Reply To: Tuvaṭaka Sutta – 4.14. The Quick Way

#15254
Lal
Keymaster

I think it is the second stanza that Donna (inflib) is referring to:
Mūlaṃ papañcasaṅkhāya, Mantā asmīti sabbamuparundhe
Yā kāci taṇhā ajjhattaṃ, Tāsaṃ vinayā sadā sato sikkhe
.”

Which is translated at that website as:
“One should completely extract
The root of proliferation and reckoning—
The notion, “I am the thinker”.
One should train to dispel whatever craving
There is inside, ever mindful.”

I think a better translation would be:
All papi sankhara (apunna abhisankhara) that arise need to be rooted out via breaking the asmi mana spell (mantā), which is the lens (kāci) of tanha that is inside (in one’s mind). By being ever mindful (sadā sato), one should train (sikkhe) to be disciplined (vinayā).

This is the ultimate goal, to attain Arahantship by breaking asmi mana (which is the mana in the last five samyojana removed at the Arahant stage). As we have discussed before, this asmi mana is the “perception of a self”.

In the rest of sutta, steps to be taken are stated.

But it is critical to understand that breaking asmi mana samyojana comes at the end, not at the beginning when one is striving to be a Sotapanna or even an Anagami.