35c: More Stories about Wrong View – 1224
Ābhassara Brahmas; 10) Subhakiṇhā Brahmas; 11) Vehapphala Brahmas;
12) Abhibhū Brahmas (Assaññasatta Brahmas); 13) I know all (
sakkāya-
sabba
) and you know it too; I know all (
sabba -sabba
), including Nibbāna,
which is inaccessible to all but you do not.
With regard to the first 12 points, Baka saw no reason to blame the
Buddha. As regards the last point, however, he saw something to accuse
the Buddha of.
When the Buddha said: “I know all (
sakkāya-sabba
) and I know Nibbāna
which is inaccessible to all (
sakkāya-sabba
),” he said it as a puzzle. What
he meant to say by this was: “Brahma Baka, I know all mundane things
(
sabba-sakkāya
) by my extraordinary intellect that they are, by nature,
impermanent, suffering and selfless. Having known this, I also know
Nibbāna by my extraordinary insight (
vipassanā
), which cannot be
attained by all (
sakkāya
) individualities.”
In that speech the statement reading: “I know all by all their nature,”
means: “I know by insight (
vipassanā
) all individuality pertaining to the
three planes of existence, and the five aggregates of mundane things in
their nature of being impermanent, suffering and selfless.” Here the
Buddha said: “I know all by all their nature,” with reference to
sakkāya
-
sabba
. “I know Nibbāna which is inaccessible to all by all nature,” means
“I know Nibbāna with the path-knowledge, realizing that it is inaccessible
to all individuality and the five aggregates of mundane things in their
nature of being conditioned (
saṅkhata
).
Such conditioned material things as the earth element, the wind element,
etc., have the nature of hardness, cohesiveness, etc., which are also
conditioned, such conditioned mental things as contact, sensation, etc.,
have the nature of the tangibility, feeling, etc., which are also conditioned.
All these conditioned things are absent in Nibbāna which is unconditioned.
Only the nature of peace (
santi
), as opposed to conditioned things is
present in unconditioned Nibbāna. This was in view when it was said that
Nibbāna is inaccessible to the earth element. Nibbāna is inaccessible to the
water element, Nibbāna is inaccessible to all individuality.
By this much, readers of the Chronicle must have understood that what the
Buddha meant was as follows: “I know thoroughly all (
sabba-sakkāya
), or
the five aggregates of mundane things and you know them too. I also know
Nibbāna which cannot be reached by all individuality, but you do not
know it, and that the word “all” in that speech implies the five aggregates