10.22. Doctrinal Principles (AN10.22)

Then the Venerable Ānanda approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, and sat down to one side. The Blessed One then said to him:

“Ānanda, I claim to be confident about the things that lead to the realization by direct knowledge of the various doctrinal principles, and I am thus able to teach the Dhamma to various people in various ways such that one who practices accordingly will know of what exists that it exists and of what does not exist that it does not exist; such that one will know of the inferior that it is inferior and of the sublime that it is sublime; such that one will know of what is surpassable that it is surpassable and of what is unsurpassable that it is unsurpassable; such that it is possible that one will know, see, and realize this just as it is to be known, seen, and realized.

“But among knowledges, Ānanda, this one is unsurpassed, namely, the knowledge of these things and those things as they really are. And, I say, there is no other knowledge higher or more excellent than this.

“There are, Ānanda, these ten Tathāgata’s powers that the Tathāgata has, possessing which he claims the place of the chief bull, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and sets in motion the brahma wheel. What ten? …

As in 10:21 …

“These, Ānanda, are the ten Tathāgata’s powers that the Tathāgata has, possessing which he claims the place of the chief bull, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and sets in motion the brahma wheel.”

© Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha (Wisdom Publications, 2012)

This excerpt from The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha by Bhikkhu Bodhi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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