Introduction

Soon after the Buddha left his body, his closest disciple, Ananda, was asked to organize the teachings. The request came from a young layman named Subha. Ananda met with Subha and told him about the three sets of instructions the Buddha taught his followers. These three sets are repeated in the same form in the vast majority of the Digha Nikaya suttas, but it is in this text that a detailed exposition of the three sets of instructions seems most natural.

Code of Moral Instructions

Ananda's exposition begins with the explanation that the Tathagata, the teacher of gods and humans, proclaims to them the truth of the Path. Upon hearing this truth, people resolve to abandon their worldly way of life and, choosing the path of asceticism, achieve moral perfection.

The Fundamentals of Morality

By refusing to harm all beings, a follower of the Teaching develops compassion for them.
By refusing to take what is not given, he abides with a pure heart.
By renouncing worldly life, he abides in the peace of solitude.
By refusing to lie, he inspires trust.
By refusing to slander, he enjoys harmony.
By refusing harsh speech, he speaks to the heart.
By refusing frivolous chatter, he speaks wisely.

Features of the monastic way of life in the early period of the Sangha

The first set of precepts describes in detail the monastic way of life in the pre-monastic period of the Buddha's teachings. As the Buddha's teachings further developed, all monastic precepts were revised in their application to monastic rules and lay life. External norms of behavior associated with the strictness of solitude and inaction were transformed into internal principles of self-discipline. Even monks began to engage in crafts, perfect various creative arts, including martial arts, receive initiations into karmamudra (the yoga of sexual relations), and so on. Despite numerous changes, the principles of compassion, non-posessiveness, maintaining equanimity, and devotion to the teachings remained the primary measure of the true conduct of followers of the Buddha's path.

In the early period of the Teaching's development, when monks were considered only wandering ascetics without a permanent home and living solely on alms, monks were required to eat no more than once a day (and only during daylight hours), were forbidden from having reserves of food or clothing, and were required to abstain from any worldly activity and refuse to accept gifts. Ascetics were not supposed to attend shows, participate in entertainment, games, engage in prophecy, sell medicine, conjure spirits, and so on.

The state of a person who has purified his behavior through moral precepts

The Buddha explained that a person who has purified his behavior is like a great king who has been enthroned and freed from his enemies—he has no reason to expect trouble. He experiences inner happiness.

Ananda encourages Subha to understand the next set of instructions

Having expounded the first set of instructions, Ananda tells Subha that the next set of instructions is even more sublime and therefore the seeker should not stop at this achievement. Subha requests that the instructions be continued.

A Collection of Instructions on Concentration

The instructions on concentration cover topics such as guarding the gates of vital faculties, mindfulness of the body, contentment, solitude, overcoming mental obstacles, and passing through the four jhanas (stages of mental absorption). All topics in this sutta are presented as a list, without detailed explanations.

Guarding the Gates of Vital Faculties

The meditator, seeing an image with the eye, hearing a sound with the ear, smelling an aroma with the nose, tasting a taste with the tongue, touching a touch with the body, and receiving an idea with the mind, is not drawn to these perceptions. He acts in such a way as to restrain greed and dissatisfaction.

Mindfulness of the Body

The meditator is conscious of the body when moving forward and backward; thoughtful when looking forward and to the sides; when bending and straightening; thoughtful when wearing clothes and the begging bowl; he is thoughtful when eating, drinking, chewing, tasting; thoughtful when urinating and defecating; when acting, walking, standing, sitting, sleeping, waking, speaking, remaining silent.

Contentment

Contentment with little makes the ascetic like a winged bird, carrying its feathers with it. By satisfying only the small needs that are close to the body, as feathers are close to the bird's body, one achieves serenity.

Solitude

Possession of the qualities of moral purity, restraint, thoughtfulness and contentment makes the solitude of the wanderer (contemplator) good: he indulges in contemplation at the foot of a tree, on a mountain, in a cave, in a crevice of a rock, near a cemetery, in a thicket, in an open place, on a pile of straw, with his legs crossed (restraining impulsiveness), holding his body straight (overcoming sluggishness), remaining in concentration.

Overcoming mental obstacles

The meditator frees the heart from greed. They purify their thoughts of malice and abide in kindness and compassion for all beings. Having freed themselves from stagnation, the meditator experiences within themselves the abilities of clear thinking, mindfulness, and thoughtfulness. Having overcome restlessness and anguish, the meditator experiences peace. Having abandoned doubt, the meditator is confident in the skillful qualities of the mind (on overcoming obstacles, see also the Samanññaphala Sutta, Digha Nikaya 2).

The Four Jhanas

By uniting all the previously mentioned qualities, the meditator ceases dependence on sensual pleasures, bad qualities disappear, and he attains the first stage of contemplation. He masters deep reflection and solitude (absorption in concentration).

Next, having freed the mind from strenuous effort, maintaining peace in joyful concentration, the contemplator does not move away from his own heart. This is the second stage of concentration.

At the third stage of concentration, the meditator overcomes attachment to joy and achieves equanimity. The body is filled with happiness free from excitement (i.e., awareness ceases to depend on any center, including the heart, which served as the center of concentration in the second jhana).

Finally, in the fourth jhana, the meditator renounces involvement with happiness and thus ceases involvement with unhappiness (i.e., concentration ceases to rely on bliss). Nothing remains in the meditator's body that is not permeated with pure mind, free from happiness and unhappiness (on the four jhanas, see also the Samanñāphala Sutta, Digha Nikāya 2).

A Collection of Instructions on Attainment

Describing the third set of Buddha's teachings, Ananda lists, firstly, the investigation of the qualities of the three bodies: gross, subtle and formless; secondly, the understanding of past incarnations, the understanding of the law of karma; thirdly, the four truths of the path to the cessation of suffering.

Investigation of the qualities of three bodies

Having honed his thought, the hermit turns it to contemplation of the gross body, which has form, is composed of the four great elements, is born of mother and father, and is created from the accumulation of food. It is impermanent, subject to destruction, wear and tear, disintegration, and annihilation. The hermit explores the attachment of the mind to the body.

Overcoming attachment to the gross body, the hermit creates from it a subtle body, free from flaws, unimpaired in its vital faculties. Just as a sword is drawn from its sheath, a snake emerges from its old skin, or a reed stalk is cleared of the leaves growing on it, so the subtle body separates from the gross. This subtle body possesses supernatural powers: the hermit can assume many forms and become one, become visible or invisible, pass through walls, descend into the earth and rise from it as if from water; walk on water as if on land, ascend cross-legged into the sky like a winged bird, touch the sun and the moon; the hermit even attains the world of Brahma.

Having learned the qualities of the subtle body, the hermit turns his thought to the formless body: he comprehends divine hearing. With purified hearing, he hears both types of sounds: divine and human, distant and near. Then he develops knowledge that encompasses the heart. Compassing with his heart the hearts of other beings, the hermit comprehends the thoughts and qualities of the mind of other beings. He distinguishes thoughts gripped by passion and those free from passion; thoughts endowed with hatred and those free from hatred; delusion and freedom from delusion; concentration and absent-mindedness; the great and the petty; a rejected thought and an accepted thought; a directed thought and an undirected thought; a liberated thought and an unliberated thought.

Understanding past incarnations and the law of karma

Having discovered the qualities of the subtle and formless bodies and weakened his dependence on the gross body, the ascetic comprehends the chain of past births with pure perception. This same detachment allows him to understand how good actions lead to rebirth in the higher realms, and how bad actions lead to rebirth in the lower realms. He comprehends this like a person at a crossroads observing people entering and leaving houses, moving along one road or another.

Realizing the Four Truths of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering

Having comprehended the law of karma, the hermit sees clearly the qualities of consciousness. He is comparable to a man gazing into the waters of a clear mountain lake and seeing oysters and shells, sand and pebbles, schools of fish—moving and stopping. Possessing shrewdness, the hermit directs a pure, steadfast, flexible, and penetrating thought toward the destruction of the vicious qualities of the mind. He realizes: “This is suffering, these are the vicious qualities of the mind”; then he realizes: “This is the arising of suffering, this is the arising of vicious qualities”; then he realizes: “This is the destruction of suffering, this is the destruction of vicious qualities”; finally, he realizes: “This is the path leading to the destruction of suffering, to the destruction of vicious qualities.” In the liberated one, the knowledge arises that he is liberated. He realizes: “Rebirth is destroyed, all that needs to be done is done, there is nothing beyond this state.”

At this point Ananda completes the exposition of the highest set of teachings, and the young Subha takes refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha.