[320] **"Having come to match in contest with the Cleansed One, you will not be able to advance"** —
Wisdom (paññā) is called "dhonā" (that which cleanses): the wisdom which is understanding … non-delusion, investigation of dhammas, right view. For what reason is wisdom called dhonā? By that wisdom, bodily misconduct is shaken off, washed off, rinsed off, and cleansed away … all unwholesome volitional formations (abhisaṅkhāra) are shaken off, washed off, rinsed off, and cleansed away. Or else: by right view, wrong view is shaken off, washed off, rinsed off, and cleansed away … by right deliverance, wrong deliverance is shaken off, washed off, rinsed off, and cleansed away. Or else: by the noble eightfold path (magga), all that is unwholesome, all misconduct, all distresses, all fevers, all torments, all unwholesome volitional formations are shaken off, washed off, rinsed off, and cleansed away. The Blessed One is endowed with, fully endowed with, has approached, fully approached, has attained, fully attained, and is possessed of these cleansing qualities; therefore the Blessed One is the Cleansed One (dhona). He has shaken off lust, shaken off evil, shaken off defilements, shaken off fevers: thus he is the Cleansed One.
**"Having come to match in contest with the Cleansed One, you will not be able to advance"**: the wanderer Pasūra is not capable, having come to a contest — having come to match himself — with the Buddha, the Blessed One, the Cleansed One, of taking up the contest, of holding discussion, of conversing, of entering upon discussion with him. Why is that? The wanderer Pasūra is inferior, low, mean, vile, petty, and limited; while that Blessed One is the foremost, the best, the most excellent, the preeminent, and the supreme. Just as a hare is not capable, having come to a contest with an elephant in musth, of taking up the contest; just as a jackal is not capable, having come to a contest with the lion, king of beasts, of taking up the contest; just as a young suckling calf is not capable, having come to a contest with a mighty-humped bull, of taking up the contest; just as a crow is not capable, having come to a contest with the garuḷa, Vinatā's son, of taking up the contest; just as an outcaste is not capable, having come to a contest with a wheel-turning monarch, of taking up the contest; just as a mud-goblin is not capable, having come to a contest with Inda, king of the devas, of taking up the contest — even so, the wanderer Pasūra is not capable, having come to a contest with the Buddha, the Blessed One, the Cleansed One, of taking up the contest, of holding discussion, of conversing, of entering upon discussion. Why is that? The wanderer Pasūra is of inferior wisdom, of low wisdom, of mean wisdom, of vile wisdom, of petty wisdom, of limited wisdom; while that Blessed One is of great wisdom, of broad wisdom, of joyous wisdom, of swift wisdom, of keen wisdom, of penetrative wisdom; skilled in the divisions of wisdom, of discriminate knowledge (ñāṇa), one who has attained the analytic insights (paṭisambhidā), who has reached the four intrepidities (vesārajja), bearer of the ten powers; a bull among men, a lion among men, a nāga among men, a thoroughbred among men, a burden-bearer among men; of infinite knowledge, of infinite splendor, of infinite fame; rich, of great wealth, wealthy; a leader, a trainer, a guide, one who makes others understand, one who makes them reflect, one who makes them look on, one who makes them advance.
For that Blessed One is the arouser of the unarisen path, the begetter of the unbegotten path, the declarer of the undeclared path; he is the knower of the path, the discoverer of the path, the one skilled in the path. And his disciples now dwell following that path, becoming endowed with it afterwards.
For that Blessed One, knowing, knows; seeing, sees. He has become vision, become knowledge, become Dhamma, become Brahmā; he is the proclaimer, the expounder, the elucidator of the meaning, the giver of the Deathless, the lord of the Dhamma, the Tathāgata. There is nothing unknown to that Blessed One, nothing unseen, nothing uncognized, nothing unrealized, nothing left untouched by his wisdom. All dhammas — including past, future, and present — in every mode come into range at the door of the knowledge of the Buddha, the Blessed One. Whatever there is that can be known, that should be understood — one's own good, or the good of others, or the good of both; the good pertaining to this present life, or the good pertaining to the life to come; the plain meaning or the profound meaning; the hidden meaning or the concealed meaning; the meaning to be inferred or the meaning already drawn out; the blameless good, the good free from defilement, the purified good, or the highest good — all that revolves within the Buddha's knowledge.
All bodily action of the Buddha, the Blessed One, occurs in accordance with knowledge; all verbal action occurs in accordance with knowledge; all mental action occurs in accordance with knowledge. The Buddha, the Blessed One, has unobstructed knowledge with regard to the past; the Buddha, the Blessed One, has unobstructed knowledge with regard to the future; the Buddha, the Blessed One, has unobstructed knowledge with regard to the present. As far as the knowable extends, so far extends knowledge; as far as knowledge extends, so far extends the knowable. Knowledge has the knowable as its limit; the knowable has knowledge as its limit. Knowledge does not occur beyond the knowable, nor is there any range of the knowable beyond knowledge. These things stand as each other's mutual limit. Just as when the two halves of a casket are exactly fitted together, the lower half of the casket does not exceed the upper, and the upper half of the casket does not exceed the lower — they stand as each other's mutual limit — even so, for the Buddha, the Blessed One, the knowable and knowledge stand as each other's mutual limit: as far as the knowable extends, so far extends knowledge; as far as knowledge extends, so far extends the knowable. Knowledge has the knowable as its limit; the knowable has knowledge as its limit. Knowledge does not occur beyond the knowable, nor is there any range of the knowable beyond knowledge. These things stand as each other's mutual limit.
The knowledge of the Buddha, the Blessed One, occurs with regard to all dhammas. All dhammas are bound up with the adverting of the Buddha, the Blessed One, bound up with his wish, bound up with his attention, bound up with the arising of his mind (citta). The knowledge of the Buddha, the Blessed One, occurs with regard to all beings. The Blessed One knows the disposition of all beings, knows their latent tendencies (anusaya), knows their temperament, knows their resolve; he understands beings who have little dust in their eyes and much dust in their eyes, of keen faculties and of dull faculties, of good qualities and of bad qualities, easy to instruct and hard to instruct, capable and incapable. The world with its devas, with Māra, with Brahmā, this generation with its ascetics and brahmins, with its devas and human beings, revolves within the Buddha's knowledge. Just as whatever fish and turtles there are, even including the timitimiṅgala, revolve within the great ocean, even so the world with its devas, with Māra, with Brahmā, this generation with its ascetics and brahmins, with its devas and human beings, revolves within the Buddha's knowledge. Just as whatever birds there are, even including the garuḷa, Vinatā's son, move within a region of the sky, even so, even those who are equal to Sāriputta in wisdom move within a region of the Buddha's knowledge. The Buddha's knowledge stands pervading and surpassing the wisdom of devas and human beings.
Whatever learned nobles, learned brahmins, learned householders, and learned ascetics there are — subtle, practised in the doctrines of others, like hair-splitting marksmen, who go about, as it were, demolishing the views of others with their wisdom — having formulated question after question, they approach the Tathāgata and ask. When those questions have been answered and resolved by the Blessed One, their grounds pointed out and set aside, then they are won over to the Blessed One. Then indeed the Blessed One shines forth there — that is, in wisdom. Thus: "Having come to match in contest with the Cleansed One, you will not be able to advance." Therefore the Blessed One said:
Now you have come speculating,
pondering views in your mind;
having come to match in contest with the Cleansed One,
you will not be able to advance.
The Exposition of the Pasūra Sutta, the Eighth, is finished.
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The Exposition of the Māgandiya Sutta, the Ninth
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.