Ud 7.8 - Kaccāyana Sutta: Kaccāyana
Translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Source: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.7.08.than.html
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Copyright: ©2012 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
License notice: The text of this page ("Kaccāyana Sutta: Kaccāyana", by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions.
Attribution: ©2012 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The text of this page ("Kaccāyana Sutta: Kaccāyana", by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. Transcribed from a file provided by the translator. Last revised for Access to Insight on 3 September 2012. How to cite this document (a suggested style): "Kaccāyana Sutta: Kaccāyana" (Ud 7.8), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 3 September 2012, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.7.08.than.html . Alternate format:
Changes: Presentation only: original HTML markup reflowed into plain text; wording, numbering and source repetitions retained. No repetitions expanded.
Completeness: ABBREVIATED. Every source-unit character is preserved, including introductions, notes and verse structure. Thanissaro's collection-level note explicitly states that repetitions were cut: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/about.html. This is evidence about the translation method, not an assertion that every individual unit contains an omission; no repetitions reconstructed.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Sāvatthī at Jeta's Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery. Now at that time Ven. Mahā Kaccāyana was sitting not far from the Blessed One, his legs crossed, his body held erect, having mindfulness immersed in the body well-established to the fore within. The Blessed One saw Ven. Mahā Kaccāyana sitting not far away, his legs crossed, his body held erect, having mindfulness immersed in the body well-established to the fore within.

Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed:

 If one were to have mindfulness always established, continually immersed in the body, (thinking,) "It should not be, it should not be mine; it will not be, it will not be mine"[1] — there, in that step-by-step dwelling, one in no long time would cross over attachment. 

Note

1.

This passage can also be translated as:

 It should not be, it should not occur to me; it will not be, it will not occur to me. 

In AN 10.29, the Buddha recommends this view as conducive to developing dispassion for becoming. However, in MN 106 he warns that it can lead to the refined equanimity of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, which can become an object of clinging. Only if that subtle clinging is detected can all clinging be abandoned.

The Canon's most extended discussion of this theme of meditation is in SN 22.55. See Appendix Two [of the print edition of this book].

For more on this topic, see The Paradox of Becoming, chapter 5.