13. The Ninefold Thread in the Mode of Conveying a Clearing-Up
414. Herein, what is the Mode of Conveying a Clearing-Up? [It is stated in] the verse:
“Seeking if in a question answered
What in the verse did instigate
Its asking is cleared up or not:
This Mode Conveys a Clearing-Up”.
415. For instance, in the Parāyana [Chapter of the Suttanipāta] the venerable Ajita asked the Blessed One the question [and received the answer thus:]
“[Tell] what is the world shut in by?
And wherefore is it not displayed?
And what is it besmeared with? Say.
And what will be its greatest fear”?“By ignorance is the world shut in,
Ajita” the Blessed One said.
“’Tis undisplayed through miswishing and neglect.
And hankering smears it, I say.
Suffering is its greatest fear”.
416. In the case of the question “[Tell] what is the world shut in by”? the Blessed One [with his answer] “By ignorance is the world shut in” clears up a term but not the instigation. In the case of the question “And wherefore is it not displayed”? The Blessed One [with his answer] “’Tis undisplayed through miswishing and neglect” clears up a term but not the instigation. In the case of the question “And what is it besmeared with? Say” the Blessed One [with his answer] “And hankering smears it, I say” clears up a term but not the instigation. [But] in the case of the question “And what will be its greatest fear”? the Blessed One [with his answer] “Suffering is its greatest fear” clears up a term, and the instigation is cleared up too.
That is why the Blessed One said “By ignorance is the world shut in …”.
417.[Again there are the following question and answer:]
“The streams keep streaming everywhere”
So said the venerable Ajita.
“What is it that shuts off the streams?
Tell then, what is restraint of streams,
Whereby it is that streams are sealed”?“Whatever streams are in the world,
Ajita” the Blessed One said
“They are shut off by mindfulness;
The streams’ restraint I tell, whereby
They can be sealed, is understanding”.
418. In the case of the question “The streams keep streaming everywhere; What is it that shuts off the streams”? the Blessed One [with his answer] “Whatever streams are in the world, They are shut off by mindfulness” clears up a term but not the instigation. In the case of the question “Tell then, what is restraint of streams, Whereby it is that streams are sealed”? [with the answer] “the streams’ restraint I tell, whereby They can be sealed, is understanding” the instigation is cleared up.
That is why the Blessed One said “Whatever streams are in the world …”.
419. [Again,] in the case of the question
“Understanding and mindfulness”.
So said the venerable Ajita
“And [now], good sir, this name-and-form,
Tell me then what I ask of you,
Where does it came to its surcease”?
[with the answer]
“As to the question that you ask,
Ajita, I [shall] tell you [now].
Where both this name and form do come
To their remainderless surcease:
With cessation of consciousness,
’Tis here this comes to its surcease”.
the instigation is cleared up.
That is why the Blessed One said “As to the question that you ask …”
420. Wherever the instigation is cleared up in this way the question is answered; but wherever the instigation is not cleared up that question is not yet answered.
421. That is why the venerable Mahā-Kaccāna said:
“Seeking if in a question answered
What in the verse did instigate
Its asking is cleared up or not:
This Mode Conveys a Clearing-Up”.
The Mode of Conveying a Clearing-Up is ended.