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The Connected Discourses with Rāhula: Asking the Same Question of Everything
Training the mind

The Connected Discourses with Rāhula: Asking the Same Question of Everything

Rāhulasaṃyuttaṃ

Rāhula asks for a brief teaching to practise alone. The Buddha asks the same set of questions — permanent or impermanent, suffering or happiness, fit to be regarded as self or not — about ten groups, from the senses to the five aggregates, and teaches how I-making, mine-making and conceit come to be absent.

7 points

The Rāhula Saṃyutta, in the Nidāna Vagga of the Saṃyutta Nikāya, collects twenty-two discourses the Buddha spoke to Rāhula, in two chapters. The first begins with Rāhula asking for a teaching in brief, so that having heard it he might dwell alone, withdrawn, diligent and ardent.

The Buddha answers with questions, step by step: Is the eye permanent or impermanent? Is what is impermanent suffering or happiness? Is what is impermanent, suffering and subject to change fit to be regarded as "this is mine, this I am, this is my self"? Rāhula answers that it is not. The same questions are applied to ten groups: the internal senses, external objects, consciousness, contact, feeling, perception, volition, craving, the elements and the five aggregates. Each chapter has ten discourses following these ten groups.

The last two discourses are Rāhula's own questions: how should one know and see so that I-making, mine-making and conceit are absent regarding this conscious body and all external signs? The Buddha answers that one sees every kind of each of the five aggregates with right wisdom as it really is: "This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self."

  1. 1

    A short teaching to actually practise Eko vūpakaṭṭho appamatto ātāpī pahitatto

    Rāhula asks for a teaching in brief, so that having heard it he might dwell alone, withdrawn, diligent, ardent and resolute.

    Applying it in daily life

    After reading or hearing a teaching, boil it down to one sentence you will put into practice this week, instead of noting down everything.

  2. 2

    Permanent or impermanent? Niccaṃ vā aniccaṃ vā

    The Buddha gives no long lecture but asks questions for Rāhula to answer himself, step by step, from permanent or impermanent, to suffering or happiness, and only then whether it is fit to cling to.

    Applying it in daily life

    When the mind is stuck on something, question yourself instead of ordering yourself, e.g. "Was this feeling like this yesterday too?"

  3. 3

    Is it fit to be regarded as self? Etaṃ mama esohamasmi eso me attā

    What is impermanent, suffering and subject to change is not fit to be regarded as "this is mine, this I am, this is my self". Rāhula gives this answer himself.

    Applying it in daily life

    When your work is criticised, separate "this piece of work can be improved" from "I am bad".

  4. 4

    Ten groups, one question Cakkhuṃ rūpañca viññāṇaṃ

    The same question is applied to the six internal senses, six objects, six kinds of consciousness, six kinds of contact, feeling born of the six contacts, six perceptions, six volitions, six cravings, the six elements — earth, water, fire, air, space and consciousness — and the five aggregates. The second chapter repeats these ten groups.

    Applying it in daily life

    Try the same question on very different things in one day — irritating traffic noise, a craving for a snack, the thought that you're not good enough — and see that one principle works everywhere.

  5. 5

    Disenchantment, dispassion, release Nibbindaṃ virajjati virāgā vimuccati

    A learned noble disciple seeing thus becomes disenchanted; being disenchanted, becomes dispassionate; through dispassion the mind is released, and one knows it is released.

    Applying it in daily life

    Disenchantment here isn't boredom or burnout; it is losing the spell of things once thought to give lasting happiness. If you feel low for a long time, talk to a professional.

  6. 6

    Seeing from every angle Ajjhattaṃ vā bahiddhā vā

    In the Anusaya Sutta the Buddha answers that any form, feeling, perception, formations or consciousness — past, future or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near — is to be seen with right wisdom as it really is: "This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self."

    Applying it in daily life

    When you regret the past or worry about the future, remember the principle applies both ways: what has gone and what hasn't come are not places to cling to either.

  7. 7

    A mind free of I, mine and conceit Ahaṅkāramamaṅkāramānānusayā

    Knowing and seeing thus, the view of I, the craving of mine and the underlying tendency to conceit are absent regarding this conscious body and all external signs. In the Apagata Sutta he adds that one who sees thus is released through not clinging; the mind is rid of I-making, mine-making and conceit, has gone beyond discrimination, and is peaceful and well released.

    Applying it in daily life

    Notice comparisons in the mind — better than, equal to, worse than others. Each time you catch one, conceit loosens a little.

Try it in daily life

These three questions are a portable tool, usable on anything the mind is clinging to: a hurt feeling, the wish for a particular thing, or the image we hold of ourselves. When we genuinely ask whether it is permanent, its weight often lightens by itself.

Notice that Rāhula asked for a short teaching to practise, not to collect knowledge. Effective Dhamma study doesn't have to be long, but it must be repeated until you see it for yourself.

Seeing "this is not mine" doesn't mean neglecting the body or avoiding responsibility for what you do. It means not tying your sense of self to things so tightly that you suffer when they change.

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