AN 10.96 - Kokanada Sutta [Book Of The Tens]

Salaam.

Salaam.

Salaam.

Welcome to Buddha Sangha.

Today we will read the sutta from Anguttara Nikaya,

Book of the Tents.

Name of the sutta is Kokkanada,

Sutta No.

96.

So it is A.

N.

10.

96.

Kokkanada.

On one occasion,

The venerable Ananda was dwelling at Rajagaha in the hot springs park.

Then,

As the night was receding,

The venerable Ananda rose and went to the hot springs to bathe.

Having bathed in the hot springs and come back out,

He stood in one row drying his limbs.

The wanderer Kokkanada too rose as the night was receding and went to the hot springs to bathe.

He saw the venerable Ananda from a distance and said to him,

Who is your friend?

I am a bhikkhu friend.

From which group of bhikkhus friend?

From the ascetics following the Sakyan sun.

If you could take the time to answer my question,

I would like to ask you about a certain point.

You may ask friend.

When I hear your question,

I know whether I can answer it.

So here Ananda was at the hot springs just having cleansed himself and at the same time,

Kokkanada comes there to bathe and he is happy to see a bhikkhu and asks him if he has his permission to ask a question.

Let's see what is Kokkanada's question.

How is it sir,

Do you hold the view?

Number one,

The world is eternal.

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

Your eternal means it has always been and will always be.

It has no beginning and no end.

That is the meaning of the world is eternal.

He is asking Ananda if he has such a view.

Whether he believes that the world is eternal without a beginning and without an end.

Ananda answers,

I don't hold such a view friend.

So,

Kokkanada asks the second question.

Then,

Do you hold the view the world is not eternal?

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

Means the world has a beginning and has an end.

It is not eternal.

So he is asking Ananda,

Does Ananda believe in such a view where the world is not eternal?

So Ananda responds,

I don't hold such a view friend.

So the next question,

Do you hold the view that the world is finite?

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

Ananda responds,

I don't hold such a view friend.

Then he asks the question,

Do you hold the view the world is infinite?

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

What does Ananda say?

I don't hold such a view friend.

Are you saying,

What are these questions?

These are questions of either this extreme or that extreme.

Eternal or not eternal.

Finite or infinite.

Next question,

The soul and the body are the same.

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

What does Ananda say?

I don't hold such a view friend.

The soul is one thing and the body is another.

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

What does Ananda say?

I don't hold such a view friend.

Next question,

Kukunada asks,

Do you hold the view that the Thaagata exists after death?

The Thaagata is the other way to address Buddha,

The one who has reached the other shore.

The Thaagata exists after death.

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

So what does Ananda say?

I don't hold such a view friend.

So he asks,

Okay then do you hold the view that the Thaagata does not exist after death?

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

What does Ananda answer?

I don't hold such a view friend.

Then Kukunada does not stop.

He again asks another question.

The Thaagata neither exists nor does not exist after death.

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

What does Ananda say?

I don't hold such a view friend.

Kukunada does not stop.

He asks,

Could it then be that you do not know and you do not see?

Ananda says,

It is in the case friend that I do not know or I do not see.

I know and I see.

When I asked you,

How is it sir,

Do you hold the view the world is eternal?

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

You said I don't hold such a view friend.

But when I asked you,

Then do you hold the view the world is not eternal?

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

You said I don't hold such a view friend.

When I asked you,

Do you hold the view the world is finite?

You said I don't hold such a view friend.

When I asked you that the world is infinite,

You said you do not hold such a view friend.

When I asked you that the Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist after death.

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

You said I don't hold such a view friend.

The dot dot dot in the middle is to fill up the previous ones.

Then when I asked you,

Could it be then that you do not know and see?

You said it is in the case friend that I do not know and see.

I know and see.

How friend should the meaning of this statement be understood?

Kukunada is one amongst those people who just goes on poking poking poking poking poking till you give an answer.

He wants an answer that conforms to his own belief,

His own understanding.

Let's see what Ananda responds.

The world is eternal.

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

Friend,

This is a speculative view.

The world is not eternal.

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

This is a speculative view.

The world is finite.

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

This is a speculative view.

The world is infinite.

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

Friend,

This is a speculative view.

The soul and body are the same.

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

Friend,

This is a speculative view.

The soul is one thing and the body another.

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

Friend,

This is a speculative view.

The Tathagata exists after death.

Anything else is wrong.

Friend,

This is a speculative view.

The Tathagata does not exist after death.

Anything else is wrong.

Friend,

This is a speculative view.

The Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist after death.

This alone is true.

Anything else is wrong.

This is a speculative view.

What is a speculation?

A theory formed without enough information or an idea or concept or conjecture which does not have much evidence.

Without the experience of it,

Just a theory without the practical experience is speculative view.

Because somebody said so.

Because it is written somewhere.

Because somebody else believes so.

Or my religion follows this belief.

My organization follows this belief or my community follows this belief.

Therefore,

I believe this.

I don't have evidence of it or I don't have the proper experience of it.

Then whatever my view is,

It is called speculative view.

Clear?

Yeah?

Whether the world has a beginning or not.

Whether it has an end or not.

Whether it is finite or not.

Whether it is infinite or not.

All this does not have evidence.

You don't have that evidence.

Somebody else might but you don't have that evidence.

So till the time you don't have that evidence,

By your own experience,

For you it is a speculative view.

Very clear?

Similarly,

Whether the Tathagata lives after death or does not live after death or both lives and does not live after death.

Speculation again.

There is no evidence.

There is no concrete foundation.

Same thing.

Whether the soul and body are one or soul is another thing or body is another thing.

Speculative view.

Do you understand speculation now?

That which does not have the foundation of firm evidence.

That which is just a conjecture is a speculative view.

To the extent,

Friend,

That there is a speculative view,

A basis for views,

A foundation for views,

Obsession with views,

The origination of views and the uprooting of views.

I know and see this.

So you see,

I can see that there are speculative views that people carry with them.

Then I also see that they have a basis for views.

My teacher said this,

My community leader said this,

My religious organisation said this,

My parents said it,

Everybody in my family is following this tradition.

Some basis for their view.

When I am born in this particular religion that has this view.

So that is the basis for their speculative view.

That view which does not have the experimental foundation or the evidence that comes from self-experimentation.

They also have a foundation for their views.

Their foundation is because my mother said so.

Because so and so said so.

Obsession with views,

Then they hold on to their views.

Oh my view,

My religion.

That's what created the wars in between communities and religions and different communities within the same religion have wars and conflicts and debates.

All this he can see,

He is saying.

All this comes from obsession with views.

Then he sees the origination of the views also where they have originated.

And he sees how they can be uprooted.

He says I know and I see this.

When I know and see this,

Why should I say I do not know and see?

I know friend,

I see.

What is your name and how are you known by your fellow monks?

Kukulada now gets very interested in this monk.

So,

He says my name is Ananda and my fellow monks know me as Ananda.

Immediately Kukulada recognises that name.

He says indeed I did not realise that I was consulting the great teacher,

The venerable Ananda.

If I had realised that this was the venerable Ananda,

I wouldn't have spoken so much.

Let the venerable Ananda please pardon me.

So,

What this sutta really brings to light is that our speculative views,

Views which we carry because so and so said so or because it has been coming down in my family for ages.

It is the tradition of my family or tradition of this community or I was born in a religion with certain beliefs,

Certain views.

All that which is not your experience is a speculative view for you.

And that speculative view can lead to obsession,

Can lead to you losing the track of reality as it is.

So,

Homework for you.

Do you carry such speculative views?

Time for a reality check.

And if you do,

Check are you obsessed with it?

Are you ready to let go or not?

If you are not ready to let go,

There's probably a hidden attachment in the deep corners of the mind and every attachment leads to obsession.

Because you want to protect your view,

Your understanding.

The ego does not want to accept that that which I have held on to in the past can be wrong.

The ego wants to protect itself and therefore it does not let you see the attachment to certain views that are not experiential for you,

That are just said by so and so or carried down from the ages.

Speculative view can be a big hindrance on the spiritual path for those sadhaks who really are interested in awakening.

Don't believe me.

Don't believe the Buddha.

You experiment on your own mind and arrive at your own truth whether holding on to a speculative view,

Obsessing with it leads to debates and arguments between you and your friends or not.

Leads to problems in your own mind or not.

Leads to doubts in your own mind or not.

After experimenting with your own mind,

Arrive at your own truth.

Ananda has given a beautiful solution for those who do not want to be lost in the extremism of speculative views.

He has given us the middle path.

The middle path of not tipping on this side and not tipping on this side.

But you adopt this middle path only after experimenting with your own mind.

You be your own light.

Apu Thi Po Bhava.

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