Jaliya Sutta
About Jaliya
Thus Have I Heard: [1]
Once the Lord was staying at Kosambi, in the Ghosita Park. And two wanderers, Mandissa and Jaliya, the pupil of the wooden-bowl ascetic, came to him, exchanged courtesies with him and sat down to one side …
“Once, Mahali, I was staying at Kosambi, in the Ghosita Park. And two wanderers, Mandissa and Jaliya, the pupil of the wooden-bowl ascetic, came to me, exchanged courtesies with me, and sat down to one side. Then they said: “How is it, friend Gotama, is the soul the same as the body, or is the soul one thing and the body another?” “Well now, friends, you listen, pay proper attention, and I will explain.” “Yes, friend,” they said, and I went on:
“Friends, a Tathágata arises in the world, an Arahant, fully-enlightened Buddha, endowed with wisdom and conduct, Well-Farer, Knower of the worlds, incomparable Trainer of men to be tamed, Teacher of Gods and humans, enlightened and blessed. He, having realized it by his own super-knowledge, proclaims this world with its Devas, Maras and Brahmas, its princes and people. He preaches the Dhamma, which is lovely in it’s beginning, lovely in its middle, lovely in it’s ending, in the spirit and in the letter, and displays the fully-perfected and purified holy life.
“A disciple goes forth and practices the moralities” (Digha Nikáya 2, verses 41–63). On account of his morality, he sees no danger anywhere. He experiences in himself the blameless bliss that comes from maintaining this Aryan morality. In this way, he is perfected in morality (as Digha Nikáya 2, verses 64–74) … It is as if he were freed from debt, from sickness, from bonds, from slavery, from the perils of the desert … Being thus detached from sense-desires, detached from unwholesome states, he enters and remains in the first jhana … and so suffuses, drenches, fills and irradiates his body, that there is no spot in his entire body that is untouched by this delight and joy born of detachment. Now of one who thus knows and thus sees, is it proper to say: “The soul is the same as the body,” or “The soul is different from the body?” “It is not, friend.” “But I thus know and see, and I do not say that the soul is either the same as, or different from the body.”
“And the same with the second…the third…the fourth jhana” (as Digha Nikáya 2, verses 77–82). “The mind bends and tends towards knowledge and vision. Now, of one who thus knows and thus sees, is it proper to say: “The soul is the same as the body,” or “The soul is different from the body?” “It is not, friend.”
He knows: “There is nothing further here.” Now of one who thus knows and thus sees, is it proper to say: “The soul is the same as the body,” or “The soul is different from the body?” “It is not, friend.” “But I thus know and see, and I do not say that the soul is either the same as, or different from the body.”
Thus the Lord spoke, and the two wanderers rejoiced at his words.
Footnotes:
1. For some reason, the last part of Digha Nikáya 6 is here repeated as a separate Sutta.