Loud-voiced
on a par with people at large,
no one considers himself
a fool.
Though the Saṅgha is splitting,
they don’t consider
anything else more.
Completely forgotten:
the words of the wise
declaring the right range of speech.
Mouth-stretching
as far as they want,
led on where, by what,
they don’t know.
‘He insulted me,
hit me,
beat me,
robbed me’:
For those who brood on this,
hostility isn’t stilled.
‘He insulted me,
hit me,
beat me,
robbed me’:
For those who don’t brood on this,
hostility is stilled.
Hostilities aren’t stilled
through hostility,
regardless.
Hostilities are stilled
through non-hostility:
This, an unending truth.
Unlike those who don’t realize
that we’re here on the verge
of perishing,
those who do:
Their quarrels are stilled.
Bone-breakers, killers,
cattle thieves, robbers,
those who plunder the nation:
Even they have their fellowship.
Why shouldn’t you have yours?
If you gain a mature companion—
a fellow traveler,
right-living,
enlightened—
overcoming all dangers
go with him,
gratified,
mindful.
If you don’t gain a mature companion—
a fellow traveler,
right-living,
enlightened—
go alone like a king renouncing his kingdom,
like the elephant in the Mātaṅga wilds, his herd.
Going alone is better,
there’s no companionship with a fool.
Go alone,
doing no evil,
at peace,
like the elephant in the Mātaṅga wilds.
Notes
1. At this point in the narrative in Mv X, the Buddha tells the story of Prince Dīghavu. See Noble Warrior, Chapter 12.
2. It’s common in Pali, when speaking to a small group of individuals, to address them in the plural form of the name of the senior member of the group.
3. As the Commentary points out, these three types of concentration correspond to different levels of jhāna. Concentration with directed thought and evaluation corresponds to the first jhāna. Concentration without directed thought but with a modicum of evaluation corresponds to the second jhāna in cases where jhāna is divided into five levels. Concentration without directed thought or evaluation corresponds to the three highest levels of jhāna, both when divided into four and when divided into five levels.
Concentration with rapture corresponds to the first two levels when jhāna is divided into four levels, and the first three when it is divided into five. Concentration without rapture corresponds to the two highest levels of jhāna, both in the four-level and the five-level analysis.
Concentration with enjoyment corresponds to the first three levels when jhāna is divided into four levels, and the first four when it is divided into five. Concentration with equanimity corresponds to the highest level of jhāna, both in the four-level and the five-level analysis.
The organization of the Buddha’s account of his own practice here seems to indicate how he would instruct those whose experience of concentration begins, not with an expanded awareness of the body, but with visions of light and forms. The visions are used as exercises for getting the focus of the mind properly balanced; then attention is turned to the body as experienced in the jhānas (see the similes for the jhānas given in DN 2, MN 119, and AN 5:28). The insight into fabrication gained by focusing on the body then provides a basis for liberating insight.
Origin URL: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/MN/MN128.html