SATTA SAÑÑĀ SUTTA: DISCOURSE ON SEVEN PERCEPTIONS
Satta saññā sutta is included in the Mahāyañña vagga of the seventh group of the discourses in the Anguttara Nikāya. (1)
Content of Satta saññā sutta
“Monks, these seven perceptions, when cultivated and pursued, are of great fruit, of great benefit. They gain a footing in the Deathless, have the Deathless as the final end.”
“What seven?”
“The perception of foulness, the perception of death, the perception of loathsomeness in food, the perception of not delighting in all the world, the perception of impermanence, the perception of suffering in the impermanent, the perception of not-self in the suffering.”
“Monks, when the perception of foulness is cultivated and developed, it is of great fruit, of great benefit. It gains a footing in the Deathless, has the Deathless as the final end. Thus it is said; for what reason was it said?”
“Monks, when a monk attends to the perception of foulness continuously, his mind shrinks away from sexual intercourse, bends away, pulls back, and is not drawn to it. Either equanimity or loathsomeness is established in him. Monks, just as a cock’s feather or a piece of tendon, when thrown into a fire, shrinks away from it, bends away, pulls back, and is not drawn to it, in the same way, when a monk attends to the perception of foulness continuously, his mind shrinks away from sexual intercourse, bends away, pulls back, and is not drawn to it. Either equanimity or loathsomeness is established in him.”
“And what, Ānanda, is the perception of foulness? Herein, Ānanda, a monk contemplates this body upward from the soles of the feet, downward from the top of the hair, enclosed in skin, as being full of many kinds of impurities. In this body there are head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, stomach, faeces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, saliva, nasal mucous, synovial fluid and urine. Thus he remains focussed on contemplating on foulness of this body. This, Ānanda, is called the perception of foulness.”] (2)
“Monks, when the perception of loathsomeness in food is cultivated and developed, it is of great fruit, of great benefit. It gains a footing in the Deathless, has the Deathless as the final end. Thus it is said; for what reason was it said?”
Mr. Lal, aside from the incorrect interpretation of annica and anatta, are there any other mistranslations in this sutta?