Reading guide
A complete map of the path, not a partial list
Nothing traditionally counted among the highest attainments is left out: the four jhānas, the four formless attainments, cessation itself, all six of the higher knowledges, and arahantship — every stage an advanced practitioner might reach appears here in sequence.
A refrain repeated exactly fifteen times
“Kassapopi, bhikkhave…”, “and Kassapa too…”, closes every single declaration without variation — the repetition itself becomes part of the discourse's meaning, insisting on completeness rather than a few representative examples.
Mind-reading given the most granular treatment
Of all fifteen attainments, only the mind-reading knowledge (cetopariyañāṇa) is broken into its full eight paired categories — greedy or free of greed, hateful or free of hate, deluded or free of delusion, and five more pairs — giving this single ability unusually detailed attention.
Attainment stated as available on demand, not as a memory
Every declaration uses yāvade ākaṅkhāmi, “whenever I want,” for both the Buddha and Kassapa — these aren't attainments reached once in the past, but abilities each can exercise at will, in the present.
A declaration of equality, not merely of praise
Where earlier discourses in this saṃyutta held Kassapa up as a model to imitate, this discourse does something different: it states, attainment by attainment, that Kassapa already stands exactly where the Buddha stands, not approaching the standard but meeting it in full.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, whenever I want, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, I enter and remain in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected. And so does Kassapa.
§2Whenever I want, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, I enter and remain in the second absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one, without placing the mind and keeping it connected. And so does Kassapa.
§3Whenever I want, with the fading away of rapture, I enter and remain in the third absorption, where I meditate with equanimity, mindful and aware, personally experiencing the bliss of which the noble ones declare, ‘Equanimous and mindful, one meditates in bliss.’ And so does Kassapa.
§4Whenever I want, with the giving up of pleasure and pain, and the ending of former happiness and sadness, I enter and remain in the fourth absorption, without pleasure or pain, with pure equanimity and mindfulness. And so does Kassapa.
§5Whenever I want, going totally beyond perceptions of form, with the disappearance of perceptions of impingement, not focusing on perceptions of diversity, aware that ‘space is infinite’, I enter and remain in the dimension of infinite space. And so does Kassapa.
§6Whenever I want, going totally beyond the dimension of infinite space, aware that ‘consciousness is infinite’, I enter and remain in the dimension of infinite consciousness. And so does Kassapa.
§7Whenever I want, going totally beyond the dimension of infinite consciousness, aware that ‘there is nothing at all’, I enter and remain in the dimension of nothingness. And so does Kassapa.
§8Whenever I want, going totally beyond the dimension of nothingness, I enter and remain in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. And so does Kassapa.
§9Whenever I want, going totally beyond the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, I enter and remain in the cessation of perception and feeling. And so does Kassapa.
§10Whenever I want, I wield the many kinds of psychic power: multiplying myself and becoming one again; materializing and dematerializing; going unobstructed through a wall, a rampart, or a mountain as if through space; diving in and out of the earth as if it were water; walking on water as if it were earth; flying cross-legged through the sky like a bird; touching and stroking with the hand the sun and moon, so mighty and powerful. I control the body as far as the realm of divinity. And so does Kassapa.
§11Whenever I want, with clairaudience that is purified and superhuman, I hear both kinds of sounds, human and heavenly, whether near or far. And so does Kassapa.
§12Whenever I want, I understand the minds of other beings and individuals, having encompassed them with my mind. I understand mind with greed as ‘mind with greed’, and mind without greed as ‘mind without greed’; mind with hate … mind without hate … mind with delusion … mind without delusion … constricted mind … scattered mind … expansive mind … unexpansive mind … mind that is not supreme … mind that is supreme … mind immersed in samādhi … mind not immersed in samādhi … freed mind … unfreed mind … And so does Kassapa.
§13Whenever I want, I recollect my many kinds of past lives. That is: one, two, three, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand rebirths; many eons of the world contracting, many eons of the world expanding, many eons of the world contracting and expanding. I remember: ‘There, I was named this, my clan was that, I looked like this, and that was my food. This was how I felt pleasure and pain, and that was how my life ended. When I passed away from that place I was reborn somewhere else. There, too, I was named this, my clan was that, I looked like this, and that was my food. This was how I felt pleasure and pain, and that was how my life ended. When I passed away from that place I was reborn here.’ And so I recollect my many kinds of past lives, with features and details. And so does Kassapa.
§14Whenever I want, with clairvoyance that is purified and superhuman, I see sentient beings passing away and being reborn—inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, in a good place or a bad place. I understand how sentient beings pass on according to their deeds. ‘These dear beings did bad things by way of body, speech, and mind. They denounced the noble ones; they had wrong view; and they chose to act out of that wrong view. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a place of loss, a bad place, the underworld, hell. These dear beings, however, did good things by way of body, speech, and mind. They never denounced the noble ones; they had right view; and they chose to act out of that right view. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.’ And so, with clairvoyance that is purified and superhuman, I see sentient beings passing away and being reborn—inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, in a good place or a bad place. I understand how sentient beings pass on according to their deeds. And so does Kassapa.
§15I have realized the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom in this very life. And I live having realized it with my own insight due to the ending of defilements. And so does Kassapa.”
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