2.3 Of Doubt in the Arahant (KV2.3)

Controverted Point: That an Arahant may have doubts.

Theravādin: Again, did not the Exalted One say in the Suttanta:

“Whene'er in sooth ardently meditating
The brahmin sees the truth of things revealed,
All doubts are rolled away, for now he knoweth
That which befalls and likewise its conditions.

“Whene'er in sooth ardently meditating
The brahmin sees the truth of things revealed,
All doubts are rolled away, for he discerneth
That which doth make befall may be abolished.

“Whene'er in sooth ardent and meditating
The brahmin sees the truth of things revealed,
He standeth victor o'er the hosts of evil,
E'en as the sun that lighteth up the heavens.

“All doubts soever as to here or yonder.
Felt by themselves, or doubts that torture others
Thinkers renounce in ardent meditation.
Choosing to follow after holy conduct.

“They who 'mong souls beset by doubts, past all doubt
Have won, and note unswayed, from bonds enfranchised
Abide, to them a great reward is given.

“How should disciple ever doubt
That by the kind who here abide
The truth may yet be realized?
All hail to Buddha who hath crossed
The flood and severed every doubt,
Great Conqueror and Lord of all”?

The Points of Controversy, an English translation of the Pali Abhidhamma Kathāvatthu. Translated by Shwe Zan Aung and C.A.F. Rhys Davids. First published by Pali Text Society, 1915.

This SuttaCentral edition was prepared by Manfred Wierich and Ven. Vimala and proofread by Josephine Tobin. Some changes were introduced:

Abbreviations, i.e., those of cited works and the participants in the controversies, were expanded.

Cross-references were linked.

Some typographic changes were introduced, among others, i.e.: the phonetic symbol “ŋ” was changed to the Pāli diacritical letter “ṃ”, “ô” to “o”, single quotes to double quotes, and “:—” to “:”.

Letter-spacing with fixed spaces was replaced with bold font.

The corrigenda were merged into the text. Some could not be resolved, though.

This electronic version is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 licence (CC BY-NC 3.0) as found here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

All copyright is owned by the Pali Text Society. See also the statement under http://www.palitext.com/ → Publications → Copyright Announcement. For non-commercial use only.