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Tidipa

Sallasutta (The Discourse on the Arrow)

· 32 min read

13S4/2.1.6, the simile of the arrow: touched by a painful feeling the unlearned ordinary person feels a second, mental feeling and is fettered by the underlying tendencies, while the learned disciple of the liberated feels the bodily feeling alone and is unfettered.

Original text: 13S4/2.1.6 Sallasutta 1118–1124 in the World Tipitaka Edition

Summary

Section titled “Summary”

The Bhagavā distinguishes the unlearned ordinary person from the learned disciple of the liberated by what a painful feeling does to each. The one sorrows and laments and feels two feelings, bodily and mental, like a man pierced by a second arrow after the first; he has aversion, seeks sensual pleasure, does not know the way out, the underlying tendencies lie dormant in him, and he feels every feeling fettered. The other feels the bodily feeling alone, as if pierced by one arrow, knows the way out, and feels every feeling unfettered. Three verses close the discourse.

Diagram

Section titled “Diagram”
flowchart LR
    P["a painful feeling touches"] --> U["the unlearned ordinary person"]
    P --> L["the learned disciple of the liberated"]
    U --> U1["sorrows, laments, falls into confusion"] --> U2["two feelings, bodily and mental"] --> U3["a second arrow"]
    U --> U4["aversion, delight in sensual pleasure, no way out known"] --> U5["underlying tendencies lie dormant"] --> U6["fettered"]
    L --> L1["does not sorrow"] --> L2["one feeling, bodily"] --> L3["one arrow"]
    L --> L4["no aversion, no delight, the way out known"] --> L5["underlying tendencies do not lie dormant"] --> L6["unfettered"]

Text

Section titled “Text”

(254.)

1118. “An unlearned puthujjana (ordinary person), Bhikkhave, feels a pleasant vedanā (feeling), feels a painful feeling, and feels a neutral feeling. The sutavā (learned) ariyasāvaka (disciple of the liberated), Bhikkhave, feels a pleasant feeling, feels a painful feeling, and feels a neutral feeling. What there, Bhikkhave, is the distinction, what the disparity, what the difference between the learned disciple of the liberated and the unlearned ordinary person?” Bhante, our teachings are rooted in the Bhagavā … and so on … An unlearned ordinary person, Bhikkhave, touched by a painful feeling, sorrows, becomes weary, laments, wails beating his breast, and falls into confusion. He feels two feelings — a bodily one and a mental one. Just as, Bhikkhave, one might pierce a man with a salla (arrow). Then one might pierce him again with a second arrow. In this way indeed, Bhikkhave, that man feels a feeling from two arrows. In the same way, Bhikkhave, an unlearned ordinary person, touched by a painful feeling, sorrows, becomes weary, laments, wails beating his breast, and falls into confusion. He feels two feelings — a bodily one and a mental one. And touched by that very painful feeling, he has aversion. In him, who has aversion to painful feeling, the paṭighānusaya (underlying tendency towards aversion) in regard to painful feeling lies dormant. Touched by a painful feeling, he delights in kāmasukha (sensual pleasure). For what reason? For the unlearned ordinary person, Bhikkhave, does not know clearly any nissaraṇa (way out) of painful feeling other than sensual pleasure, and as he delights in sensual pleasure, the rāgānusaya (underlying tendency towards desire) in regard to pleasant feeling lies dormant in him. He does not know clearly, as it really is, the origin, the disappearance, the assāda (gratification), the ādīnava (danger) and the way out of those feelings. As he does not know clearly, as it really is, the origin, the disappearance, the gratification, the danger and the way out of those feelings, the avijjānusaya (underlying tendency towards ignorance) in regard to neutral feeling lies dormant in him. If he feels a pleasant feeling, he feels it saññutta (fettered). If he feels a painful feeling, he feels it fettered. If he feels a neutral feeling, he feels it fettered. This one, Bhikkhave, is called ‘an unlearned ordinary person fettered by birth, ageing, death, by sorrows, lamentations, pains, griefs, and despairs, fettered by suffering,’ I say.

1119. But the learned disciple of the liberated, Bhikkhave, touched by a painful feeling, does not sorrow, does not become weary, does not lament, does not wail beating his breast, and does not fall into confusion. He feels one feeling — a bodily one, not a mental one.

1120. Just as, Bhikkhave, one might pierce a man with an arrow. Then one might not pierce him again with a second arrow. In this way indeed, Bhikkhave, that man feels a feeling from one arrow. In the same way, Bhikkhave, the learned disciple of the liberated, touched by a painful feeling, does not sorrow, does not become weary, does not lament, does not wail beating his breast, and does not fall into confusion. He feels one feeling — a bodily one, not a mental one. And touched by that very painful feeling, he has no aversion. In him, who has no aversion to painful feeling, the underlying tendency towards aversion in regard to painful feeling does not lie dormant. Touched by a painful feeling, he does not delight in sensual pleasure. For what reason? For the learned disciple of the liberated, Bhikkhave, knows clearly a way out of painful feeling other than sensual pleasure. As he does not delight in sensual pleasure, the underlying tendency towards desire in regard to pleasant feeling does not lie dormant in him. He knows clearly, as it really is, the origin, the disappearance, the gratification, the danger and the way out of those feelings. As he knows clearly, as it really is, the origin, the disappearance, the gratification, the danger and the way out of those feelings, the underlying tendency towards ignorance in regard to neutral feeling does not lie dormant in him. If he feels a pleasant feeling, he feels it visaññutta (unfettered). If he feels a painful feeling, he feels it unfettered. If he feels a neutral feeling, he feels it unfettered. This one, Bhikkhave, is called ‘a learned disciple of the liberated unfettered from birth, ageing, death, from sorrows, lamentations, pains, griefs, and despairs, unfettered from suffering,’ I say. This, Bhikkhave, is the distinction, this the disparity, this the difference between the learned disciple of the liberated and the unlearned ordinary person.

1121. The wise one, the very learned one too, does not feel
A feeling, whether pleasant or painful;
And this is the great distinction
Of the wise and skilful one from the ordinary person.

1122. For the very learned one who has comprehended the Dhamma,
Who sees deeply into this world and the next,
The phenomena of what is liked do not stir the mind,
Nor does he come to repulsion from what is disliked.

1123. For him, favour or opposition
Are dispelled, gone, they do not exist;
And having known the pure, sorrowless state,
The one gone beyond existence knows clearly and correctly.”

1124. The sixth [discourse of the chapter].

Commentary

Section titled “Commentary”
  • What the text does: it places the difference between the ordinary person and the learned disciple in the second, mental feeling and in the three anusaya (underlying tendencies), aversion bound to painful feeling, desire to pleasant feeling, ignorance to neutral feeling; vedanā as a collection is on buddhavacana’s Collections page.
  • Renderings: anusaya “underlying tendency” and paṭigha “aversion” as in the Saṅgītisutta’s sevens (8D/10), kāmasukha “sensual pleasure”, saññutta/visaññutta “fettered”/“unfettered”, nissaraṇa “way out”, assāda “gratification”, ādīnava “danger”, anuseti “lies dormant”.
  • The edition cuts the bhikkhū’s reply with …pe… (1118) and the Bhagavā’s answer runs on without an opening quotation mark; the closing mark stands only after the verses, as the edition prints it.
  • The first verse’s “does not feel a feeling” is the commentarial reading of the mental feeling; saṅkhātadhamma “one who has comprehended the Dhamma” (the DPD: an arahant), pāragū “the one gone beyond”.

Parallels

Section titled “Parallels”

The Chinese parallel is the 470th sūtra of the 雜阿含經 (fascicle 17, CBETA T02, no. 99, pp. 119c–120b), in the Saṃyuktāgama’s section on feeling, the one Choong found to differ from its Pāḷi counterpart only in minor points (Choong, 2000), read here in CBETA’s text. The two agree in frame and sequence: the ordinary person and the learned disciple both feel pleasant, painful and neutral feelings, so what is the difference between them; the bhikkhus ask the Buddha to explain; touched by a painful feeling the ordinary person grieves and wails and feels two feelings, bodily and mental (增長二受，若身受、若心受, p. 120a), like a man struck by poisoned arrows, and is driven by the tendencies of greed, anger and delusion, not knowing the arising, cessation, gratification, danger and escape of feelings; the learned disciple feels one feeling, bodily, not mental (唯生一受，所謂身受，不生心受, p. 120a), like a man struck by one arrow and not a second, knows the five as they are, and is not bound (解脫不繫, p. 120b); verses close the discourse. The differences:

  • The setting and the request. The Chinese opens at Rājagaha, in the Kalandaka Bamboo Grove (王舍城迦蘭陀竹園, p. 119c); the edition’s Pāḷi begins with the Bhagavā’s words. The bhikkhus’ request is given in full, “the World-honoured One is the root of the Dhamma, the eye of the Dhamma, the resort of the Dhamma; may the World-honoured One expound it” (世尊是法根、法眼、法依。善哉！世尊！唯願廣說, p. 120a); the Pāḷi abbreviates it after its first words with …pe… (1118).
  • The ordinary person’s grief. The Chinese has feelings “arising from bodily contact, oppressed by pain even to the taking of life” (身觸生諸受，苦痛逼迫，乃至奪命), and “the mind becomes deranged” (心生狂亂, p. 120a); the Pāḷi “touched by a painful feeling, sorrows, becomes weary, laments, wails beating his breast, and falls into confusion” (1118). The Chinese calls him “foolish” throughout (愚癡無聞凡夫).
  • The arrows. The Chinese ordinary person is “struck in the body by two poisoned arrows” at once (身被雙毒箭, p. 120a); the Pāḷi’s is pierced by one arrow and then “again with a second arrow” (1118). For the learned disciple both have one arrow and not a second (被一毒箭，不被第二毒箭, p. 120a).
  • The tendencies. The Chinese order is pleasant feeling first: on contact with pleasant feeling in the five sense pleasures he enjoys them and “is driven by the tendency of greed” (為貪使所使), on contact with painful feeling anger arises and he “is driven by the tendency of anger” (為恚使所使), and, not knowing the five aspects of “these two feelings” (於此二受), “neutral feeling arises and he is driven by the tendency of delusion” (生不苦不樂受，為癡使所使, p. 120a). The Pāḷi begins with aversion to the painful feeling, then the delight in sensual pleasure, then the five aspects of “those feelings” and ignorance (1118); it says the tendencies “lie dormant” (anuseti), not that they drive him, and names the third avijjā (ignorance), not delusion.
  • Bound. The Chinese adds “bound by what? By greed, anger and delusion, by birth, old age, illness, death, sorrow, lamentation, distress and suffering” (為貪、恚、癡所繫，為生、老、病、死、憂、悲、惱、苦所繫, p. 120a) and the same for the learned disciple’s freedom (p. 120b); the Pāḷi’s list has no greed, anger and delusion and no illness (1118, 1120).
  • The verses. The Chinese has four stanzas to the Pāḷi’s three, with an introduction, “then the World-honoured One spoke these verses” (爾時，世尊即說偈言, p. 120b), which the Pāḷi lacks. Its first reads the opening line without the negation, “the learned one, as to pain and pleasure, is not without feeling and knowing them; compared with the ordinary person he truly has great learning” (多聞於苦樂，非不受覺知，彼於凡夫人，其實大有聞), where the Pāḷi’s wise one “does not feel a feeling, whether pleasant or painful” (1121); its second has the Pāḷi’s third stanza’s “neither complying nor opposing” (不順亦不違, p. 120b) for anurodha and virodha (1123); its third and fourth, the bhikkhu diligent in effort who fully knows all feelings, ends the defilements in this life and, “at the body’s death does not fall into reckoning, forever abiding in parinirvāṇa” (身死不墮數，永處般涅槃, p. 120b), have no counterpart to the Pāḷi’s one “who has comprehended the Dhamma, who sees deeply into this world and the next” (1122) or to “the pure, sorrowless state” (1123).
  • The close. The Chinese ends with the standard close (歡喜奉行, p. 120b); the Pāḷi with the colophon “the sixth” (1124).

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References

Section titled “References”
Choong, M. (2000). The Fundamental Teachings of Early Buddhism: A Comparative Study Based on the Sūtrāṅga Portion of the Pāli Saṃyutta-Nikāya and the Chinese Saṃyuktāgama. Harrassowitz.

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