Citta the Householder
A iii: 451
Monks, by having followed six things, the goodman Citta Macchikasandika, because of the Tathāgata, has gone to the end, seen the deathless and has his being in the realization of the deathless. What six?
Unwavering faith in the Buddha, in Dhamma and in the Order, Ariyan virtue, Ariyan knowledge and Ariyan release.
Verily, monks, by having followed these six, the goodman Citta Macchikasandika, because of the Tathāgata, has gone to the end, seen the deathless and has his being in the realization of the deathless.
A i:25
Monks, chief among my disciples, lay-followers, of Dhamma-teachers, is Citta, the housefather of Macchikasanda.
1: The elder bhikkhus discuss whether ‘the fetter’ and ‘the things that fetter’ point to a real difference, or if this is merely a difference in wording. In #7 of this same series, there is a similar discussion about various forms of liberation.
Citta comes along and says that they are different both in meaning and in phrasing. (In #7, he says that they can be understood as being both different and the same, depending on how you view them.
Simile: black & white oxen are yoked together. Is one ox the fetter of the other? No: it is the yoke that is the fetter, and not the one ox to another.
Thus: it isn’t the eye…mind (six senses) that are the fetter, but the desire & lust that arise in dependence on their object.
eye = forms | ear = sounds | nose = smells |
tongue = tastes | body = sensations | mind = thoughts
These two may be yoked together, but the fetter is the desire and lust that arise in dependence on both.
It is said of Citta that he has the ‘eye of wisdom that ranges over the deep Word of the Buddha’ (here and in #5).
2: Citta has invited a group of elder bhikkhus to a meal. (Citta was a patron of the Sangha and had donated the Wild Mango Grove to the Sangha.)
The question Citta poses is: “How does the Buddha speak about ‘diversity of elements?’
Isidatta finally answered. (It would appear that Citta had encouraged Isidatta to become a monk.)
Isidatta’s answer is the eighteen sense bases:
eye = form = eye-consciousness
ear = etc..
It’s interesting to note that chief elders don’t always have the factual answers. But why should they? There are many different teaching techniques used—many different enumerations, emphases, etc. The use of one list over another is a choice of the teacher, as skillful means.
Thus it is no disgrace for the chief elder not to know. The question is about a very specific terminology: “diversity of elements.” The elder didn’t know it—but this implies nothing about the elder’s actual state of realization.
It’s not about knowledge per se.
the elder’s scrupulous honesty is the most revealing thing here. And his complete generosity to Isidatta—the junior member—is just as notable.
3: The setting is the same—a dinner at Citta’s. Then Citta approaches the elders with a question.
Citta’s question is about the sixty-two wrong views of the Brahmajala Sutta. “When what exists do these views come to be? When what is nonexistent to these views not come to be?”
Once again it’s Isidatta who answers: the answer is identity view that causes the problems. And how does identity view arise? But investing any or all of the six sense bases with an essence of self.
At this point Citta asks several questions which would seem to indicate that Isidatta was the “unseen friend of ours”—perhaps meaning the very monk he had urged to go forth.
It appears that Isidatta might have left preferring anonymity, since now the householder Citta knows who he was and would wish to support him. However, the commentary does not give any of these motives, and thus we must remain in speculation.
4: Mahaka’s Miracle. Again Citta has asked the monks to dinner, but this time to his cowshed instead of his house. One cannot help but wonder why, but perhaps it’s because of the very hot weather. The cowshed would presumably be better ventilated than being indoors. Maybe there were too many monks to fit inside his residence.
The junior monk Mahaka creates a light rain in order to cool them down, and then performs another miracle at Citta’s request later on. Probably fear of fame led to his leaving the area, or perhaps fear of censure given that he really isn’t supposed to show off like that.
5: Kamabhu
The discussion, centering around the gatha, gives the symbolism of the gatha thus:
1) faultless: without ethical blemish
2) white awning: the white covering (ethical) of the arahant
3) one spoke: presumably mindfulness, i.e., one-pointed attention
4) chariot: not just the body, but the entire sensory perception, the ‘world’
5) the chariot (coming): the arahant, without the three poisons.
6) the stream cut: the stream of craving
7) bondage: the bondage of the three poisons
Metta sutta:
By not holding to fixed views
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.
Like the first sutta, here it is said that Citta has the ‘eye of wisdom that ranges over the deep Word of the Buddha.’
6. Kamabhu (2)
Question regarding the three formations: bodily, verbal, mental. The attainment of cessation of perception and feeling is described in Vism. 702-9.
Vism 702-9: covers the same ground as this sutta but in more detail. There are eleven questions: what, who, who not, where, why; how is it attained, how is it made to last, how does emergence from it come about, how does the mind tend, difference between one with this state and one who is dead, is it mundane or transcendental?
Among the answers:
Who: very advanced practitioners.
When: in the five-constituent becoming (formations subject to destruction, vanishing, fading away, cessation, and change.)
How: by striving for the base of neither perception nor non-perception.
How such a person differs from one dead is discussed in this sutta.
It is not classifiable as either mundane or transcendental; it has no essence that can be classified.
This sutta is very much devoted to a discussion of a highly advanced state of meditation. Since it is Citta in the discussion, we may take heart in the understanding that such states are indeed possible for the lay practitioner.
7: Godatta
Citta explains how certain terms can be thought of as different in meaning and in their words, or different only in their words.
Measureless liberation of mind
Liberation of mind by nothingness
Liberation of mind by emptiness
Signless liberation of mind
First: they are different only in words in that all of them are liberation from the three poisons.
But they are different in meaning because each one points to a different practice:
Measuresless liberation: the practice of the Brahma-viharas
Liberation of mind by nothingness: transcending the base of infinity of consciousness (i.e., super-jhana!)
Liberation of mind by emptiness: emptiness of self (non-identity-view) practice. The fifteen-step meditation could be highly useful here.
Signless liberation of mind: signless concentration.
So: what we have here is a teaching on upaya within a Pali context. All true practices are the same in that they all lead to liberation from suffering. But they are different in being different practices.
8: Nigantha Nataputta (Mahavira)
Citta takes on the Jains!
First he lays a trap by a little legal sophistry. When Mahavira asks him if he ‘has faith’ in a specific Buddhist teaching (jhanas), he says no. Any Dharma student immediately recognizes that we Buddhists do not practice on faith. So Citta can say he does not have faith and be telling the absolute truth (while pulling Mahavira’s chain just a little bit.)
Instead, Citta has experienced the jhanas himself and can speak from experience.
Citta makes a bit of a fool out of Mahavira, in fact. This seems to be a bit of tit-for-tat given the tendency of the Jain suttas to disparage Buddhism.
9: The ascetic Kassapa.
Kassapa has been a hardcore ascetic for 30 years. In that time, he concludes, he has attained nothing save nakedness, bald head, and a brush for cleaning his seat.
Citta’s response strikes me as being both compassionate and ironic: well then, all this practice, and you’re really not anywhere.
But Citta has been practicing for 30 years and he has a great deal to show for it. Meditationally he has mastered the four jhanas and has become a non-returner. He will not be born again into this world.
So Kassapa went to it and became an arahant!!
10: Citta’s death
He is visited by devas and such who encourage him to become a wheel-turning monarch. But that’s actually a poor goal for such a practitioner—Citta knows that even such an exalted level of rebirth remains impermanent and suffering.
In parting from his family and friends, Citta teaches the importance of Going for Refuge. This is utterly fitting for the ending of such a noble disciple. Thus this ties in beautifully to me with Sangharakshita’s eloquent description of Refuge and its meaning within a Buddhist context.