29(9)Udayī
Then the Blessed One addressed the Venerable Udayi:
"Udayi,how many subjects of recollection are there?"
When this was said,the Venerable Udāyī was silent.
A second time...
...
...
A third time the Blessed One addressed the Venerable Udāyī:
"Udāyī,how many subjects of recollection are there?"
And a third time the Venerable Udāyī was silent.
Then the Venerable Ananda said to the Venerable Udāyi:
"The Teacher is addressing you,friend Udāyi."
"I heard him,friend Ananda.[323]
"Here,Bhante,a bhikkhu recollects his manifold past abodes,that is,one birth,two births...[as in 6:2]...
Thus he recollects his manifold past abodes with their aspects and details.
This,Bhante,is a subject of recollection."
Then the Blessed One addressed the Venerable Ananda:
"I knew,Ananda,
that this hollow man Udāyi does not devote himself to the higher mind.
Adhicittam.Mp:"The mind of concentration and insight."The bhikkhu Udayī(Laludāyi)often blunders in his explanation of doctrinal points and is then reproached by the Buddha.
How many subjects of recollection are there,Ananda?"
"There are,Bhante,five subjects of recollection,What five?
(1)"Here,Bhante,secluded from sensual pleasures,secluded from unwholesome states,a bhikkhu enters and dwells in the first jhāna,which consists of rapture and pleasure born of seclusion,accompanied by thought and examination.With the subsiding of thought and examination,he enters and dwells in thesecond jhāna,which has internal placidity and unification ofmind and consists of rapture and pleasure born of concentration,without thought and examination.With the fading awayas well of rapture,he dwells equanimous and,mindful andclearly comprehending,he experiences pleasure with the body;he enters and dwells in the third jhāna of which the noble ones declare:'He is equanimous,mindful,one who dwells happily.
This subject of recollection,developed and cultivated in this way,leads to a happy dwelling in this very life.
Ironically,this may be the only place in the Nikāyas where three jhānas are referred to as an anussatitthāna,"subject of recollec- tion."Neither text nor Mp offers an explanation why the fourth jhāna is set off as a separate subject of recollection,the fifth here. In fact,the use of the designation anussatitthana for the five con- templations mentioned by Ananda,and the sixth added by the Buddha,seems unique to this sutta.(2)"Again,Bhante,a bhikkhu attends to the perception of light;he focuses on the perception of day thus:'As by day,so at night;as at night,so by day.'
Thus,with a mind that is open and uncovered,he develops a mind imbued with luminosity.
Yatha diva tatha rattim,yathā rattim tatha diva.Also at 4:41.Mp explains:"As by day he attends to the perception of light,just so does he attend to it at night.As at night he attends to the perception of light,just so does he attend to it during the day. Obtaining knowledge and vision:this is obtaining the divine eye, called knowledge and vision."This subject of recollection,developed and cultivated in this way,leads to obtaining knowledge and vision.
(3)"Again,Bhante,a bhikkhu reviews this very body upward from the soles of the feet,downward from the tips of the hairs,enclosed in skin,as full of many kinds of impurities:
'There arein this body head hairs,body hairs,nails,teeth,skin,flesh,sinews,bones,bone marrow,kidneys,heart,liver,pleura,spleen,lungs,intestines,mesentery,stomach,excrement,bile,phlegm,pus,blood,sweat,fat,tears,grease,saliva,snot,fluid of the joints,urine.'
This subject of recollection,developed and cultivated in this way,leads to abandoning sensual lust.
(4)"Again,Bhante,suppose a bhikkhu were to see a corpse thrown aside in a charnel ground,one,two,[324]or three days dead,bloated,livid,and festering.
He compares his own body with it thus:
'This body,too,is of the same nature;it will be like that;it is not beyond that.'
Here and below are the nine charnel ground contemplations,as in the Satipatthāna Sutta,at DN22.7-10,II295-97;MN 10.12-30, I·58-59.Or suppose he were to see a corpse thrown aside in a charnel ground,being devoured by crows,hawks,vultures,dogs,jackals,or various kinds of living beings.
He compares his own body with it thus:
'This body,too,is of the same nature;it will be like that;it is not beyond that.'
Or suppose he were to see a corpse thrown aside in a charnel ground,a skeleton with flesh and blood,held together with sinews...a fleshless skeleton smeared with blood,held together with sinews...a skeleton without flesh and blood,held together with sinews...
disconnected bones scattered in all directions:here a handbone,there a footbone,here a shinbone,there a thighbone,here a hipbone,there a backbone,and there the skull.He compares his own body with it thus:"This body,too,is of the same nature;it will be like that;it is not beyond that.'Or suppose hewere to see a corpse thrown aside in a charnel ground,bones bleached white,the color of shells...bones heaped up,more than a year old...bones rotted,crumbled to dust.
He compareshis own body with it thus:[325]
'This body,too,is of the same nature;it will be like that;it is not beyond that.'
This subject of recollection,developed and cultivated in this way,leads to the uprooting of the conceit 'I am.'
(5)"Again,Bhante,with the abandoning of pleasure andpain,and with the previous passing away of joy and dejection,a bhikkhu enters and dwells in the fourth jhāna,neither painfulnor pleasant,which has purification of mindfulness by equanimity.
This subject of recollection,developed and cultivated inthis way,leads to the penetration of numerous elements.
This must be referring to the fourth jhāna as the basis for the six kinds of direct knowledge.
"These,Bhante,are the five subjects of recoliection."
"Good,good,Ananda!
Therefore,Ananda,remember this sixth subject of recollection,too.
(6)"Here,ever mindful a bhikkhu goes forward,ever mindful he returns,ever mindful he stands,ever mindful he sits,ever mindful he lies down to sleep,ever mindful he undertakes work.
This subject of recollection,developed and cultivated in this way,leads to mindfulness and clear comprehension."