1. Satti Sutta
Discourse containing the Simile of a Spear-thrust
Satti Vagga, Devata Samyutta, Sagatha Vagga Samyutta,
Samyutta Nikaya, Suttanta Pitaka

SOURCE: "FIVE SAMYUTTAS FROM SAGATHAVAGGA SAMYUTTA"
Translated by U Tin U (Myaung), Yangon
Edited by the Editorial Committee, Burma (Myanmar) Tipitaka Association, 1998
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Discourse containing the Simile of a Spear-thrust

          21. The Bhagava was at Savatthi... Standing at a suitable place, the deva uttered thus in verse in the presence of the Bhagava:

"As one pierced by a spear,
or as one whose head is on fire,
so should a bhikkhu lead a mindful life
to forsake sensual attachment."
1

         (The Bhagava said:)

"As one pierced by a spear,
or as one whose head is on fire,
so should a bhikkhu lead a mindful life
to abandon the illusion of Self."
2

End of the Satti Sutta,
the first in this vagga.


          1. This stanza convoys the idea of urgency. When one is pierced by a spear thrust from above or when one's head has caught fire, one would lose no time to save oneself. Similarly, a bhikkhu needs to be mindful at all times so as to save himself from the perils of attachment to sense-pleasures.

          2. The Commentary says that the deva did not understand the force of the metaphor and was contented with his achievement of the temporary abandonment of sensual pleasures. The Buddha therefore emphasised to the deva that it is more important to uproot the illusion of Self (sakkayaditthi) through Magga Insight.
                 Sakkayaditthi, the view that there is bodily entity, is an illusion of Self as a distinct entity in regard to the manifestation of ones khandhas and is a wrong view.


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