Exploring the Path - Pāli Course

Mā, bhikkhave, pāpake akusale vitakke vitakkeyyātha …

Mā, bhikkhave, pāpakaṃ akusalaṃ cittaṃ cinteyyātha …

The Cintasutta describes the ten antinomies, or paradoxical beliefs, that were widespread among other philosophies during the time of the Buddha.¹ It proceeds with similar wording as the preceding Vitakkasutta. So for the Pāli student this text provides a simple repetitive exercise.

By subject this Cintasutta (lit. thought sutta) could likewise or even more appropriate have been placed among the lessons of the previous chapter. But the content fits here as it reveals once more how crucial it is to avoid unwholesome, diverting thoughts that lead away from the emphasis the Buddha has given for the realization of the Four Noble Truths.

Such antinomies were so distracting to the dedication of some contemporaries of the Buddha that they even led them away from the practice of secluded meditation. The example of the Bhikkhu Māluṅkyāputta² depicts how overpowering and distracting ‘philosophical’ thoughts can become and that they can even provoke stopping all efforts to progress on the path. Thus, the Bhikkhu Māluṅkyāputta in solitude during his meditation began pondering:

Atha kho āyasmato Mālukyaputtassa rahogatassa paṭisallīnassa evaṃ cetaso parivitakko udapādi – ‘yānimāni diṭṭhigatāni bhagavatā abyākatāni³ ṭhapitāni⁴ paṭikkhittāni.’⁵

… these speculative views have been left undeclared, left aside and rejected by the Bhagava.

Māluṅkyāputta then pondered discursively through all of those ten views and decided that he needed to visit the Buddha and request clarification with the predetermined decision that, if the Buddha was not to explain them, he would give up the holy life and return to the life of a householder:

… evāhaṃ sikkhaṃ paccakkhāya⁶ hīnāyāvattissāmī.⁷

When he then presented his queries, the Buddha replied that he had never invited anyone to join his teaching by expecting that these antinomies would ever be explained by him. He continued with a simile: a certain person wounded with an arrow heavily smeared with poison, rather than demanding that the arrow should be pulled out would instead start requesting explanations as to who shot this arrow, what was his name, what was his complexion, where did he come from, from what material was the bow made, the bowstring, the feathers, etc. And by the time these replies were given he would have passed away from the poison.

Likewise, anyone waiting for any explanation by the Tathāgatha about these views would wait forever and would eventually pass away unsatisfied. Then the Buddha underscores that anyone who upholds such respective speculative views will not be able to live the holy life:

Sassato loko’ti, … mālukyaputta, diṭṭhiyā sati brahmacariyavāso⁸ abhavissāti

The Buddha concluded his instruction by pointing out that he himself left all these views undeclared because they were not conducive to the fundamentals of the holy life:

Kasmā cetaṃ, mālukyaputta, mayā abyākataṃ?

Na hetaṃ, mālukyaputta, atthasaṃhitaṃ na ādibrahmacariyakaṃ na nibbidāya na virāgāya na nirodhāya na upasamāya na abhiññāya na sambodhāya na nibbānāya saṃvattati. Tasmā taṃ mayā abyākataṃ.

He then points that he has declared what is conducive and contributing to the holy life, and these were the four Noble Truths: 

Kiñca, mālukyaputta, mayā byākataṃ? ‘Idaṃ dukkha’nti, mālukyaputta, mayā byākataṃ; ‘ayaṃ dukkhasamudayo’ti – mayā byākataṃ; ‘ayaṃ dukkhanirodho’ti – mayā byākataṃ; ‘ayaṃ dukkhanirodhagāminī paṭipadā’ti – mayā byākataṃ. Kasmā cetaṃ, mālukyaputta, mayā byākataṃ? Etañhi, mālukyaputta, atthasaṃhitaṃ etaṃ ādibrahmacariyakaṃ nibbidāya virāgāya nirodhāya upasamāya abhiññāya sambodhāya nibbānāya saṃvattati.

The Buddha then underscored that one should not be diverted by anything other than what he has declared, emphasizing its importance:

Tasmā taṃ mayā byākataṃ.

Tasmātiha, mālukyaputta, abyākatañca me abyākatato dhāretha; byākatañca me byākatato dhārethā.⁹

May these two suttas help to keep one focused on what the Buddha emphasises in his teaching: avoid distracting, irritating thoughts and wrong, unwholesome intentions!