowledge, wrong knowledge gets removed. … In one of right liberation, wrong liberation gets removed, and the many evil unwholesome states that derive from wrong liberation as condition also get removed, and the many wholesome states that originate with right liberation as condition get completely fulfilled and developed. Thus, Bhikkhus, there are twenty results on the side of the wholesome, and twenty results on the side of the unwholesome.”
2. 3.2.5 Sammādiṭṭhisuttaṃ - Assuring the Path.
3. Puññabhāgiyāti puññakoṭṭhāsabhūtā. Upadhivepakkāti upadhisaṅkhātassa vipākassa dāyikā: ‘Partaking of merit’: merit with the quality of increasing it. ‘Yielding fruit on the side of attachment’: It is considered attachment providing result. Bhikkhu Bodhi explains this mundane right view to ensue in favourable rebirths.
4. For vocabulary, please refer to the sutta text!
5. A full exposition of Venerable Ledi Sayadaw’s analysis of the constituents of the Noble Path is found in his Maggaṅgadīpanī.
6. This has been expounded in detail in the lessons from 3.2.4.1 to 3.2.4.4 Saccapabbaṃpabbaṃ.
7. The Venerable Sāriputta began with this important part of sammādiṭṭhi in his address to the monks quoted in the previous lesson 3.2.6 Sammādiṭṭhisuttaṃ - Who Is One Safeguarding Right View? The complete explanation is found at 2.1.3 Abhiṇhapaccavekkhitabbaṭhānasuttaṃ - Born of One’s Own Kamma.
8. 3.2.11 Kathāvatthu - Refuting Wrong Doctrines.
9. These are taken up here and referred to in the respective subsequent chapters of the ETP course: see 3.3.5, 3.4.8, 3.5.6 and 3.6.6.
10. The term saṅkhārā will be explained in more detail in the introduction to the next sutta: 3.2.8 Bījavaggo - Neem and Sugarcane.
11. tebhūmakasaṅkhāre: ti + bhūmaka + saṅkhāre – three + stages (rounds of existence) + conditioned formation (rounds of kamma, kilesa (impurity) and vipāka (result).
12. parivīmaṃsanapariyosāne: parivīmaṃsana + pariyosāne – thorough investigation + conclusion.
13. bhūmiladdhaṃ vaṭṭaṃ: stage of existence + acquired + round.
14. samugghāṭayamānā: samugghāṭa + yamānā – abolishment, removal + pr. participle suffix.
15. sītudakaghaṭasahassaṃ: sīta + udaka + ghaṭa + sahassaṃ – cold + water + vessel, pot + thousand.
16. Mahācattārīsakasuttavaṇṇanā, Anupadavaggo, Uparipaṇṇāsa-aṭṭhakathā, Majjhimanikāye.