(OPRC) Lesson 4 (June 22, 2023) | Kumārapañhā (The Boy’s Questions) | Bhante Dr. G. Chandima

 

Khuddakapāṭha 4
(Minor Texts)

Kumārapañhā
(The Boy’s Questions)

1. Ekaṁ nāma kiṁ? Sabbe sattā āhāraṭṭhitikā.

What is the one? All sentient beings are sustained by food.

2. Dve nāma kiṁ? Nāmañca rūpañca.
What is the two? Name and form.

3. Tīṇi nāma kiṁ? Tisso vedanā.
What is the three? Three feelings.

4. Cattāri nāma kiṁ? Cattāri ariyasaccāni.
What is the four? Four noble truths.

5. Pañca nāma kiṁ? Pañcupādānakkhandhā.
What is the five? Five grasping aggregates.

6. Cha nāma kiṁ? Cha ajjhattikāni āyatanāni.

What is the six? Six interior sense fields.

7. Satta nāma kiṁ? Satta bojjhaṅgā.
What is the seven? Seven awakening factors.

8. Aṭṭha nāma kiṁ? Ariyo aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo.
What is the eight? The noble eightfold path.

9. Nava nāma kiṁ? Nava sattāvāsā.
What is the nine? Nine abodes of sentient beings.

10. Dasa nāma kiṁ? Dasahaṅgehi samannāgato “arahā”ti vuccatīti.
What is the ten? One endowed with ten factors is called “perfected”.

Kumārapañhā.

(Thus ends the The Boy’s Questions)

Notes

• 8 Types of Higher Ordinations 

1. Ehi Bhikkhu Upasampadā
2. Saraṇāgamana Upasampadā

3. Ovāda Paṭiggahaṇa Upasampadā (Acceptance of advice)

4.  Pañhabyākaraṇa Upasampadā (Answering questions)

5. Aṭṭhagarudhamma Paṭiggahaṇa Upasampadā (Acceptance of eight rules)

6. Dūtena Upasampadā (Through an emissary)

7. Aṭṭhavācika Upasampadā/Ubhatosaṅghe Upasampadā

  (Pronouncement of eight times)

8. Ñatti-Catuttha-kamma Upasampada (received by the formal act consisting of a motion and resolution/or the act with the carried motion as the fourth) 

• Āhāra (Pāli, nutriment). Four kinds of ‘food’ in the literal and figurative senses listed in Pāli sources. These are: (1) solid food that nourishes the body (kabaliṇkārāhāra); (2) sensory and mental impressions (phassa) which are the support of pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings; (3) mental volitions (mano-sañcetanā) which produce karma; (4) consciousness (viññāṇa, Skt., vijñāna) as the condition of mind and body (nāma-rūpa) at conception.

• sattāvāsa, nava: 'abodes of beings'. In the Sutta-texts (e.g. D. 33; A.IX, 24) 9 such abodes are mentioned:


"There are, o monks, 9 abodes of beings, namely:


1. Nānattakāya Nānattasaññi "There are beings who are different in body and different in perception, such as the human beings, some heavenly beings, and some beings living in the world of suffering (vinipātika, q.v.).


2. Nānattakāya Ekattasaññi ''There are beings who are different in body but equal in perception, such as the first-born gods of the Brahma-world (i.e. at the beginning of each new world-formation; s. Brahma Group I)


3. Ekattakāya Nānattasaññi ''There are beings who are equal in body but different in perception, such as the Radiant Gods (ābhassara, s. Brahma Group II).


4. Ekattakāya Ekattasaññi  "There are beings who are equal in body and equal in perception, such as the All-Illuminating Gods (subha-kiṇha; s. Brahma Group III).


5. Asaññsatta  "There are beings without perception and feeling, such as the unconscious beings (asañña-satta, q.v.).


6. Ākāsānañcāyatana "There are beings who, through the complete overcoming of perceptions of matter (rūpa-sañña), the disappearance of perceptions of sense-reaction (paṭigha-sañña), and the non-attention to perceptions of variety thinking: 'Boundless is space', are reborn in the sphere of buundless space (s. deva, III; jhāna, 5).


7. Viññāṇañcāyatana "There are beings who, through the complete overcoming of the sphere of boundless space, thinking: 'Boundless is consciousness', are reborn in the sphere of boundless consciousness (s. jhāna 6).


8. Ākiñcaññāyatana  "There are beings who, through the complete overcoming of the sphere of boundless consciousness, thinking: 'Nothing is there, are reborn in the sphere of nothingness (s. jhāna, 7).


9. Nevasaññānāsaññāyatana "There are beings who, through the complete overcoming of the sphere of nothingness, are reborn in the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception (s. jhāna, 8)" (A. IX, 24).

According to the Com. to A., the beings of the Pure Abodes (Suddhāvāsa , q.v.) are not mentioned here, for the reason that they exist only in those world-periods in which Buddhas appear. Cf. viññāṇa-ṭṭhiti.