Reading guide
A discouraged monk, reported and personally summoned
Tissa's own description of his condition is unusually candid and specific for this collection: his body feels drugged, he's disoriented, teachings don't spring to mind, dullness and drowsiness fill his mind, he leads the spiritual life dissatisfied, and he has doubts about the teachings. Rather than being addressed by whichever mendicants happen to be present, word of this reaches the Buddha directly, who sends a monk to summon Tissa by name.
The standard teaching, confirmed through direct questioning
The Buddha's method with Tissa follows the familiar Socratic pattern: confirming, aggregate by aggregate, that not being rid of greed for an aggregate means its decay gives rise to sorrow, while being rid of that greed means it doesn't — before moving to the standard impermanence-based conclusion. What is unusual is the Buddha's warm affirmation after each confirmed answer: “good, good, Tissa!”
A forked road, fully decoded
The discourse's centerpiece is an extended allegory found nowhere else quite this way in this book: two travelers, one skilled in a path and one not, the skilled one describing a journey past a fork, through a dense forest, across low-lying marshes, past a steep cliff, to level cleared parkland. The Buddha then decodes every element explicitly: the fork is doubt, the wrong left path is the wrong eightfold path, the forest is ignorance, the marshes are sensual pleasure, the cliff is anger and distress, and the parkland is extinguishment itself.
Closing on unusually direct, personal warmth
The discourse ends with words rarely matched in tone elsewhere in this collection: “rejoice, Tissa, rejoice! I am here with advice, with support, with instruction.” Rather than closing with the standard arahant declaration or a colophon, this discourse closes on the Buddha's own direct personal reassurance to a specific, named, struggling relative.
Key terms
The text
§1Now at that time Venerable Tissa—the Buddha’s cousin on his father’s side—informed several mendicants: “Reverends, my body feels like it’s drugged. I’m disorientated, the teachings don’t spring to mind, and dullness and drowsiness fill my mind. I lead the spiritual life dissatisfied, and have doubts about the teachings.”
§2“Is it really true, Tissa, that you informed several mendicants that your body feels like it’s drugged … and you have doubts about the teachings?”
§3“What do you think, Tissa? If you’re not rid of greed, desire, fondness, thirst, passion, and craving for form, when that form decays and perishes, will it give rise to sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress?” “Yes, sir.”
§4“Good, good, Tissa! That’s how it is, Tissa, when you’re not rid of greed for form.
§5What do you think, Tissa? If you are rid of greed, desire, fondness, thirst, passion, and craving for form, when that form decays and perishes, will it give rise to sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress?” “No, sir.”
§6“Good, good, Tissa! That’s how it is, Tissa, when you are rid of greed for form …
§7Is form permanent or impermanent?” “Impermanent, sir.” “Is feeling … perception … choices … consciousness permanent or impermanent?” “Impermanent, sir.” “So you should truly see … Seeing this … They understand: ‘… there is nothing further for this place.’
§8Suppose, Tissa, there were two individuals. One was not skilled in the path, the other was. The one not skilled in the path would question the one skilled in the path, who would reply: ‘Come, my friend, this is the path. Go down it an hour, and you’ll see a fork in the road. Ignore the left, and take the right-hand path. Go an hour more, and you’ll see a dense forest grove. Go an hour more, and you’ll see an expanse of low-lying marshes. Go an hour more, and you’ll see a large, steep cliff. Go an hour more, and you’ll see level, cleared parkland.’
§9I’ve made up this simile to make a point. And this is what it means. ‘A person who is not skilled in the path’ is a term for an ordinary unlearned person. ‘A person who is skilled in the path’ is a term for the Realized One, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha. ‘A fork in the road’ is a term for doubt. ‘The left-hand path’ is a term for the wrong eightfold path, that is, wrong view … wrong immersion. ‘The right-hand path’ is a term for the noble eightfold path, that is, right view … right immersion. ‘A dense forest grove’ is a term for ignorance. ‘An expanse of low-lying marshes’ is a term for sensual pleasures. ‘A large, steep cliff’ is a term for anger and distress. ‘Level, cleared parkland’ is a term for extinguishment. Rejoice, Tissa, rejoice! I am here with advice, with support, with instruction.”
Self-check quiz
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