The first book of the Majjhima Nikāya, the Mūlapaṇṇāsa, contains discourses that establish the foundational principles of the Buddha’s teachings, beginning with the Mūlapariyāya Sutta, which examines how the notion of a personal existence emerges from the process of perception. Other discourses explore various aspects of the Dhamma through Buddha's own experiences leading to his full awakening, illustrative similes, training guidelines and paired discourses on key doctrines. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the core teachings of the Buddha and the practices of early Buddhism.
Mūlapaṇṇāsa - The First Fifty
The Buddha explains how the notion of a personal existence emerges from the process of perception. A wide range of phenomena are considered, embracing naturalistic, cosmological and sense experiences. An uninstructed ordinary person interprets experience in terms of a self, while those who have understood the Dhamma have the same experiences without attachment.
The Buddha explains the cause for the restraint of all the taints and how there is abandoning of all the taints through the seven methods of seeing, restraint, proper use, enduring, avoiding, removing, and cultivation.
The Buddha illustrates that his true inheritance is the Dhamma, not material possessions. Venerable Sāriputta clarifies the practice of seclusion by listing numerous harmful qualities to abandon and the Middle Way that leads to abandoning of them, to clear vision, wisdom, tranquility, to full awakening.
The Buddha explains to the brahmin Jāṇussoṇi how he overcame fright and dread while practicing seclusion in remote lodgings in the forests and woodlands, leading to the three true knowledges and full awakening.
Venerable Sāriputta explains the four kinds of persons based on their understanding of blemishes and blemish-free qualities. He uses the simile of a bronze bowl to illustrate the importance of understanding one's blemishes and blemish-free qualities.
Should one aspire for the higher spiritual attainments, one should practice fully in virtue, be devoted to tranquility of mind, not neglect meditation, be endowed with discernment, and practice in an empty dwelling.
The Buddha uses the simile of a defiled cloth to explain how the mind can be similarly defiled by various impurities, and how it can be purified by abandoning them. The Blessed One also addresses a brahmin in verses who believes in purification by bathing in river.
Venerable Sāriputta gives a detailed explanation of right view, the first factor of the noble eightfold path. At the prompting of the other bhikkhus, he approaches the topic from a wide range of perspectives.
The Buddha describes the four establishments of mindfulness to be cultivated in detail, namely - mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of the felt experience, mindfulness of the mind, and mindfulness of the mental qualities.
The Buddha outlines an approach to cross-examine other sects and their doctrines, and how to distinguish between the true Dhamma and the false Dhamma through the comprehension of the four kinds of clinging.
When a bhikkhu who has left the Dhamma and training is disparaging the Buddha's states as merely human and his teaching as merely leading to the ending of suffering, the Buddha counters that this is in fact praise and goes on to enumerate his various attainments.
The Buddha explains how to completely comprehend the gratification, drawback, and escape in the case of sensual pleasures, form, and felt experience.
A lay disciple asks the Buddha why greed, aversion, and illusion still occupy and remain in his mind. The Buddha explains the importance of cultivating discernment of the gratification, drawback, and escape in the case of sensual pleasures along with cultivating the joy and happiness apart from sensual pleasures. He then recounts a conversation with the Nigaṇṭhas on this topic.
The Buddha explains the five barriers and five shackles of the mind that prevent a bhikkhu from coming to growth, increase, and fulfillment in his teaching and training.
The Buddha teaches the bhikkhus how to reflect on a dependence that one is taking using the example of a suitable place to live - a forest retreat, a village, a market town, a city, a country. He concludes with an example of depending on a certain person.
The Buddha explains how he divided his thoughts into two kinds - 1) thoughts of sensual desire, ill-will, and harm; and 2) thoughts of relinquishment, non-ill-will, and non-harm. He explains how he abandoned harmful thoughts and cultivated wholesome thoughts, leading to the attainment of the four jhānas and the three knowledges.
The Buddha explains how to cultivate the higher mind through similes whenever a harmful or unwholesome thought associated with desire, aversion, or delusion arises. Applying these five methods in a gradual sequence leads to abandoning of unwholesome thoughts, and to steadiness, calming, unification and collectedness of the mind.
The Buddha teaches about the harmful view of practicing while engaging in obstructions, and the simile of the water snake. The Buddha also teaches about the raft simile, the six views, and the abandoning of what is not yours.
The Buddha shares his own journey of seeking the path to awakening, from leaving the household life, to studying under two meditation teachers, to attaining full awakening and an account of teaching the Dhamma to his first five disciples.
Venerable Sāriputta explains how all wholesome teachings are encompassed by the Four Noble Truths. He then explains the four great elements of earth, water, fire and air.
The Buddha explains the difference between cultivation and lack of cultivation with regard to body and mind, and recounts his own journey to full awakening.
The Buddha outlines a progressive training guideline for the bhikkhus to undertake in order to be recognized as ascetics and Brahmins. The Buddha also describes the abandonment of the five hindrances, the four jhānas, and the three knowledges using similes.
A series of questions and answers between Venerable Sāriputta and Venerable Mahākoṭṭhika on clarifying subtle yet important aspects of the teachings. Topics covered include wisdom, consciousness, felt experience, perception, purified mind-consciousness, right view, existence, first jhāna, the five faculties, vital formations, and the release of the mind.
The Buddha explains the four cases of taking up practices, based on whether they are pleasant or painful now and whether they ripen as suffering or a pleasant abiding in the future.
The Buddha provides a detailed and rigorous method for examining a Teacher. By discerning the teacher’s mental qualities, through prolonged observation, questioning, and learning directly, one gradually realizes a certain aspect of the teaching and builds unshakeable confidence in both the teacher and the teachings.