Isigili Sutta
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Isigili Sutta (Pāli: Isigili Sutta; Majjhima Nikāya 116) is a discourse in the Pāli Canon that lists the names of hundreds of paccekabuddhas (individually enlightened beings) who lived and attained final parinibbāna on Isigili mountain near the ancient city of Rājagaha (modern Rajgir). In the Thai Theravāda tradition, because of its long recitation of the names and virtues of these paccekabuddhas, the sutta is regarded as highly auspicious and protective. It is therefore included in the official Thai protective chanting anthology (Phra Paritta) as the third chant of the Bhāṇavāra, together with the Girimananda Sutta.[1]
Background
[edit]The Buddha delivered this discourse while residing on Isigili mountain, one of the five hills surrounding Rājagaha (Vebhāra, Paṇḍava, Vepulla, Gijjhakūṭa, and Isigili). The mountain is also known for the black rock outcrop called Kāḷasilā, where the Buddha and the Saṅgha frequently stayed. Other events recorded in the Tipiṭaka as occurring on Isigili include:
- Ven. Dabba Mallaputta organising lodging for monks (earning him the designation “foremost in arranging dwellings”)
- The incident of Ven. Vakkali Thera’s despair
- The Buddha’s statement that a perfectly enlightened Buddha could, if requested, live for an entire kappa (aeon), but that Ven. Ānanda did not make the request.[2]
Content
[edit]The sutta can be divided into three main parts:
- The Buddha points out the five mountains surrounding Rājagaha and notes that four of them (Vebhāra, Paṇḍava, Vepulla, and Gijjhakūṭa) formerly had different names, whereas Isigili has always borne the same name.[3]
- He explains the origin of the name “Isigili” (“the mountain that swallows seers”). In the distant past, when 500 paccekabuddhas entered the mountain to meditate, people saw them going in but never coming out again, leading people to say: “This mountain swallows seers” (Pāli: isiṃ gilati), and thus the name Isigili arose.[4]
- The Buddha then recites the names of more than 500 paccekabuddhas who resided on the mountain for long periods and attained parinibbāna there. The list includes names such as Arittha, Uparittha, Tagarasikhī, Yasassī, Sudassana, Piyadassī, Gandhāra, Piṇḍola, Upāsabha, Nītha, Tatha, Sutavā, Bhāvitatta, and many others (some overlapping with previous Sammāsambuddhas such as Kakusandha, Koṇāgamana, and Kassapa). The refrain repeatedly praises them as having destroyed the fetters, ended craving, and attained perfect individual enlightenment.[5]
Commentary tradition
[edit]The Papañcasūdanī (Majjhima Nikāya Commentary) states that the Buddha raised the topic of the mountains not for the purpose of honouring the paccekabuddhas who had dwelt there. It provides a legendary origin story for one group of 500 paccekabuddhas:
In a former age, a village girl near Bārāṇasī offered a lotus flower and 500 popped-rice cakes to a paccekabuddha and aspired to have 500 sons. At the same moment, 500 hunters offered roasted meat to the same paccekabuddha and aspired to become her sons. In their next life the 500 youths were miraculously born inside lotus flowers in a natural lake. When they grew up and saw the lotuses withering, they realised impermanence, developed insight, and attained paccekabodhi. The commentary records their victory verse:
Lotuses bloom in the lake,
Covered with swarms of bees;
Having seen that they are impermanent and subject to destruction,
One should wander alone like the horn of a rhinoceros.[6][7]
From that time onward the mountain has been known as Isigili.[8]
Doctrinal points
[edit]Commentators identify the following themes in the sutta:
- The attainment of nibbāna is not limited to the dispensation of a Sammāsambuddha; paccekabuddhas also realise it independently.
- The path to liberation is timeless and has been discovered repeatedly throughout history.
- The sutta serves as a commemorative record that places the present Buddhist community within a long lineage of awakened practitioners.[9][10]
Parallels
[edit]A parallel version exists in the Chinese Madhyama Āgama (中阿含經 MA 170), which contains a similar list of paccekabuddhas associated with mountains near Rājagaha, although the names and some names differ slightly.[11]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Thai Tipiṭaka, Mahamakut Royal Edition, Suttanta Piṭaka, Majjhima Nikāya, Uparipaṇṇāsa Vol. 3 Part 1, pp. 332–337.
- ^ G.P. Malalasekera (2007). Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, p. 319.
- ^ Thai Tipiṭaka, Mahamakut Royal Edition, Suttanta Piṭaka, Majjhima Nikāya, Uparipaṇṇāsa Vol. 3 Part 1, p. 332.
- ^ Thai Tipiṭaka, Mahamakut Royal Edition, Suttanta Piṭaka, Majjhima Nikāya, Uparipaṇṇāsa Vol. 3 Part 1, p. 333.
- ^ Thai Tipiṭaka, Mahamakut Royal Edition, Suttanta Piṭaka, Majjhima Nikāya, Uparipaṇṇāsa Vol. 3 Part 1, pp. 333–334.
- ^ Papañcasūdanī, Majjhima Nikāya Commentary, in Thai Tipiṭaka, Mahamakut Royal Edition, Suttanta Piṭaka, Majjhima Nikāya, Uparipaṇṇāsa Vol. 3 Part 1, p. 337.
- ^ Thai Tipiṭaka, Sixth Council Edition, Sutta Piṭaka, Majjhima Nikāya, Uparipaṇṇāsa, Anupadavagga, Isigili Sutta.
- ^ Papañcasūdanī, Majjhima Nikāya Commentary, in Thai Tipiṭaka, Mahamakut Royal Edition, Suttanta Piṭaka, Majjhima Nikāya, Uparipaṇṇāsa Vol. 3 Part 1, p. 337.
- ^ Analayo, Bhikkhu (2011). A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya. Vol. 1. Dharma Drum Publishing Corporation. pp. 432–435.
- ^ Piya Tan (2010). MN 116 Isigili Sutta: Discourse at Isigili. The Mūla Series. The Minding Centre. pp. 12–13.
- ^ Analayo, Bhikkhu (2011). A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya. pp. 430–435.