1On one occasion the Venerable Musīla, the Venerable Saviṭṭha, the Venerable Nārada, and the Venerable Ānanda were living at Kosambı in Ghosita's Park.[n.197] Spk does not identify these elders. Saviṭṭha appears at AN I 118-19, Nārada at AN III 57-62.

1Ekaṁ samayaṁ āyasmā ca musilo āyasmā ca paviṭṭho āyasmā ca nārado āyasmā ca ānando kosambiyaṁ vihāranti ghositārāme.

Then the Venerable Saviṭṭha said to the Venerable Musīla: "Friend Musīla, apart from faith, apart from personal preference, apart from oral tradition, apart from reasoned reflection, apart from acceptance of a view after pondering it,[n.198] These five grounds for the acceptance of a thesis recur at SN35.153 and are examined critically by the Buddha at MN II 170,26-171,25; see too MN II 218,15-21. Here they are being contrasted with personal knowledge (paccattameva ñāṇa). For a detailed discussion, see Jayatilleke, Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, pp. 182-88, 274-76.
Spk: One person accepts something through faith (saddhā) by placing faith in another and accepting what he says as true. Another accepts something through personal preference (ruci) when he approves of some thesis by reflecting on it and then takes it to be true. One accepts a thesis by oral tradition (anussava) when one thinks: "This has come down from ancient times by oral tradition, so it must be true." For another, as he thinks, a certain thesis appears valid, and he concludes, "So it is": he accepts it by reasoned reflection (ākārāparivitakka). (Jayatilleke discusses ākārā as meaning "reason" at p. 274.) In the fifth case, as one reflects, a view arises by pondering some hypothesis; this is acceptance of a view after pondering it (diṭṭhinijjhānakkhanti). does the Venerable Musīla have personal knowledge thus: ‘With birth as condition, aging-and-death comes to be’?"

Atha kho āyasmā paviṭṭho āyasmantaṁ musilaṁ etadavoca: "aññatreva, āvuso musila, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā atthāyasmato musilassa paccattameva ñāṇaṁ: ‘jātipaccayā jarāmaraṇan’"ti?

"Friend Saviṭṭha, apart from faith, apart from personal preference, apart from oral tradition, apart from reasoned reflection, apart from acceptance of a view after pondering it, I know this, I see this: ‘With birth as condition, aging-and-death comes to be.’" sn.ii.116

"Aññatreva, āvuso paviṭṭha, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā ahametaṁ jānāmi ahametaṁ passāmi: ‘jātipaccayā jarāmaraṇan’"ti.

2-4"Friend Musīla, apart from faith … apart from acceptance of a view after pondering it, does the Venerable Musīla have personal knowledge thus: ‘With existence as condition, birth’? … ‘With ignorance as condition, volitional formations’?"
"Friend Saviṭṭha, apart from faith … apart from acceptance of a view after pondering it, I know this, I see this: ‘With ignorance as condition, volitional formations.’"
"Friend Musīla, apart from faith … apart from acceptance of a view after pondering it, does the Venerable Musīla have personal knowledge: ‘With the cessation of birth comes cessation of aging-and-death’? … sn.ii.117 … ‘With the cessation of ignorance comes cessation of volitional formations’?"
"Friend Saviṭṭha, apart from faith …. apart from acceptance of a view after pondering it, I know this, I see this: ‘With the cessation of birth comes cessation of aging-and-death.’ … ‘With the cessation of ignorance comes cessation of volitional formations.’"

2"Aññatreva, āvuso musila, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā atthāyasmato musilassa paccattameva ñāṇaṁ: ‘bhavapaccayā jātīti … pe … upādānapaccayā bhavoti … taṇhāpaccayā upādānanti … vedanāpaccayā taṇhāti … phassapaccayā vedanāti … saḷāyatanapaccayā phassoti … nāmarūpapaccayā saḷāyatananti … viññāṇapaccayā nāmarūpanti … saṅkhārapaccayā viññāṇanti … avijjāpaccayā saṅkhārā’"ti?

"Aññatreva, āvuso paviṭṭha, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā ahametaṁ jānāmi ahametaṁ passāmi: ‘avijjāpaccayā saṅkhārā’"ti.

3"Aññatreva, āvuso musila, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā atthāyasmato musilassa paccattameva ñāṇaṁ: ‘jātinirodhā jarāmaraṇanirodho’"ti?

"Aññatreva, āvuso paviṭṭha, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā ahametaṁ jānāmi ahametaṁ passāmi: ‘jātinirodhā jarāmaraṇanirodho’"ti.

4"Aññatreva, āvuso musila, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā atthāyasmato musilassa paccattameva ñāṇaṁ: ‘bhavanirodhā jātinirodhoti … pe … upādānanirodhā bhavanirodhoti … taṇhānirodhā upādānanirodhoti … vedanānirodhā taṇhānirodhoti … phassanirodhā vedanānirodhoti … saḷāyatananirodhā phassanirodhoti … nāmarūpanirodhā saḷāyatananirodhoti … viññāṇanirodhā nāmarūpanirodhoti … saṅkhāranirodhā viññāṇanirodhoti … avijjānirodhā saṅkhāranirodho’"ti?

"Aññatreva, āvuso paviṭṭha, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā ahametaṁ jānāmi ahametaṁ passāmi: ‘avijjānirodhā saṅkhāranirodho’"ti.

5"Friend Musīla, apart from faith, apart from personal preference, apart from oral tradition, apart from reasoned reflection, apart from acceptance of a view after pondering it, does the Venerable Musīla have personal knowledge thus: ‘Nibbāna is the cessation of existence’?"[n.199] Bhavanirodho nibbānaṁ. Spk: Nibbāna is the cessation of the five aggregates.

5"Aññatreva, āvuso musila, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā atthāyasmato musilassa paccattameva ñāṇaṁ: ‘bhavanirodho nibbānan’"ti?

"Friend Saviṭṭha, apart from faith, apart from personal preference, apart from oral tradition, apart from reasoned reflection, apart from acceptance of a view after pondering it, I know this, I see this: ‘Nibbāna is the cessation of existence.’"

"Aññatreva, āvuso paviṭṭha, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā ahametaṁ jānāmi ahametaṁ passāmi: ‘bhavanirodho nibbānan’"ti.

6"Then the Venerable Musīla is an arahant, one whose taints are destroyed."

6"Tenahāyasmā musilo arahaṁ khīṇāsavo"ti?

When this was said, the Venerable Musīla kept silent.[n.200] Spk: The elder Musila was an arahant, but without saying whether or not it was so he just kept silent.

Evaṁ vutte, āyasmā musilo tuṇhī ahosi.

7–12Then the Venerable Nārada said to the Venerable Saviṭṭha: "Friend Saviṭṭha, it would be good if I were asked that series of questions. Ask me that series of questions and I will answer you."[n.201] Spk: Why did he speak up? It is said that he reflected thus: "This proposition—‘Nibbāna is the cessation of existence’—can be understood even by trainees. But this elder (Saviṭṭha) places that one (Musila) on the plane of the arahant. I will make him understand this matter correctly."

7Atha kho āyasmā nārado āyasmantaṁ paviṭṭhaṁ etadavoca: "sādhāvuso paviṭṭha, ahaṁ etaṁ pañhaṁ labheyyaṁ. Maṁ etaṁ pañhaṁ puccha. Ahaṁ te etaṁ pañhaṁ byākarissāmī"ti.

"Labhatāyasmā nārado etaṁ pañhaṁ. Pucchāmahaṁ āyasmantaṁ nāradaṁ etaṁ pañhaṁ. Byākarotu ca me āyasmā nārado etaṁ pañhaṁ.

8Aññatreva, āvuso nārada, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā atthāyasmato nāradassa paccattameva ñāṇaṁ: ‘jātipaccayā jarāmaraṇan’"ti? "Aññatreva, āvuso paviṭṭha, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā ahametaṁ jānāmi ahametaṁ passāmi: ‘jātipaccayā jarāmaraṇan’"ti.

9"Aññatreva, āvuso nārada, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā atthāyasmato nāradassa paccattameva ñāṇaṁ – bhavapaccayā jāti … pe … avijjāpaccayā saṅkhārā"ti? "Aññatreva, āvuso paviṭṭha, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā ahametaṁ jānāmi ahametaṁ passāmi: ‘avijjāpaccayā saṅkhārā’"ti.

"Then let the Venerable Nārada get to answer that series of questions. I will ask the Venerable Nārada that series of questions, and let him answer me."

10"Aññatreva, āvuso nārada, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā atthāyasmato nāradassa paccattameva ñāṇaṁ: ‘jātinirodhā jarāmaraṇanirodho’"ti? "Aññatreva, āvuso paviṭṭha, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā ahametaṁ jānāmi ahametaṁ passāmi: ‘jātinirodhā jarāmaraṇanirodho’"ti.

11"Aññatreva, āvuso nārada, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā atthāyasmato nāradassa paccattameva ñāṇaṁ: ‘bhavanirodhā jātinirodhoti … pe … avijjānirodhā saṅkhāranirodho’"ti? "Aññatreva, āvuso paviṭṭha, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā ahametaṁ jānāmi ahametaṁ passāmi: ‘avijjānirodhā saṅkhāranirodho’"ti.

Here the Venerable Saviṭṭha asks the Venerable Nārada the same series of questions as were addressed to the Venerable Musīla, and he answers in exactly the same way.

12"Aññatreva, āvuso nārada, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā atthāyasmato nāradassa paccattameva ñāṇaṁ: ‘bhavanirodho nibbānan’"ti? "Aññatreva, āvuso paviṭṭha, saddhāya aññatra ruciyā aññatra anussavā aññatra ākāraparivitakkā aññatra diṭṭhinijjhanakkhantiyā ahametaṁ jānāmi ahametaṁ passāmi: ‘bhavanirodho nibbānan’"ti.

13"Then the Venerable Nārada is an arahant, one whose taints are destroyed." sn.ii.118

13"Tenahāyasmā nārado arahaṁ khīṇāsavo"ti?

"Friend, though I have clearly seen as it really is with correct wisdom, ‘Nibbāna is the cessation of existence,’ I am not an arahant, one whose taints are destroyed.[n.202] Spk: Clearly seen … with correct wisdom: clearly seen with path wisdom together with insight. I am not an arahant: he indicates this because he stands on the path of nonreturning. But his knowledge that "Nibbāna is the cessation of existence" is a type of reviewing knowledge (paccavekkhaṇañāṇa) apart from the nineteen (regular) types of reviewing knowledge (see Vism 676; Ppn 22:19-21). Suppose, friend, there was a well along a desert road, but it had neither a rope nor a bucket. Then a man would come along, oppressed and afflicted by the heat, tired, parched, and thirsty. He would look down into the well and the knowledge would occur to him, ‘There is water,’ but he would not be able to make bodily contact with it.[n.203] Na ca kāyena phusitva vihareyya, lit. "but he would not dwell having contacted it with the body." Spk glosses: "He would not be able to draw out the water." So too, friend, though I have clearly seen as it really is with correct wisdom, ‘Nibbāna is the cessation of existence,’ I am not an arahant, one whose taints are destroyed."[n.204] Spk: The seeing of water in the well represents the seeing of Nibbāna by the nonreturner. The man afflicted by heat represents the nonreturner; the water bucket, the path of arahantship. As the man oppressed by heat sees water in the well, the nonreturner knows by reviewing knowledge, "There exists a breakthrough to the path of arahantship" (reading with Se arahattaphalābhisamaya). But as the man lacking the bucket cannot draw out the water and touch it with the body, so the nonreturner, lacking the path of arahantship, cannot sit down and become absorbed in the attainment of the fruit of arahantship, which has Nibbāna as its object.
It would be a misunderstanding of Nārada's reply to take it as a rejoinder to Musila's tacit claim that he is an arahant (the interpretation adopted by Gombrich, How Buddhism Began, pp. 128-29). The point is not that Musila was unjustified in consenting to that title, but that Saviṭṭha drew an incorrect inference, for he held the wrong belief that the defining mark of an arahant is the understanding of dependent origination and the nature of Nibbāna. This understanding, rather, is common property of the trainee and the arahant. What distinguishes the arahant from the trainee is not his insight into dependent origination (and other principles of the Dhamma) but the fact that he has used this insight to eradicate all defilements and has thereby gained access to a unique meditative state (called in the commentaries arahattaphalasamāpatti, the fruition attainment of arahantship) in which he can dwell "touching the deathless element with his body." At SN48.53, too, the expression kāyena phusitva vihārati highlights the essential difference between the sekha and the asekha; see V, n. 238. For parallel texts on the difference between the stream-enterer and the arahant, see 22:109-110 (stated in terms of the five aggregates) and 48:2-5, 26-27, 32-33 (in terms of the faculties).

"‘Bhavanirodho nibbānan’ti kho me, āvuso, yathābhūtaṁ sammappaññāya sudiṭṭhaṁ, na camhi arahaṁ khīṇāsavo. Seyyathāpi, āvuso, kantāramagge udapāno, tatra nevassa rajju na udakavārako. Atha puriso āgaccheyya ghammābhitatto ghammapareto kilanto tasito pipāsito, so taṁ udapānaṁ olokeyya. Tassa ‘udakan’ti hi kho ñāṇaṁ assa, na ca kāyena phusitvā vihareyya. Evameva kho, āvuso, ‘bhavanirodho nibbānan’ti yathābhūtaṁ sammappaññāya sudiṭṭhaṁ, na camhi arahaṁ khīṇāsavo"ti.

14When this was said, the Venerable Ānanda asked the Venerable Saviṭṭha: "When he speaks in such a way, friend Saviṭṭha, what would you say about the Venerable Nārada?"

14Evaṁ vutte, āyasmā ānando āyasmantaṁ paviṭṭhaṁ etadavoca: "evaṁvādī tvaṁ, āvuso paviṭṭha, āyasmantaṁ nāradaṁ kiṁ vadesī"ti?

"When he speaks in such a way, friend Ānanda, I would not say anything about the Venerable Nārada except what is good and favourable."[n.205] In all three eds. the question begins with evaṁvādī tvaṁ and the reply with evaṁvādāhaṁ. However, since it was Nārada who just spoke, it seems we should read the question portion as evaṁvādiṁ tvaṁ and resolve evaṁvādāhaṁ in the reply into evaṁvādiṁ ahaṁ. Neither Spk nor Spk-pṭ offers any help here, but a note in Be of the text suggests this amendation. The Ee reading of a parallel passage at SN55.23 has the reading I prefer, though there Be and Se have the same reading as here. At MN101 we find evaṁvādāhaṁ in a context where it would have to be resolved as an accusative plural, evaṁvādino [nigaṇṭhe] ahaṁ, which further supports my proposal regarding the present passage.

"Evaṁvādāhaṁ, āvuso Ānanda, āyasmantaṁ nāradaṁ na kiñci vadāmi aññatra kalyāṇā aññatra kusalā"ti.

Aṭṭhamaṁ.