An early collection of sixteen suttas, often in sets of eight verses, this chapter critiques clinging to views and fruitless arguments. The Attadaṇḍa Sutta ties the Buddha’s renunciation to life’s suffering. Direct and unadorned, it emphasizes clarity, detachment, and the path to peace.
Aṭṭhakavagga - The Chapter of Eights
In this teaching, the Buddha succinctly shares the allure and the drawbacks of desiring sensual pleasures.
Eight verses on overcoming the mire of delusion by avoiding attachment to sensory pleasures, discerning their causes, and practicing for being free of ‘mine’.
The Buddha explains the nature of a corrupted mind and the consequences of holding onto views in these verses.
The Buddha describes some of the wrong views on attaining purity as well as the the state of an Arahant in these verses.
The Buddha advises against engaging in views deemed the ultimate, as it leads to disputes and clinging to views and doesn’t lead to the end of suffering.
The Buddha shares a reflection on aging and the impermanence of life and possessions. Seeing that all we call ‘mine’ must be lost at death, one should not cling to self. The sage, like a lotus leaf unstained by water, does not cling or spurn what is seen, heard, or sensed.
The Buddha advises Tissa Metteyya on the dangers of engaging in sexual activity and the benefits of solitary conduct.
The Buddha advises Pasūra on the futility of engaging in debates and the dangers of becoming conceited.
The Buddha refused Māgaṇḍiya’s offer of his daughter, rejecting worldly desires. He taught that true peace arises not from clinging to views, observances, or status, but from letting go of all attachments. Like a lotus unstained by water, the sage remains free, calm, and detached amidst the world.
The Buddha describes the conduct of a person who is said to be ‘peaceful’. Such a person is free from craving before the breakup of body. He is one who examines distinctions in all contacts, withdrawn, straightforward, unassuming, unmoved amid views, not holding to a construct, and for whom, there is no ‘mine’ in the world.
The Buddha answers step-by-step to a series of questions starting with the source of quarrels and disputes, followed by the arising of various things such as hopes, aims, desires, possessions; leading all the way to the description of the ultimate purity of the spirit.
The Buddha describes that disputes arise not from many truths, but from people clinging to their own views out of conceit. By labeling others "fools" to affirm their own skill, they create conflict. The path to peace lies not in proving one's view, but in abandoning all judgments.
Among those entrenched in views, arguing “This alone is truth,” the Buddha calls praise won by such to be a small matter. Seeing safety in the ground of non-dispute, the wise do not seek purity by precepts and vows or by what is seen, heard, or sensed. The sage ends craving for various states of existence and stands equanimous.
The Buddha shares in poignant terms his observations on the agitation all beings experience which led to his urgency to awaken. He then shares on the path to awakening and describes the dwelling of an awakened being.