20.4 The Story about the Characteristic of Non-Self
Anattalakkhaṇavatthu
Dhp 279
Burlingame: Unreality
Five hundred bhikkhus strove hard but were unable to attain Arahatship, so they approached the Buddha for further teaching; seeing into their past lives and knowing they had previously meditated on non-self, the Buddha gave them this teaching, after hearing which, they became Arahats.
Keywords: Insight, Past Lives
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“All aggregates are without self,” AJ: again this story is only referred to in the commentary. I write it out here, with the appropriate changes.
It seems that these five hundred bhikkhus, who had received a subject of meditation from the Teacher and who had striven and struggled with might and main in the forest without attaining Arahatship, returned to the Teacher for the purpose of obtaining a subject of meditation better suited to their needs.
The Teacher enquired within himself: “What will be the most profitable subject of meditation for these bhikkhus?” Then he considered within himself: “In the dispensation of the Buddha Kassapa these bhikkhus devoted themselves for twenty thousand years to meditation on the characteristic of non-self; therefore the characteristic of non-self shall be the subject of the single verse which I shall pronounce.”
Only on this occasion the Fortunate One said to them: “Bhikkhus, the aggregates are not under our control, and are without self.” So saying, he pronounced the following verse:
279. Sabbe dhammā anattā ti, yadā paññāya passati,
atha nibbindatī dukkhe – esa maggo visuddhiyā.
All aggregates are without self,
when one sees this with deep wisdom,
then one grows tired of suffering,
this is the path to purity.
At the end of the teaching those bhikkhus were established in Arahatship, and those who had assembled also had benefit from the Dhamma teaching.