A 8.2.4.3 Aṅguttara Nik ya 8, Aṭṭḥaka Nipāta 2, Dutiya Paṇṇāsaka 4, Sati Vagga 3 http://dharmafarer.org 133 Kiṁ Mū l aka Sutta The Discourse on “ What is the R oot?” | A 8 .83/4:338 Theme: The nature of all things in brief Translated by Piya Tan ©2010 1 Key teaching and related suttas 1.1 K EY TEACHING. The Kiṁ Mū laka Sutta (A 8.83) is a short straightforward Sutta. The discourse open with the Buddha asking the monks a question, tha t is, whether they know how to answer eight ques- tions that sectarian wanderers like to ask [§1]. The monks reply no [§2]. The Buddha begins teaching by re -stating th e ques tions [§3], and then answers them [§4], thus : THE SECTARIANS’ 10 QUESTIONS: 1 (1) In what are all things rooted? kiṁ mūlakā, āvuso, sabbe dhammā, (2) In what are all things born? kiṁ samb havā sabbe dhammā, (3) In what do all things arise? kiṁ samu dayā sabbe dhammā, (4) In what do all things converge? kiṁ samosar aṇā sabbe dhammā, (5) What is the leader of all things? kiṁ pamukhā sabbe dhammā, (6) What is the supreme lord of all things? kiṁ adhipateyyā sabbe dhammā, (7) What is the highest of all things? kiṁ uttarā sabbe dhammā, (8) What is the essence of all things? kiṁ sārā sabbe dhammā, (9) What is the firm footing for all things? kiṁ ogadhā sabbe dhammā, (10) What is the complete ending for all things? kiṁ pariy osānā sabbe dhammâ ti, THE BUDDHA ’S 10 ANSWERS ( TO THE SECTARIANS’ QUESTIONS): (1) Rooted i n desi re are all thi ng s, c handa,mūlakā, āvuso, sabbe dhammā, (2) Bor n in a tte n t ion are all thin g s, manasikāra,samb havā sabbe dhammā, (3 ) Aris en thr oug h contac t a re all th ing s, ph assa,samudayā sabb e dhammā, (4 ) Conve rgin g in fee lin g a re all things, vedanā,samosara ṇā sabbe dhammā, (5) Con centrat ion is the leader of all things, samādhi-p,pamu khā sabbe dhammā, (6 ) Min df uln e ss is th e lord of all thin gs, sat’ādh ipateyy ā sabb e dhammā, (7 ) W isdom is th e hig he st of all thin gs , pa ññ’uttarā sabb e dhammā, (8 ) Libera tion is i ts es sen ce of all thin gs, vimutti,sārā sabbe dhammā. (9) All things find a firm footing in the death-free, amat’ogadhā sabbe dhammā, (10) All things have nirvana as their complete ending. nibbāna,pariyosā nā sabbe dhammâ ti. Chara cteristically, the answers her e are u n elaborated, bu t explanations or instructive contexts ar e found elsewhere, such as in the Majjhima and the Saṁyutta. We shall examine a few key suttas related to the Kiṁ Mūlaka Sutta below. 1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE K IṀ MŪLAKA SUTTA TEACHING. The well known Sinh ala monk t each- er, Katukurunde Ñāṇananda , in the second volume of his Nibbāna-The mi nd stille d , insightfully dis- cusses the significance of this Sutta (2004:76-92), and his insights have been summ arized h ere and inspir- ed fur ther t hou ght . Fir stly, Ñāṇananda says that the Kiṁ Mūlaka Sutta preserves a list of questions that rel ate to common views of the non-Bu ddhists, especially the brahmins. Su ch sectaria n ideas relate to philosophical and religiou s t heory, su ch as ontology (the eternal soul vi ew and “thinghood ” or the essence of th ings, thingne ss) , and cosmology (that ev erything came from Brahm ā, and self is the essence of everything). As such questions are highly speculative, it is difficult for the monks, especially the unawakened ones, to answer them. The Sutta teaches these monks on how to answer such quest ions. 1 Kiṁ Mūlaka S (A 8.83) has only the first 8 quest io ns; the fu ll list of 10 questions appears in Bhagavā Mūla- ka S (A 10.58/5:106 f) = SD 67.4.