Brahmajāla Sutta 1b

There are, monks, other dhammas—deep, hard to see, hard to realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle. These are to-be-experienced by the wise—that the Tathāgata proclaims, having directly known & realized them for himself, and that those who, rightly speaking in praise of the Tathāgata in line with what is factual, would speak.

What are those dhammas?

“There are some contemplatives & brahmans who are theorists about the past, who hold views about the past, who approve of various beliefs with reference to the past on 18 grounds.

With reference to what, coming from what, are these honorable contemplatives & brahmans theorists about the past who hold views about the past, who approve of various beliefs with reference to the past on 18 grounds?

“There are some contemplatives & brahmans who are adherents of eternalism, who proclaim an eternal self & cosmos on 4 grounds.

1. A contemplative or brahman might reach an awareness-concentration through ardency, exertion, commitment, heedfulness, right attention.

His concentrated mind gets purified, becomes bright, unblemished, and rid of defilement.

He remembers many past lives, i.e., one birth up to many hundred thousands. He would say: ‘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, he recollects his manifold past lives in their modes & details.

He says:

‘The self & the cosmos are eternal, barren, stable as a mountain-peak, standing firm like a pillar. Beings transmigrate, wander on, die, & reappear. Yet there still is that which is for eternity. Why is that? This is because I saw my past lives through my awareness-concentration.

By means of this I know how the self & the cosmos are eternal, barren, stable as a mountain-peak, standing firm like a pillar. And although beings transmigrate, wander on, die, & reappear, there still is that which is for eternity.’

“This is the first basis—with reference to which, coming from which—some contemplatives & brahmans are adherents of eternalism who proclaim an eternal self & cosmos.

2. With reference to what, coming from what, are honorable contemplatives & brahmans adherents of eternalism who proclaim an eternal self & cosmos?

A contemplative or brahman might reach an awareness-concentration where he remembers his past lives as 1-10 eons of cosmic contraction & expansion.

“This is the second basis—with reference to which, coming from which—some contemplatives & brahmans are adherents of eternalism who proclaim an eternal self & cosmos.

3. With reference to what, coming from what, are honorable contemplatives & brahmans adherents of eternalism who proclaim an eternal self & cosmos?

A contemplative or brahman might reach an awareness-concentration where he remembers his past lives as 10-40 eons of cosmic contraction & expansion.

“This is the third basis—with reference to which, coming from which—some contemplatives & brahmans are adherents of eternalism who proclaim an eternal self & cosmos.

4. With reference to what, coming from what, are honorable contemplatives & brahmans adherents of eternalism who proclaim an eternal self & cosmos?

A contemplative or brahman might be a logician, an inquirer.

He states his own improvisation, hammered out by logic, deduced from his inquiries: ‘The self & the cosmos are barren, stable as a mountain-peak, standing firm like a pillar. And even though beings transmigrate, wander on, die, & reappear, there still is that which is for eternity.’

This is the fourth basis—with reference to which, coming from which—some contemplatives & brahmans are adherents of eternalism, who proclaim an eternal self & cosmos.

“These, monks, are the contemplatives & brahmans who are adherents of eternalism, who proclaim an eternal self & cosmos on four grounds.

Whatever contemplatives & brahmans who are adherents of eternalism, who proclaim an eternal self & cosmos, they all do so on one or another of these four grounds. There is nothing outside of this.5

“With regard to this, the Tathāgata discerns that ‘These standpoints, thus seized, thus grasped at, lead to such & such a destination, to such & such a state in the world beyond.’ That the Tathāgata discerns. And he discerns what is higher than that. And yet, discerning that, he does not grasp at it. And as he is not grasping at it, unbinding [nibbuti] is experienced right within. Knowing, as they have come to be, the origination, ending, allure, & drawbacks of feelings, along with the escape from feelings, the Tathāgata, monks—through lack of clinging/sustenance—is released.6

“These, monks, are the dhammas—deep, hard to see, hard to realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise—that the Tathāgata proclaims, having directly known & realized them for himself, and that those who, rightly speaking in praise of the Tathāgata in line with what is factual, would speak.