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- Majjhima Nikaya 19
- Dvedhavitakka Sutta
- Two Sorts of Thinking
- For free distribution only, as a gift of Dhamma
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying at Savatthi,
in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's monastery. There he addressed
the monks: "Monks!"
"Yes, lord," the monks replied.
The Blessed One said, "Monks, before my self-awakening, when I was still just an
unawakened Bodhisatta, the thought occurred to me: 'Why don't I keep dividing my thinking
into two sorts?' So I made thinking imbued with sensuality, thinking imbued with ill will,
& thinking imbued with harmfulness one sort, and thinking imbued with renunciation,
thinking imbued with non-ill will, & thinking imbued with harmlessness another sort.
"And as I remained thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, thinking imbued with
sensuality arose. I discerned that 'Thinking imbued with sensuality has arisen in me; and
that leads to my own affliction or to the affliction of others or to the affliction of
both. It obstructs discernment, promotes vexation, & does not lead to Unbinding.'
"As I noticed that it leads to my own affliction, it subsided. As I noticed that
it leads to the affliction of others...to the affliction of both...it obstructs
discernment, promotes vexation, & does not lead to Unbinding, it subsided. Whenever
thinking imbued with sensuality had arisen, I simply abandoned it, destroyed it, dispelled
it, wiped it out of existence.
"And as I remained thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, thinking imbued with ill
will arose. I discerned that 'Thinking imbued with ill will has arisen in me; and that
leads to my own affliction or to the affliction of others or to the affliction of both. It
obstructs discernment, promotes vexation, & does not lead to Unbinding.'
"As I noticed that it leads to my own affliction, it subsided. As I noticed that
it leads to the affliction of others...to the affliction of both...it obstructs
discernment, promotes vexation, & does not lead to Unbinding, it subsided. Whenever
thinking imbued with ill will had arisen, I simply abandoned it, destroyed it, dispelled
it, wiped it out of existence.
"And as I remained thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, thinking imbued with
harmfulness arose. I discerned that 'Thinking imbued with harmfulness has arisen in me;
and that leads to my own affliction or to the affliction of others or to the affliction of
both. It obstructs discernment, promotes vexation, & does not lead to Unbinding.'
"As I noticed that it leads to my own affliction, it subsided. As I noticed that
it leads to the affliction of others...to the affliction of both...it obstructs
discernment, promotes vexation, & does not lead to Unbinding, it subsided. Whenever
thinking imbued with harmfulness had arisen, I simply abandoned it, destroyed it,
dispelled it, wiped it out of existence.
"Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking &
pondering, that becomes the inclination of his awareness. If a monk keeps pursuing
thinking imbued with sensuality, abandoning thinking imbued with renunciation, his mind is
bent by that thinking imbued with sensuality. If a monk keeps pursuing thinking imbued
with ill will, abandoning thinking imbued with non-ill will, his mind is bent by that
thinking imbued with ill will. If a monk keeps pursuing thinking imbued with harmfulness,
abandoning thinking imbued with harmlessness, his mind is bent by that thinking imbued
with harmfulness.
"Just as in the last month of the Rains, in the autumn
season when the crops are ripening, a cowherd would look after his cows: He would tap
& poke & check & curb them with a stick on this side & that. Why is that?
Because he foresees flogging or imprisonment or a fine or public censure arising from that
[if he let his cows wander into the crops]. In the same way I foresaw in unskillful
qualities drawbacks, degradation, & defilement, and I foresaw in skillful qualities
rewards related to renunciation & promoting cleansing.
"And as I remained thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, thinking imbued with
renunciation arose. I discerned that 'Thinking imbued with renunciation has arisen in me;
and that leads neither to my own affliction, nor to the affliction of others, nor to the
affliction of both. It fosters discernment, promotes lack of vexation, & leads to
Unbinding. If I were to think & ponder in line with that even for a night...even for a
day...even for a day & night, I do not envision any danger that would come from it,
except that thinking & pondering a long time would tire the body. When the body is
tired, the mind is disturbed; and a disturbed mind is far from concentration.' So I
steadied my mind right within, settled, unified, & concentrated it. Why is that? So
that my mind would not be disturbed.
"And as I remained thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, thinking imbued with
non-ill will arose. I discerned that 'Thinking imbued with non-ill will has arisen in me;
and that leads neither to my own affliction, nor to the affliction of others, nor to the
affliction of both. It fosters discernment, promotes lack of vexation, & leads to
Unbinding. If I were to think & ponder in line with that even for a night...even for a
day...even for a day & night, I do not envision any danger that would come from it,
except that thinking & pondering a long time would tire the body. When the body is
tired, the mind is disturbed; and a disturbed mind is far from concentration.' So I
steadied my mind right within, settled, unified, & concentrated it. Why is that? So
that my mind would not be disturbed.
"And as I remained thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, thinking imbued with
harmlessness arose. I discerned that 'Thinking imbued with harmlessness has arisen in me;
and that leads neither to my own affliction, nor to the affliction of others, nor to the
affliction of both. It fosters discernment, promotes lack of vexation, & leads to
Unbinding. If I were to think & ponder in line with that even for a night...even for a
day...even for a day & night, I do not envision any danger that would come from it,
except that thinking & pondering a long time would tire the body. When the body is
tired, the mind is disturbed; and a disturbed mind is far from concentration.' So I
steadied my mind right within, settled, unified, & concentrated it. Why is that? So
that my mind would not be disturbed.
"Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking & pondering, that becomes
the inclination of his awareness. If a monk keeps pursuing thinking imbued with
renunciation, abandoning thinking imbued with sensuality, his mind is bent by that
thinking imbued with renunciation. If a monk keeps pursuing thinking imbued with non-ill
will, abandoning thinking imbued with ill will, his mind is bent by that thinking imbued
with non-ill will. If a monk keeps pursuing thinking imbued with harmlessness, abandoning
thinking imbued with harmfulness, his mind is bent by that thinking imbued with
harmlessness.
"Just as in the last month of the hot season, when all the
crops have been gathered into the village, a cowherd would look after his cows: While
resting under the shade of a tree or out in the open, he simply keeps himself mindful of
'those cows.' In the same way, I simply kept myself mindful of 'those mental qualities.'
"Unflagging persistence was aroused in me, and unmuddled mindfulness established.
My body was calm & unaroused, my mind concentrated & single. Quite withdrawn from
sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful mental qualities, I entered & remained in the
first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought
& evaluation. With the stilling of directed thought & evaluation, I entered &
remained in the second jhana: rapture & pleasure born of composure, unification of
awareness free from directed thought & evaluation -- internal assurance. With the
fading of rapture I remained in equanimity, mindful & alert, and physically sensitive
of pleasure. I entered & remained in the third jhana, of which the Noble Ones declare,
'Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasurable abiding.' With the abandoning of pleasure
& pain -- as with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress -- I entered
& remained in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither
pleasure nor pain.
"When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright,
unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to
imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of recollecting my past lives. I
recollected my manifold past lives, i.e., one birth, two...five, ten...fifty, a hundred, a
thousand, a hundred thousand, many eons of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic
expansion, many eons of cosmic contraction & expansion: 'There I had such a name,
belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of
pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose
there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such
was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing
away from that state, I re-arose here.' Thus I remembered my manifold past lives in their
modes & details.
"This was the first knowledge I attained in the first watch of the night.
Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose -- as
happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.
"When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of
defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it
to the knowledge of the passing away & reappearance of beings. I saw -- by
means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human -- beings passing away &
re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly,
fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma: 'These beings -- who were
endowed with bad conduct of body, speech & mind, who reviled the Noble Ones, held
wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views -- with the break-up
of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the plane of deprivation, the bad
destination, the lower realms, in hell. But these beings -- who were
endowed with good conduct of body, speech, & mind, who did not revile the Noble Ones,
who held right views and undertook actions under the influence of right views -- with the
break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the good destinations, in the heavenly world.' Thus -- by means of the divine eye, purified &
surpassing the human -- I saw beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how
they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in
accordance with their kamma.
"This was the second knowledge I attained in the second watch of the night.
Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose -- as
happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.
"When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of
defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it
to the knowledge of the ending of the mental fermentations. I discerned, as it was
actually present, that 'This is stress...This is the origination of stress...This is the
cessation of stress...This is the way leading to the cessation of stress...These are
fermentations...This is the origination of fermentations...This is the cessation of
fermentations...This is the way leading to the cessation of fermentations.' My heart, thus
knowing, thus seeing, was released from the fermentation of sensuality, released from the
fermentation of becoming, released from the fermentation of ignorance. With release, there
was the knowledge, 'Released.' I discerned that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled,
the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'
"This was the third knowledge I attained in the third watch of the night.
Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose -- as
happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.
"Suppose, monks, that in a forested wilderness there were a
large low-lying marsh, in dependence on which there lived a large herd of deer; and a
certain man were to appear, not desiring their benefit, not desiring their welfare, not
desiring their rest from bondage. He would close off the safe, restful path that led to
their rapture, and would open up a false path, set out a male decoy, place a female decoy,
and thus the large herd of deer, at a later time, would fall into ruin & disaster.
Then suppose that a certain man were to appear to that same large herd of deer, desiring
their benefit, desiring their welfare, desiring their rest from bondage. He would open up
the safe, restful path that led to their rapture, would close off the false path, take
away the male decoy, destroy the female decoy, and thus the large herd of deer, at a later
time, would come into growth, increase, & abundance.
"I have given this simile in order to convey a meaning. The meaning is this: 'The
large, low-lying marsh' is a term for sensual pleasures. 'The large herd of deer' is a
term for beings. 'The man not desiring their benefit, not desiring their welfare, not
desiring their rest from bondage' is a term for Mara, the Evil One. 'The false path' is a
term for the eightfold wrong path, i.e., wrong view, wrong resolve, wrong speech, wrong
action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, & wrong concentration. 'The
male decoy' is a term for passion & delight. 'The female decoy' is a term for
ignorance. 'The man desiring their benefit, desiring their welfare, desiring their rest
from bondage' is a term for the Tathagata, the Worthy One, the Rightly Self-awakened One.
'The safe, restful path that led to their rapture' is a term for the noble eightfold path,
i.e., right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right
effort, right mindfulness, & right concentration.
"So, monks, I have opened up the safe, restful path, closed off the false path,
removed the male decoy, destroyed the female. Whatever a teacher should do -- seeking the
welfare of his disciples, out of sympathy for them -- that have I done for you. Over there
are the roots of trees; over there, empty dwellings. Practice jhana, monks. Don't be
heedless. Don't later fall into regret. This is our message to you."
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the monks delighted in the Blessed One's
words.