Studies in the Origins of Buddhism c9.142

c9.142

Suttas 131–134 are built round the same “uddesa” which consists of four “gāthās” pertaining to the “Bhaddekaratta”. In 131 which is entitled Bhaddakaratta sutta, Buddha after enunciating the Uddesa goes on into a vibhaṅga which construes the simple and quite non-dogmatic advice about looking with equanimity at the present and not running after the past or the future, to mean that one must never identify oneself with any of the five khandhas and then rejoice over it. It is clearly the case of a set of hallowed old verses interpreted exclusively in terms of a later dogma.