Contact – Sermon8 (Pahan Kanuwa Sermon – No. 190 ) – Bhikkhu Kaṭukurunde Ñāṇananda

Let me say something more about “contact”
Now it is a discourse of a different type. A Brahmin named Uṅṅābha 12 once came to see the Buddha. 
“Good Gotama, there are these five senses which have different ranges, different pastures and which do not partake of one another’s pasture of objects. What are they? The eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue and the body.
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Good Gotama, for these five senses which have their different ranges, different pastures, and which do not partake of the objects of one another’s pasture, what is the resort, who is it that partakes of, the objects of their different pastures?” What Uṅṅābha means is that every sense faculty has its own particular range of objects. For instance, the eye can only see forms. It cannot hear sounds. The ear can hear but cannot see. They have their own pastures and cannot trespass on other’s pastures. Uṅṅābha is curious to know the resort of all these five senses. He is asking whether there is someone who can partake of all objects received through the five senses. He must have been thinking of a soul (ātman) as the one who enjoys all those objects.
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But the Buddha says that the mind is the resort and that it is the mind which partakes of all those sense objects (mano paṭisaraṇaṁ mano ca nesaṁ gocaravisayaṁ paccanubhoti’). Whatever objects that come through the five external senses are received by the mind. The mind partakes of them. Then the Brahmin asks: “What is the resort of the mind?” The Buddha replies that ‘Sati’ or mindfulness is the resort of the mind. Uṅṅābha’s next question is: “What is the resort of mindfulness?” The Buddha says: “The resort of mindfulness is Deliverance.” Then the Brahmin asks: “What is the resort of Deliverance?” The Buddha’s answer is: “The resort of Deliverance is Nibbāna.” But the Brahmin has yet another question: “Good Gotama, what is the resort of Nibbāna?” Then the Buddha corrects him with these words: “Brahmin you have gone beyond the scope of the question. You were not able to grasp the limit of questioning. Brahmin, this Holy life is to be lived in a way that it gets merged in Nibbāna, that it has Nibbāna as the Goal and consummation.”
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Then the Brahmin was pleased and rejoicing in the Buddha’s words worshipped him and left. But the discourse records something extraordinary. It is said that as soon as he left, the Buddha told the monks that the Brahmin attained the Fruits of the Path while listening to the exposition.
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There is something deep involved here. As far as we can guess it has something to do with the philosophy of the Brahmins. For them the five external senses are all powerful. Above them stands the mind and above mind there is intelligence. Above intelligence there is the soul 13. This is the hierarchy in the Hindu tradition as recorded in the Bhagavadgītā. But according to the Buddha instead of a soul there is mindfulness (sati) as the resort of the mind.
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Extracted from Pahan Kanuwa Sermon(8) – No.190 ) page no 70
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