Refuge: SN22.43 With 'Yourselves' as an Island

Textual Scholarship
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Dear All,

Seeing the sad state of certain people who are losing their track due to their wrong understanding ,
I thought while I am still here as a member of the forum ,let me provide some clarification with whatever i
understand so that those brothers/sisters would not be led astray .

Please note that ,

  • I am not telling i am right and others are wrong and
  • i am not lecturing or teaching you and also
  • i am not going to write my views or opinions ,but will convey what the Suttapitaka ,atthakatha,tika’s teach on this matter and leave it to your dhamma-vicaya so that you can find the truth yourself.

Sutta: SN 22.43

Problem: This sutta is highly used(infact abused) by different people (both innocent and cunning) with several different motivations (both good and bad) ending up rejecting Tipitaka/specific suttas/pitaka’s as a support to get enlightened.

There is an another sutta (kalama sutta) which is played along to reject trusting the scriptures allowing one to speculate and proliferate and throw personal views for whatever benefit they bring to the speculator .
If conditions permit ,I will try to write about this later.

Misunderstanding:Atta-dipa ,atta-sarana is misunderstood as if to take refugee in themselves and/or rely ONLY ON themselves and few tactfully/ignorantly not speak of next words that follow it ,Dhamma-dipa ,Dhamma-sarana.

Clarification for Atta-dipa, atta-sarana:
Mula(from SN 22.43):Attadīpā, bhikkhave, viharatha attasaraṇā anaññasaraṇā, dhammadīpā dhammasaraṇā anaññasaraṇā

Atthakatha :Ko panettha attā nāma? Lokiyalokuttaro dhammo. Tenevāha – ‘‘dhammadīpā dhammasaraṇā anaññasaraṇā’’ti

Tika:Yo paro na hoti, so attā, idha pana dhammo adhippeto

I am no expert in pali,but self learned to survive in this jungle of wrong translations,teachings and speculations and with that ,I translate and find the meaning as (not any translation but meaning from my translation)

Here atta should be replaced with Dhamma and atta-sarana means Dhamma-sarana .
Dhamma here means the teachings of the Lord Buddha.
So take refugee in the Dhamma .

In that sutta Lord Buddha also defines what exactly he meant by atta-dipa viharatha .People just catch that word and ignore the rest.

yoni upaparikkhitabbā ‘Kiṁjātikā sokaparidevadukkhadomanassupāyāsā, kiṁpahotikā’ti

This is what one needs to do if one does atta-dipa viharatha and not that one has taken refugee in one-self and should start speculating unbeneficial things which will only hinder their progress in the path.

Good luck ,Be careful in the quest and all the best.
Regards

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Even if i got it wrong , that sutta still conveys Dhamma-dipa and Dhamma-sarana .So the takeaway is don’t ignore Dhamma-dipa and dhamma-sarana when trying to study,learn,refer and practice,etc.

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Since ‘Dhamma’ can have many meanings depending on context, I think the following from theragatha and commentary makes things even more clear

dhammo have rakkhati dhammacāriṃ, dhammo suciṇṇo sukhamāvahāti

tattha dhammoti lokiyalokuttaro sucaritadhammo. rakkhatīti apāyadukkhato rakkhati, saṃsāradukkhato ca vivaṭṭūpanissayabhūto rakkhatiyeva. dhammacārinti taṃ dhammaṃ carantaṃ paṭipajjantaṃ

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Dear @Namyal ,
Thanks.

Thanks. Yes ,I am aware of that and that is why i used the word “here” to indicate the context.

Still, thank you so much for elaborating that word and removing the confusion if any I have added .

Infact I was about to write “dhammo have rakkhati dhammacāriṃ, chattaṃ mahantaṃ yatha vassakāle” from Ne-4 ,but I thought when I say “Dhamma here means the teachings of the Lord Buddha” it is quite obvious that he is guiding us to take refugee in the Dhamma which he has understood through “yathābhūtaṁ ñāṇadassanaṁ” as he made it clear in SN 56.11 .

But your reference is more detailed and apt as well.

This is just to clarify to all ,when i say Teachings of Lord Buddha ,it means

Teachings of Lord Buddha = teachings of - yathābhūtaṁ ñāṇadassanaṁ he had - but explained using his wording and phrasing basing on audience /capabilities .

yathābhūtaṁ ñāṇadassanaṁ he had can be gained by others too but that is no joke and it needs to satisfy several conditions and extreme effort , sila ,true renunciation etc and that too in this modern world it is very tough if not impossible.

So it is upto the people to depend on themselves and try from scratch or to do all round analysis of Lord Buddha teachings and if sounded reasonable ,correct and justifiable then place educated,reasoned faith (not dogmatic faith) in Lord Buddha and then try to follow the steps he laid out from his knowledge and work hard orderly , disciplined and determined with out any confusion to cross the shore .

Good luck to all
Regards

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Dear sammaseeker,
I expanded the thread title so it is easier to find.

Here is the link to ven. Bodhi translation SuttaCentral

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Thanks Robert.
Regards

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This phrase is repeated a number of times in various suttas.

Bhikkhus, dwell with yourselves as an island, with yourselves as a refuge, with no other refuge; with the Dhamma as an island, with the Dhamma as a refuge, with no other refuge. When you dwell with yourselves as an island, with yourselves as a refuge, with no other refuge; with the Dhamma as an island, with the Dhamma as a refuge, with no other refuge

Most commonly it continues and explains that developing satipatthana is the path to taking Dhamma as refuge.
In this sutta it has the dependent origination in place of satipatthana.
But it amounts to the same thing- satipatthana is the way that dependent origination is understood and both reveal that there are only conditions with no self anywhere…

Some, as indicated in the OP, seize on ‘yourselves as refuge’ and imagine more than a mere designation.
In this case they can read the suttas believing in a self that is studying, thinking, ‘understanding’. Then wrongview remains untouched.