This lesson is about Vacchagota's conversations with the Buddha.
- How did Mahavira view liberation? How did the Buddha view liberation?
- Mahavira: considered severe physical asceticism to be the method of achieving this liberation.
- Buddha, on the other hand, claimed that evil accumulations cannot be eliminated through anger towards the body, and taught disciples the path to the destruction of mental defilements through contemplation.
- What is the meaning of “Casting off the bonds of household life”?
- Why did one Ajivika attain the Heavenly Worlds?
- How does the Buddha view the propositions hermits dispute about?
- What is the truth about the five complexes?
- In what worlds is the ascetic reborn who reflects in this way like Master Gotama?
- Why is Vaccha easily confused?
- If a fire, having used up its fuel, went out, then in which direction would this fire go – to the west, to the east, to the north or to the south?
- How do the Awakened Ones render their connection to the five complexes?
- What three things are unwholesome? What is wholesome?
- What ten things are unwholesome? What is wholesome?
- Who are the perfect ones?
- Have the Buddha’s disciples attained the Pure Abodes?
- What instructions did the Buddha give to Vaccha?
Consider the following diagram, which compares Vacchagota's view to the Buddha's view (MN 72)
