4.
The Discourse on the Jain
75.
On one occasion the venerable Ānanda was dwelling at Vesālī in the Great Wood in the Pinnacled Hall.
Then Abhaya the Licchavi and Paṇḍitakumāraka the Licchavi approached the venerable Ānanda;
having approached, they paid respect to the venerable Ānanda and sat down to one side.
Seated to one side, Abhaya the Licchavi said this to the venerable Ānanda -
"Venerable sir, Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta is omniscient, all-seeing, and acknowledges complete knowledge and vision -
'Whether I am walking or standing, sleeping or awake, knowledge and vision is constantly and continuously present.'
He declares the destruction of past actions through austerity, and the cutting off of the bridge through the non-performance of new actions.
Thus through the elimination of action there is the elimination of suffering, through the elimination of suffering there is the elimination of feeling, through the elimination of feeling all suffering will be worn away -
thus there is the transcendence of this wearing away purification visible here and now.
What does the Blessed One say about this, venerable sir?"
"Abhaya, there are these three wearings away purifications that have been rightly taught by that Blessed One, who knows and sees, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, for the purification of beings, for the transcendence of sorrow and lamentation, for the passing away of pain and displeasure, for the achievement of the true method, for the realisation of Nibbāna. Which three? Here, Abhaya, a monk is virtuous, etc. having accepted the training rules he trains in them. He does not perform new action, and by repeatedly touching old action he puts an end to it. This wearing away is visible here and now, immediate, inviting one to come and see, leading onward, to be individually experienced by the intelligent.
"That monk, Abhaya, thus accomplished in morality, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome mental states, enters upon and dwells in the first meditative absorption, which is accompanied by applied thought and sustained thought, with rapture and bliss born of seclusion. With the subsiding of applied and sustained thought, he enters upon and dwells in the second meditative absorption, which has internal confidence and unification of mind, is without applied thought and without sustained thought, with rapture and bliss born of concentration. With the fading away of rapture, he dwells equanimous, mindful and fully aware, and experiences bliss with the body - that which the noble ones declare: 'He who is equanimous and mindful dwells in bliss' - he enters upon and dwells in the third meditative absorption. With the abandoning of bliss and pain, and with the prior disappearance of pleasure and displeasure, he enters upon and dwells in the fourth meditative absorption, which has neither-pain-nor-bliss and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. He does not perform new action, and by repeatedly touching old action he puts an end to it. This wearing away is visible here and now, immediate, inviting one to come and see, leading onward, to be individually experienced by the intelligent.
"That monk, Abhaya, thus accomplished in concentration, through the elimination of the mental corruptions, realised by his own direct knowledge, in this very life, the liberation of mind and the liberation by wisdom that are free from mental corruptions and, having entered upon them, dwells in them. He does not perform new action, and by repeatedly touching old action he puts an end to it. This wearing away is visible here and now, immediate, inviting one to come and see, leading onward, to be individually experienced by the intelligent. These, Abhaya, are the three wearings away purifications that have been rightly taught by that Blessed One, who knows and sees, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, for the purification of beings, for the transcendence of sorrow and lamentation, for the passing away of pain and displeasure, for the achievement of the true method, for the realisation of Nibbāna."
When this was said, Paṇḍitakumāraka the Licchavi said this to Abhaya the Licchavi - "But did you not approve the well-spoken words of the venerable Ānanda as well-spoken, my dear Abhaya?" "How could I not approve the well-spoken words of the venerable Ānanda as well-spoken, my dear Paṇḍitakumāraka! His head would split apart, whoever would not approve the well-spoken words of the venerable Ānanda as well-spoken." The fourth.