GUIDE TO TIPITAKA

SUTTANTA PITAKA
A³guttara Nikæya

(6) Chakka Nipæta Pæ¹i

(a) There are six things which are unsurpassed: The noblest things seen, the noblest things heard, the noblest gain, the noblest learning, the noblest service, and the noblest reflection. The sight of the Tathægata or the Tathægata’s disciples is the noblest thing seen. The hearing of the Dhamma from the Tathægata or his disciples is the noblest thing heard. Faith in the Tathægata or his disciples is the noblest gain. Learning supreme virtue (adhisøla), supreme mind development (adhicitta), supreme wisdom (adhipaññæ) is the noblest learning. Serving the Tathægata or his disciples is the noblest service. Reflecting on the virtues of the Tathægata or his disciples is the noblest reflection. (para 30)

(b) There are six kinds of suffering in the world for one who indulges in sense-pleasures: poverty, indebtedness, owing interest, being demanded repaying, being pressed and harassed by creditors, imprisonment.

Similarly in the Teaching of the Ariyas, a person is regarded to be poor and destitute who lacks faith in things that are meritorious, who has no shame and no scruples, no energy and no understanding of things that are good, and who conducts himself badly in deed, word and thoughts. (para 45)

(c) There are six steps to gain liberation: Sense-control provides the basis for morality. Morality gives the foundation to Right Concentration. Right Concentration provides the basis for understanding of the true nature of physical and mental phenomena. With understanding of the true nature of physical and mental phenomena comes disenchantment and non-attachment. Where there is disenchantment and non-attachment, there arises the knowledge and vision of liberation. (para 50)

(d) There are six things to be known: Sense-desires, feelings, perceptions, moral intoxicants (æsavas), kamma and dukkha should be known, their causal origin should be known, their diversity, their resulting effects, their cessation and the way leading to their cessation should be known.

The way leading to the cessation of all these dhammas is the Noble Path of Eight Constituents. (para 63)

(e) There are six things which appear very rarely in the world: Rare is the appearance in the world of a Perfectly Enlightened Buddha; rare is the appearance of one who teaches the Dhamma and Vinaya as proclaimed by the Buddha; rare it is to be reborn in the land of the Ariyas; rare it is to be in possession of unimpaired physical and mental faculties; rare it is to be free from dumbness and stupidity; rare it is to be endowed with the desire for doing good, wholesome things. (para 96)

(f) There are six benefits in realizing the Sotæpatti Fruition: (i) firm faith in the Dhamma ; (ii) impossibility of falling back; (iii) limit to suffering in the round of existences (only seven more existences); (iv) being endowed with supramundane knowledge which is not shared by the common worldling; (v) and (vi) clear understanding of causes and phenomena arising therefrom. (para 97)