Venerable Mahāsi Sayādaw

A Discourse on the Sallekha Sutta

Translated by U Aye Maung

Select a linkBiography of Mahāsi SayādawA Discourse on the Ariyāvāsa SuttaA Discourse on Dependent OriginationExhortations by Mahāsi SayādawFundamentals of Insight MeditationA Discourse on the Hemavata SuttaA Discourse on the Mālukyaputta SuttaMahāsi AbroadPractical Insight MeditationPractical Vipassanā Meditation ExercisesBuddhist Meditation and its Forty SubjectsThe Problems of LifeThe Progress of InsightA Discourse on the Sammāparibbājanīya SuttaA Discourse on the Sakkapañha SuttaA Discourse on Worldly VicissitudesOn the Nature of NibbānaA Discourse on the Bhāra SuttaA Discourse on the Sallekha SuttaSatipatthāna VipassanāThoughts on DhammaSearch Google for more books by this author

Contents

Select a linkContentsIntroductionEffacement, Violence, KillingStealing and UnchastityLyingSlander, Harsh Speech, and Idle ChatterCovetousness, Ill-will, and Wrong ViewWrong Thought, Speech, Action, and Livelihood~Effort, Mindfulness, Concentration, Knowledge, LiberationSloth and Torpor, Restlessness, Doubt,Anger, Malice, Ingratitude, Arrogance, EnvyMeanness, Hypocrisy, Deceitfulness, DisrespectOver-estimation, Stubbornness, Evil Friends, HeedlessnessSkepticism, Shamelessness, Recklessness, IlliteracyLaziness, Absent-mindedness, Foolishness, Bigotry

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Editor’s Foreword

As with my other editions of the translated works of the late Venerable Mahāsī Sayādaw, I have removed many of the Pāḷi words for the benefit of those who are not familiar with the technical terms. The original translation was published in Rangoon in 1981, about two years after the Sayādaw gave the Dhamma talks, which spanned a period of many weeks. To transcribe and translate many hours of tape-recordings is a huge task, but one productive of great merit as it enables a much wider audience to benefit from the late Sayādaw’s profound talks.

This edition aims to extend the audience further still by publishing the book on the internet. Since my target audience may be less familiar with Buddhism than most Burmese Buddhists, and many may know little about the late Mahāsī Sayādaw, I have retained his brief biography and added a few footnotes by way of explanation or cross-reference.

References are to the Pāḷi text Roman Script editions of the Pali Text Society — in their translations, these page numbers are given in the headers or in square brackets in the body of the text. This practice is also followed by Bhikkhu Bodhi’s modern translations, like that below:

128    Sallekha Sutta: Sutta 8

i.44

Thus, a reference to M.i.44 would be found on page 44 of volume one in the Pāḷi edition, but on page 128 of Bhikkhu Bodhi’s translation. It would be on a different page in Miss I.B. Horner’s translation, but since the Pāḷi page reference is given, it can still be found. In the Chaṭṭha Sangāyana edition of the Pāḷi texts on CD, the references to the pages of the PTS Roman Script edition are shown at the bottom of the screen, and can be located by searching.

I have attempted to standardise the translation of Pāḷi terms to match that in other works by the Sayādaw, but it is impossible to be totally consistent as the various translations and editions are from many different sources. In the index you can find the Pāḷi terms in brackets after the translations, thus the index also serves as a glossary.

A Burmese word used frequently in the Sayādaw’s discourses is the instruction to note each and every mental or physical phenomena. The original translation used “watch,” and Venerable Nyanaponika used the word “notice” in his translation of “The Progress of Insight,” but I prefer “note” as it is not something done with the eyes, but with the mind only, and it is also volitional. The same word is used in other books such as “Practical Insight Meditation.”

Many beginners get confused over this mental noting or labelling of each phenomenon. “Is it not better just to observe without noting?” they ask. The trouble is, if one fails to make a mental note, one also fails to notice or examine the phenomena clearly. The noting or mental labelling is the mental factor of initial application (vitakka), which pushes the mind towards the object to investigate it. When the meditator reaches the second vipassanā jhāna, mindfulness is well-established, and the noting drops away automatically. With the aid of sustained application (vicāra), the meditator just knows the objects as they occur from moment to moment. Do persist with the noting or mental labelling of every phenomenon as it occurs to keep the mind from wandering aimlessly. Do not try to run before you can walk.

The original edition published in Rangoon included two talks delivered by the Sayādaw on Buddha Day (Vesākha) and Mahāsamaya Day. These talks were included only because they were given during the long period when the Sayādaw was expounding the Sallekha Sutta. However, since they have no connection with the Sallekha Sutta, I have omitted them. Perhaps I will publish them as separate articles.

This first on-line edition will, no doubt, still have many defects, but I hope it is already good enough to be useful. As my time permits, I will gradually improve it. If you find any errors, please let me know.

Bhikkhu Pesala

November 2006

Translator’s Preface

This book is the English translation of a series of talks that the Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw gave on the Sallekha Sutta during the period 1969-70. It is an elaboration of an important teaching of the Buddha in the Majjhimanikaya. The Pali text of the sutta covers only eight pages, but the transcripts of the twelve talks came out in a two-volume publication in Burma. This is no wonder for, as is well known to everyone who has heard his talks or read his writings, the Venerable Sayadaw¹ is very thorough and careful about small details and he spares no pains to make the Buddha’s teaching clear to all.

In his introduction to the sutta the Venerable Sayadaw says: “The self-training leading to this goal (the lessening of defilements) forms the subject of the Sallekha Sutta. The sutta is beneficial to meditators and non-meditators alike; it is helpful to all those who wish to overcome immoral desires and cultivate skilful, wholesome desires.” In other words, this sutta is not meant only for those who possess a high level of intellectual or spiritual capacity. Here the Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw presents a sharp contrast to some Buddhist teachers who wish to confine the higher teachings of the Buddha to the intellectual elite.

Once a Sayadaw is reported to have said, “People memorise the Satipatthana Sutta; they make it a basis for insight practice. All this is ridiculous. It is not in the least proper for the common people to study Satipatthana teaching.” This skepticism is to be greatly deplored for it is largely responsible for ignorance or at best superficial knowledge of the Buddha’s teaching even in a predominantly Buddhist country like Burma.

Of course we should have respect for the Buddha’s teaching, but it does not follow that we should regard it as too sacred and profound for ordinary people. If the Dhamma is supposed to be above the comprehension of the common man, the Buddha would not have proclaimed it to mankind.

Some insist that the higher doctrines are intended only for the bhikkhus. However, this view is not in accord with the Tipitaka and the Commentaries, which mention cases of lay disciples who attained advanced stages on the path through the practice of Satipatthana Vipassana.

The teaching in the Sallekha Sutta is not like the Vinaya rules, which the Buddha laid down exclusively for the bhikkhus. Nor is it intended only for lay followers, as is the Singalovada Sutta of the Dighanikaya. The sutta represents the essence of the Dhamma that is universally applicable. The study of this sutta will benefit everyone because it points out the best way of dealing with moral dangers that have bedeviled mankind through the ages, and led to immense suffering.

It speaks volumes for the high quality of the Venerable Sayadaw’s sharp intellect that he brings home to us important points implicit in the teachings of the Buddha, but which are never explicitly mentioned in the Pitaka or the Commentaries.

Thus the Venerable Sayadaw broke new grounds in the teaching of insight meditation when he advised his meditator disciples to note the rising and falling of the abdomen in meditation practice. This teaching has run the gauntlet of criticism on the grounds that it lacks scriptural authority, that it is against the traditional instruction of insight meditation teachers. However, there can be no denying the fact that it agrees with the Satipatthana Sutta, that it is but a corollary of the Buddha’s instruction about the contemplation of the body: “Kaye kayanupassi viharati.” Despite all the criticism, this practice has benefited many meditators in Burma as well as in other countries.

The Sallekha Sutta is hard to understand and, except for a very learned and experienced teacher of insight meditation like the Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw, it is equally hard to explain clearly the teaching of the Buddha in the sutta. It deals with absorption, the path, fruition, etc., and needless to say, today there are many Buddhists who do not know what these varieties of religious experience are all about. In fact, even some meditators who practise insight meditation are not free from misconceptions about them. As the Venerable Sayadaw points out, many of them meditate in the hope of having some unusual experience and they regard any such experience as proof of spiritual attainment.

Ignorance about insight meditation practice is widespread. Many people do not distinguish it from absorption (jhana), they confuse its goal with its by-products such as visions, rapture, psychic powers and so forth. It is said that an Arahant is necessarily a holy man who can fly in the air and this old-established belief prevails even among college-educated Buddhists. No wonder that nowadays there are bogus meditation teachers who unscrupulously exploit mass ignorance and credulity for their own ends.

Real experience of insight may defy understanding and description, but the Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw’s discourse on the Sallekha Sutta leaves no room for confusion or misconception about the goal, which is no less than the extinction of all defilements. Childer’s Dictionary of the Pali Language translates “sallekha” as the destruction of defilements (kilesa) and the Venerable Sayadaw describes the practice of effacement that forms the basis of insight as the way of life designed to root out defilements.

The Venerable Sayadaw’s discourse is thus highly informative, illuminating and authoritative. It will be invaluable to all those who seek enlightenment about the Buddha’s way to the end of defilements and suffering.

U Aye Maung

Translator

¹ The Burmese word Sayādaw, meaning “Venerable Teacher” is an honorific term and way of address given to senior or eminent monks. (Editor’s note)

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