PRESENTED TO THE BUDDHA CENTER ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2015, AND AGAIN TO THE BUDDHA CENTRE ON SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2025 (REVISED). 

The Discourse on the Noble Search (The Heap of Snares)

Majjhima Nikaya 26

Date of Composition: early 4th cent. BCE

This discourse is also known as the Pasarasi Sutta, the Heap of Snares. Here the Buddha is at Savatthi, where the Buddha spent twenty-four of forty-five rainy seasons after the Enlightenment. As the birthplace of the third Guide of the Jain faith, this prosperous trading centre was known for its religious associations. It was the capital of Kosala, whose king, Pasenadi, followed the Buddha. The Buddha’s chief lay follower, the wealthy householder Anathapindika, who gave many gifts to the order, also lived here.

The Buddha is staying in Anathapindika’s Park, in Jeta’s Grove. Some monastics approach Ananda and complain that it is a long time since they have heard the Buddha speak: Could Ananda arrange a talk on the teaching by the Buddha? Ananda tells them to go to the Brahman Rammaka’s hermitage.

After alms round, the morning meal, and spending the afternoon meditating, followed by a bath, Ananda asks the Buddha to go to Rammaka’s hermitage “out of compassion.”

When the Buddha arrives at the hermitage, he hears several monastics discussing the teaching. Waiting outside for their conversation to end, the Buddha very properly coughs, knocks, and the monks open the door for him. The Buddha asks the monks what they are discussing, in reply to which they tell him that they are discussing the Buddha himself! Unfortunately, the discourse does not give us the details of their talk, which would be fascinating to hear. The Buddha commends the monks for discussing the teaching and tells them that when they gather at the new and full moons twice a month, as well as during the four months of the rainy season, they should either discuss the teaching or maintain “noble silence.” Bodhi notes that this is also the name of the second meditative attainment, characterized, as we know, by the cessation of thinking and the realization of rapture or bliss “with the body.” Such practices shut down the egological cognitive faculty, revealing sentience to itself as it is.

The Buddha identifies two kinds of seeking—noble and ignoble. ‘Noble,’ is synonymous with ‘supermundane.’ Ignoble seeking is the seeking after worldly things, which perpetuates the whole phantasmagoria of the world, filled with illusory objects of attachment, which all cause suffering.

We think those things subject to birth, ageing, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement are living or sentient beings, including wives, children, slaves, and various animals, so the Buddha’s inclusion of “gold and silver” in this list is fascinating. The list of things subject to birth, ageing, and defilement, but not sickness, death, and sorrow, which apply only to people and animals, includes gold and silver. Gold and silver (i.e., money) are the only inanimate objects included in this list of worldly objects, suggesting their importance as an object of attachment in the mind of the Buddha.

Noble seeking is the seeking after the “unborn supreme security from bondage,” which the Buddha identifies with emancipation. The reference to “unborn” indicates the transcendental object, also indicated by the references to the unageing, unailing, deathless (i.e., immortal), sorrowless, and undefiled. Therefore, seeking the transcendental object itself is the noble seeking. Emancipation is not merely the realization of a state, but it is also an ontological realization of the single “element” that is beyond the three characteristics of transience, non-self-identity, and suffering, identical with reality itself.

The Buddha identifies himself before he became a buddha as a bodhisattva. At that time, he questioned why worldly objects of experience attract him. This question segues into an alternative description of the Buddha’s leaving home, “while still young.” He says that his parents wept when he left home, rather than the stock description that he stole out of the palace in the middle of the night soon after his son, Rahula, was born, out of despair for the suffering of the world. His age is also uncertain.

The Buddha tells the monks the story of his life. First, the bodhisattva goes to Alara Kalama and studies his teaching and training until he attains the experience of nothingness, the second highest plane of the thirty-one planes of existence (and in some variations, the highest plane). This is of course the seventh meditative attainment. Kalama recognizes Gotama’s attainment and invites him to lead his community of renunciates with him as equals, but Gotama, realizing that this attainment only leads to rebirth in the divine world corresponding to nothingness, declines.

Then he goes to Uddaka Ramaputta (‘son of Rama’), with whom he realizes neither perception nor non-perception—the highest worldly plane. Uttara recognizes Gotama’s attainment and offers him the leadership of his (actually Rama’s, presumably deceased) group of renunciates. As with his previous teacher, however, Gotama realizes that this attainment only leads to rebirth in the divine world corresponding to neither perception nor non-perception and declines.

This discourse does not refer to the descriptions, found elsewhere in the Pali Canon, of the Buddha’s conquest of fear in the forest and the six years he spent practising self-mortification with the Group of Five. Instead, Gotama wanders through Magadha until he arrives at Senanigama near Uruvela, where he finds a delightful grove with a clear flowing river with smooth banks and a nearby village for alms round. Here he sits, intent on his quest, aspiration, or striving. Uruvela is now the site of Bodh Gaya, where Gotama attained Enlightenment.

Here the Buddha attains the unborn, unageing, unailing, deathless, sorrowless, and undefiled emancipated state , declaring: “My deliverance is unshakeable; this is my last birth; now there is no renewal of being.” The discourse provides no explanation of the Buddha’s attainment of enlightenment other than the fact itself. It just occurs.

At first, the Buddha is inclined to become a hermit and not teach others, due to the profundity and difficulty of the teaching, “unattainable by mere reasoning,” on the one hand, and the worldly attachment of the people on the other. The Pali word is something like ‘living in the illusion of attachment to desire,’ alluding perhaps to the home life. The statement that the Buddha would find this wearisome and troubling is interesting given his presumed transcendent attainment at this stage, suggesting that enlightenment by no means wipes out the human personality as one might think.

Enough with teaching the Dhamma
That even I found hard to reach;
For it will never be perceived
By those who live in lust and hate.
Those dyed in lust, wrapped in darkness
Will never discern this abstruse Dhamma
Which goes against the worldly stream,
Subtle, deep, and difficult to see.

The commentaries see this as a problem. That the Buddha subsequently sought out opportunities for retreat and continued to meditate for the rest of his life supports this.

The Buddha identifies emancipation with the realization of interconnectedness, also referred to as “specific conditionality,” stilling the formations (i.e., volition or intention), relinquishing attachment, and destroying craving.

Discerning the Buddha’s thoughts from his position as a higher-dimensional being, for whom the minds of humans are open books—a quality shared by UFOs, interestingly—the Brahma Sahampati, the chief Mahabrahma, despairs that without the Buddha’s wisdom the world will perish, so he entreats the Buddha to teach for the sake of the few “with little dust in their eyes.”

The Buddha compares people to lotuses, some of which thrive immersed in the water, others of which rest on the water’s surface, and still others that rise out of the water but are unwetted. In all these cases, of course, the lotus continues to be rooted in the mud.

The Buddha assents to Sahampati’s request, who departs, thinking that he has earned merit by being the cause of the Buddha’s teaching the people.

When he discovers that both Alara Kalama and Uttara Ramaputta are recently deceased, the Buddha decides to instruct the Group of Five. These are, of course, the five ascetics with whom the Buddha practised self-mortification for six years prior to his Enlightenment. He discovers that they are now staying in the Deer Park at Isipatana, near Benares.

On the way, the Buddha encounters an ascetic of the Ājīvika sect named Upaka. The ajivikans were non-theistic communitarian amoralist renunciates believing in absolute atomic determinism, followers of Makkhali Gosala of Magadha who was a contemporary of Mahavira and the Buddha. Upaka sees the clarity of the Buddha’s complexion and asks him the name of his teacher, whereupon the Buddha declares his Buddhahood for the first time. Upaka remarks that the Buddha is claiming to be a Universal Victor, which the Buddha confirms.

I am one who has transcended all, a knower of all,
Unsullied among all things, renouncing all,
By craving’s ceasing freed. Having known this all
For myself, to whom should I point as teacher?
I have no teacher, and one like me
Exists nowhere in all the world
With all its gods, because I have
No person for my counterpart.
I am the Accomplished One in the world,
I am the Teacher Supreme.
I alone am a Fully Enlightened One
Whose fires are quenched and extinguished.
I go now to the city of Kasi
To set in motion the Wheel of Dhamma.
In a world that has become blind
I go to beat the drum of the Deathless.

Upaka’s response is interesting: “May it be so, friend.” Shaking his head, Upaka takes another path and leaves the Buddha alone.

Arriving at the Deer Park, the Group of Five see the Buddha coming in the distance, but they allow him to sit with them. At first, they resist him, regarding him as “living in luxury,” an accusation that would haunt the Buddha for the rest of his life. However, as the Buddha begins to speak about timelessness, the teaching, and gnosis they find themselves unable to resist his eloquence. The text implies that they he has mesmerized them. Nevertheless, they ask the Buddha how he can claim to be an Accomplished, Fully Enlightened One, when he does not exhibit any transcendent states, wisdom, or vision characteristic of those who have attained: Since he gave up self-mortification, how can he claim to be enlightened? However, the Buddha, now referring to himself in the third person as the Tathagata, denies the truth of the accusation that he has given up asceticism and lives in luxury. This denial is enough, and the monastics address Gotama from that point as the Tathagata, implicitly accepting his authority.

According to tradition, the Buddha then teaches the Group of Five the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, the Discourse on the Setting in Motion of the Wheel of the Teaching in Motion (SN 56.11). The Buddha gives a sermon on the Middle Way, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Tathagata, the Four Noble Truths, enlightenment, and non-rebirth.

Although the text suggests that the conversion of the Group of Five was easy, the Buddha says, “I was able to convince the bhikkhus of the group of five.” If Nanamoli and Bodhi’s translation of “convince” is accurate, this word suggests that the Buddha had to expend some effort, which is a more reasonable supposition in the circumstances.

Thus, the Buddha and the Group of Five formed the nucleus of the order. The first thing the Buddha does is to “teach and instruct” the monastics. The Buddha teaches them in groups of two or three, while the others get alms; this was how they lived. Two weeks later the Buddha teaches them the Anattalakkhana Sutta (S 22.59), the Discourse on the Characteristics of Non-self.

The Buddha discusses non-self-identity, the Five Aggregates, transience, suffering, revulsion (i.e., for the world), and liberation. At the end of the sermon, all the members of the Group of Five attain arhantship! There are other passages in the Pali Canon that suggest that one can attain arhantship in as short a time as a week. The Eighteen Schools all differ in their view of the spiritual state of an arhant, but the speed with which many of the Buddha’s followers attain arhantship lends credence to the view of a number of schools that arhantship is not the final or ultimate attainment. Thus, the Buddha concludes the biographical portion of the discourse.

The Buddha reverts to his original topic of ignoble seeking, whereby worldly beings seek worldly objects that lead to suffering. Why this is so was the Buddha’s original question that led him to renounce the home life. Thus, he identifies the five “cords” of sensual pleasure, connected with the five senses. Such ignoble seekers are subject to Mara, the Tempter, the divine being especially associated with matter and the world. Noble seekers, who abandon sensual pleasure, are, on the other hand, liberated from Mara’s demesne.

The Buddha proceeds to explain the four meditative attainments. Very concisely, seclusion, thinking, and bliss characterize the first meditative attainment. Self-confidence, mental concentration, the cessation of thinking, and bliss characterize the second meditative attainment. Equanimity, attention, and physical pleasure characterize the third meditative attainment. Neither pleasure nor pain, attention (awareness), and equanimity characterize the fourth meditative attainment.

This discourse describes the formless meditative attainments as well, consisting of the progressive realization of infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, and neither perception nor non-perception, which opens to the trans-dual.

Finally, the Buddha describes the transcendent state of the cessation of perception and feeling, whereby seeing with wisdom destroys the taints. Wisdom is the essential salvific principle. “This bhikkhu is said to have blindfolded Mara, to have become invisible to the Evil One by depriving Mara’s eye of opportunity, and to have crossed beyond attachment to the world. He walks without fear, stands without fear, sits without fear, lies down without fear. Why is that? Because he is out of the Evil One’s range.”

This discourse is also known as the Pasarasi Sutta, the Heap of Snares. Here the Buddha is at Savatthi, where the Buddha spent twenty-four of forty-five rainy seasons after the Enlightenment. As the birthplace of the third Guide of the Jain faith, this prosperous trading centre was known for its religious associations. It was the capital of Kosala, whose king, Pasenadi, followed the Buddha. The Buddha’s chief lay follower, the wealthy householder Anathapindika, who gave many gifts to the order, also lived here.

The Buddha is staying in Anathapindika’s Park, in Jeta’s Grove. Some monastics approach Ananda and complain that it is a long time since they have heard the Buddha speak: Could Ananda arrange a talk on the teaching by the Buddha? Ananda tells them to go to the Brahman Rammaka’s hermitage.

After alms round, the morning meal, and spending the afternoon meditating, followed by a bath, Ananda asks the Buddha to go to Rammaka’s hermitage “out of compassion.”

When the Buddha arrives at the hermitage, he hears several monastics discussing the teaching. Waiting outside for their conversation to end, the Buddha very properly coughs, knocks, and the monks open the door for him. The Buddha asks the monks what they are discussing, in reply to which they tell him that they are discussing the Buddha himself! Unfortunately, the discourse does not give us the details of their talk, which would be fascinating to hear. The Buddha commends the monks for discussing the teaching and tells them that when they gather at the new and full moons twice a month, as well as during the four months of the rainy season, they should either discuss the teaching or maintain “noble silence.” Bodhi notes that this is also the name of the second meditative attainment, characterized, as we know, by the cessation of thinking and the realization of rapture or bliss “with the body.” Such practices shut down the egological cognitive faculty, revealing sentience to itself as it is.

The Buddha identifies two kinds of seeking—noble and ignoble. ‘Noble,’ is synonymous with ‘supermundane.’ Ignoble seeking is the seeking after worldly things, which perpetuates the whole phantasmagoria of the world, filled with illusory objects of attachment, which all cause suffering.

We think those things subject to birth, ageing, sickness, death, sorrow, and defilement are living or sentient beings, including wives, children, slaves, and various animals, so the Buddha’s inclusion of “gold and silver” in this list is fascinating. The list of things subject to birth, ageing, and defilement, but not sickness, death, and sorrow, which apply only to people and animals, includes gold and silver. Gold and silver (i.e., money) are the only inanimate objects included in this list of worldly objects, suggesting their importance as an object of attachment in the mind of the Buddha.

Noble seeking is the seeking after the “unborn supreme security from bondage,” which the Buddha identifies with emancipation. The reference to “unborn” indicates the transcendental object, also indicated by the references to the unageing, unailing, deathless (i.e., immortal), sorrowless, and undefiled. Therefore, seeking the transcendental object itself is the noble seeking. Emancipation is not merely the realization of a state, but it is also an ontological realization of the single “element” that is beyond the three characteristics of transience, non-self-identity, and suffering, identical with reality itself.

The Buddha identifies himself before he became a buddha as a bodhisattva. At that time, he questioned why worldly objects of experience attract him. This question segues into an alternative description of the Buddha’s leaving home, “while still young.” He says that his parents wept when he left home, rather than the stock description that he stole out of the palace in the middle of the night soon after his son, Rahula, was born, out of despair for the suffering of the world. His age is also uncertain.

The Buddha tells the monks the story of his life. First, the bodhisattva goes to Alara Kalama and studies his teaching and training until he attains the experience of nothingness, the second highest plane of the thirty-one planes of existence (and in some variations, the highest plane). This is of course the seventh meditative attainment. Kalama recognizes Gotama’s attainment and invites him to lead his community of renunciates with him as equals, but Gotama, realizing that this attainment only leads to rebirth in the divine world corresponding to nothingness, declines.

Then he goes to Uddaka Ramaputta (‘son of Rama’), with whom he realizes neither perception nor non-perception—the highest worldly plane. Uttara recognizes Gotama’s attainment and offers him the leadership of his (actually Rama’s, presumably deceased) group of renunciates. As with his previous teacher, however, Gotama realizes that this attainment only leads to rebirth in the divine world corresponding to neither perception nor non-perception and declines.

This discourse does not refer to the descriptions, found elsewhere in the Pali Canon, of the Buddha’s conquest of fear in the forest and the six years he spent practising self-mortification with the Group of Five. Instead, Gotama wanders through Magadha until he arrives at Senanigama near Uruvela, where he finds a delightful grove with a clear flowing river with smooth banks and a nearby village for alms round. Here he sits, intent on his quest, aspiration, or striving. Uruvela is now the site of Bodh Gaya, where Gotama attained Enlightenment.

Here the Buddha attains the unborn, unageing, unailing, deathless, sorrowless, and undefiled emancipated state , declaring: “My deliverance is unshakeable; this is my last birth; now there is no renewal of being.” The discourse provides no explanation of the Buddha’s attainment of enlightenment other than the fact itself. It just occurs.

At first, the Buddha is inclined to become a hermit and not teach others, due to the profundity and difficulty of the teaching, “unattainable by mere reasoning,” on the one hand, and the worldly attachment of the people on the other. The Pali word is something like ‘living in the illusion of attachment to desire,’ alluding perhaps to the home life. Nanamoli and Bodhi’s translation, ‘adhesion,’ is unsatisfactory to my mind. The statement that the Buddha would find this wearisome and troubling is interesting given his presumed transcendent attainment at this stage, suggesting that enlightenment by no means wipes out the human personality as one might think.

Enough with teaching the Dhamma
That even I found hard to reach;
For it will never be perceived
By those who live in lust and hate.
Those dyed in lust, wrapped in darkness
Will never discern this abstruse Dhamma
Which goes against the worldly stream,
Subtle, deep, and difficult to see.

The commentaries see this as a problem. That the Buddha subsequently sought out opportunities for retreat and continued to meditate for the rest of his life supports this.

The Buddha identifies emancipation with the realization of interconnectedness, also referred to as “specific conditionality,” stilling the formations (i.e., volition or intention), relinquishing attachment, and destroying craving.

Discerning the Buddha’s thoughts from his position as a higher-dimensional being, for whom the minds of humans are open books—a quality shared by UFOs, interestingly—the Brahma Sahampati, the chief Mahabrahma, despairs that without the Buddha’s wisdom the world will perish, so he entreats the Buddha to teach for the sake of the few “with little dust in their eyes.”

The Buddha compares people to lotuses, some of which thrive immersed in the water, others of which rest on the water’s surface, and still others that rise out of the water but are unwetted. In all these cases, of course, the lotus continues to be rooted in the mud.

The Buddha assents to Sahampati’s request, who departs, thinking that he has earned merit by being the cause of the Buddha’s teaching the people.

When he discovers that both Alara Kalama and Uttara Ramaputta are recently deceased, the Buddha decides to instruct the Group of Five. These are, of course, the five ascetics with whom the Buddha practised self-mortification for six years prior to his Enlightenment. He discovers that they are now staying in the Deer Park at Isipatana, near Benares.