Mulapariyaya Sutta

[bodhi_mindisfree]

I recently bought a copy of the Majjhima Nikaya (translated to English from Pali by Bhikkhu Nanamoli and revised by Bhikkhu Bodhi) and this Sutta is the first one in the book. At the very of the Sutta, the last line reads as such:

That is what the Blessed One said. But those bhikkhus did not delight in the Blessed Ones words.

All the other Suttas in the book end with the bhikkhus BEING delighted and satisfied. Does anyone know why they were not delighted?

Sabbe Satta Sukhito Hontu!

[Tariki]

Originally Posted by bodhi_mindisfree

I recently bought a copy of the Majjhima Nikaya (translated to English from Pali by Bhikkhu Nanamoli and revised by Bhikkhu Bodhi) and this Sutta is the first one in the book. At the very of the Sutta, the last line reads as such:

That is what the Blessed One said. But those bhikkhus did not delight in the Blessed Ones words.

All the other Suttas in the book end with the bhikkhus BEING delighted and satisfied. Does anyone know why they were not delighted?

Sabbe Satta Sukhito Hontu!

Hi!,

Perhaps you have a different edition to my own copy? After the sentence you quote there is a reference to Note 31, which when looked up at the back reads.........

The bhikkhus did not delight in the Buddha's words, apparently because the discourse probed too deeply into the tender regions of their own conceit, and perhaps their residual brahmanic views. At a later time, MA (an old commentary on the Majjhima Nikaya) tells us, when their pride had been humbled, the Buddha expounded to these same bhikkhus the Gotamaka Sutta (found in the Anguttara Nikaya), in the course of which they all attained arahantship

The import of this is expanded by reference to Note 2......

.......the Buddha delivered this sutta to dispel the conceit that had arisen in 500 bhikkhus on account of their erudition and intellectual mastery of the Buddha's teachings. These bhikkhus were formally brahmins learned in the Vedic literature, and the Buddhas cryptic utterances may well have been intended to challenge the brahmanic views to which they may still have adhered.

The sutta speaks of the various perceptions concerning the nature of reality according to the untaught ordinary person, then of the bhikkhu who is in higher training, then of the Arahant with taints destroyed.....and then of the Buddha himself. Perhaps the bhikkhus in question recognised some of the descriptions given for the "untaught ordinary person" as their own??

Whatever, the sutta is a very difficult one to understand - as Bhikkhu Bodhi acknowledges in his Note 1. To be honest, it is mostly beyond me.

[bodhi_mindisfree]

Maybe this is in my copy, but the last line says DID NOT, and then it ends. Thank you for the clarification.