Exploring the Path: Introduction

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammāsambuddhassa

**Introduction to 3.2.6 Sammādiṭṭhisuttaṃ - Who Is One Safeguarding Right View?**

Sevatha, bhikkhave, sāriputtamoggallāne; bhajatha,¹ bhikkhave, sāriputtamoggallāne. Paṇḍitā bhikkhū anuggāhakā² sabrahmacārīnaṃ. Seyyathāpi, bhikkhave, janetā,³ evaṃ sāriputto; seyyathāpi jātassa āpādetā,⁴ evaṃ moggallāno. Sāriputto, bhikkhave, sotāpattiphale vineti,⁵ moggallāno uttamatthe.⁶ Sāriputto, bhikkhave, pahoti⁷ cattāri ariyasaccāni vitthārena⁸ ācikkhituṃ⁹ desetuṃ paññāpetuṃ paṭṭhapetuṃ¹⁰ vivarituṃ vibhajituṃ¹¹ uttānīkātu’nti.¹²

Cultivate the friendship of Sāriputta and Moggallāna; associate, Bhikkhus, with Sāriputta and Moggallāna. They are wise and support their companions in the holy life. Likewise, Bhikkhus, Sāriputta is like a mother; Moggallāna is like a nurse. Sāriputta instructs others to gain the fruit of sotapanna; Moggallāna leads to the ultimate goal. Sāriputta, Bhikkhus, is skilled to announce the Four Noble Truths, to teach, declare, establish, disclose, go into detail and exhibit them.

Idamavoca bhagavā. Idaṃ vatvāna sugato uṭṭhāyāsanā vihāraṃ pāvisi.¹³

Thus spoke the Bhagavā. After having said so the Well-Gone-One rose from his seat and proceeded to his dwelling.

This is how the Buddha praised his two chief disciples in the Saccavibhaṅgasutta, likewise emphasizing the importance of friendship in Dhamma.¹⁴ In this opening part from the longer Sammādiṭṭhisutta, the Venerable Sāriputta exhibits his skills in explaining the path with all its aspects in full detail.

Sāriputta opens his exposition as presented with the section of emphasizing the necessity of discerning the wholesome and the unwholesome, with their respective roots, as the first important requisite for someone who ‘holds right view’. After the audience questions the Venerable Sāriputta about whether there are any additional ways for a Noble Disciple to understand right view properly, he advances to further sections. The expression used here is:

‘Sammādiṭṭhi sammādiṭṭhī’ti - ettāvatāpi ariyasāvako sammādiṭṭhi hoti, ujugatāssa diṭṭhi, dhamme aveccappasādena samannāgato, āgato imaṃ saddhammaṃ.¹⁵

One with right view is called: ‘one with right view’! In that sense a Noble Disciple is one with right view, one whose view is straight, who is of perfect faith in Dhamma and who has obtained true Dhamma.

Venerable Sāriputta thus refers to those already established in the path, to members of the Saṅgha who have realized sammādiṭṭhi to the extent of supramundane sammādiṭṭhi. Sāriputta emphasizes that every section, he sets out to expose, has to be fully understood, realized and left behind in the same way and only then one can be called ‘one with right view’:

… so sabbaso rāgānusayaṃ pahāya, paṭighānusayaṃ paṭivinodetvā,¹⁶ ‘asmī’ti diṭṭhimānānusayaṃ samūhanitvā,¹⁷ avijjaṃ pahāya vijjaṃ uppādetvā, diṭṭhevadhamme dukkhassantakaro hoti – ettāvatāpi kho, āvuso, ariyasāvako sammādiṭṭhi hoti, ujugatāssa diṭṭhi, dhamme aveccappasādena samannāgato, āgato imaṃ saddhamma’nti –

… thus leaving completely behind all dormant tendency of craving, having dispelled all dormant tendency of aversion and removed the underlying tendency to ‘I am’ he abandons ignorance and establishes wisdom and then and here makes an end to suffering – such a one is ‘one with right view’, one whose view is straight, who is of perfect faith in Dhamma and who has obtained true Dhamma, a Noble Disciple.

After the listeners enquire about further ways to distinguish right view, he first proceeds with nutriment¹⁸ which should be understood, the arising of nutriment that should be understood and likewise its elimination and the way leading to the elimination of it:

… ariyasāvako āhārañca pajānāti, āhārasamudayañca pajānāti, āhāranirodhañca pajānāti, āhāranirodhagāminiṃ paṭipadañca pajānāti.

In an identical procedure Sāriputta then continues with the Four Noble Truths; old age and death; birth; becoming; attachment; craving; sensations; contact; the sixfold sense doors, body and mind phenomenon; consciousness; mental conditioning; ignorance¹⁹ and dormant impurities, pointing out each time that not only the respective element itself has to be understood, but also its arising, its elimination and the way leading to the elimination of it:

… ariyasāvako dukkhañca pajānāti, dukkhasamudayañca pajānāti, dukkhanirodhañca pajānāti, dukkhanirodhagāminiṃ paṭipadañca pajānāti …

ariyasāvako jarāmaraṇañca pajānāti, jarāmaraṇasamudayañca pajānāti, jarāmaraṇanirodhañca pajānāti, jarāmaraṇanirodhagāminiṃ paṭipadañca pajānāti …

ariyasāvako jātiñca pajānāti, jātisamudayañca pajānāti, jātinirodhañca pajānāti, jātinirodhagāminiṃ paṭipadañca pajānāti …

bhavañca pajānāti, bhavasamudayañca pajānāti, bhavanirodhañca pajānāti, bhavanirodhagāminiṃ paṭipadañca pajānāti …

ariyasāvako upādānaṃ pajānāti, evaṃ upādānasamudayaṃ pajānāti, evaṃ upādānanirodhaṃ pajānāti, evaṃ upādānanirodhagāminiṃ paṭipadaṃ pajānāti,…

ariyasāvako taṇhañca pajānāti, taṇhāsamudayañca pajānāti, taṇhānirodhañca pajānāti, taṇhānirodhagāminiṃ paṭipadañca pajānāti …

ariyasāvako vedanaṃ pajānāti, evaṃ vedanāsamudayaṃ pajānāti, evaṃ vedanānirodhaṃ pajānāti, evaṃ vedanānirodhagāminiṃ paṭipadaṃ pajānāti, …

ariyasāvako phassañca pajānāti, phassasamudayañca pajānāti, phassanirodhañca pajānāti, phassanirodhagāminiṃ paṭipadañca pajānāti …

ariyasāvako saḷāyatanañca pajānāti, saḷāyatanasamudayañca pajānāti, saḷāyatananirodhañca pajānāti, saḷāyatananirodhagāminiṃ paṭipadañca pajānāti …

ariyasāvako nāmarūpaṃ pajānāti, evaṃ nāmarūpasamudayaṃ pajānāti, evaṃ nāmarūpanirodhaṃ pajānāti, evaṃ nāmarūpanirodhagāminiṃ paṭipadaṃ pajānāti, …

ariyasāvako viññāṇaṃ pajānāti, evaṃ viññāṇasamudayaṃ pajānāti, evaṃ viññāṇanirodhaṃ pajānāti, evaṃ viññāṇanirodhagāminiṃ paṭipadaṃ pajānāti, …

ariyasāvako saṅkhāre pajānāti, evaṃ saṅkhārasamudayaṃ pajānāti, evaṃ saṅkhāranirodhaṃ pajānāti, evaṃ saṅkhāranirodhagāminiṃ paṭipadaṃ pajānāti, …

ariyasāvako avijjañca pajānāti, avijjāsamudayañca pajānāti, avijjānirodhañca pajānāti, avijjānirodhagāminiṃ paṭipadañca pajānāti …

ariyasāvako āsavañca pajānāti, āsavasamudayañca pajānāti, āsavanirodhañca pajānāti, āsavanirodhagāminiṃ paṭipadañca pajānāti.

May the Venerable Sāriputta’s exposition help many to develop right view and thorough understanding so they can be rightly called: Sammādiṭṭhi sammādiṭṭhī’ti!

bhajatha: cultivate the acquaintance of, be devoted to, follow.¹
anuggāhakā: patronage, helping, fostering.²
janetā: (caus: janeti – to bring into being, produce): a mother.³
jātassa āpādeta: (āpajjati, caus: enter, fall into, reach): birth + one who brings up to a certain state, who is inflicting.⁴
vineti: instruct, educate.⁵
uttamatthe: uttaṃ + at the – ultimate + goal.⁶
pahoti: be able, competent.⁷
vitthārena (instr. vitthāreti: expound, detail): for expounding, for giving details.⁸
ācikkhati (inf.): announce; to point out.⁹
paṭṭhapeti (inf.): establish, provide.¹⁰
vibhajati (inf.): distinguish, go into details.¹¹
uttānīkātuṃ (inf.) + ti: evident, clear + to make.¹²
Saccavibhaṅgasuttaṃ, Vibhaṅgavaggo, Uparipaṇṇāsapāḷi, Majjhimanikāye.¹³
3.1.8 Upaḍḍhasuttaṃ - The Importance of a Kalyāṇamitta.¹⁴
For vocabulary please refer to the sutta text!¹⁵
paṭivinodeti: remove, dispel.¹⁶
samūhanti: abolish, remove.¹⁷
The four kinds of nutriment are: kabaḷīkāro āhāro oḷāriko vā sukhumo vā, phasso dutiyo, manosañcetanā tatiyā, viññāṇaṃ catutthaṃ: physical food, gross and subtle, contact as the second, mental volition as the third and consciousness as the fourth.¹⁸
Sāriputta develops the links of the dependent origination, the paṭiccasamuppāda, that all have to be realized in the same fourfold way of understanding: their existence, their arising, elimination and their way to elimination. For Paṭiccasamuppada see lessons 3.10.1 to 3.10.5¹⁹