The Twelve Similes

90. Now, twelve similes should be understood in order to explain this insight leading to emergence and the kinds of knowledge that precede and follow it. Here is the list:

(1) The fruit bat, (2) the black snake, and (3) the house,
(4) The oxen, and(5) the ghoul, (6) the child,
(7) Hunger, and (8) thirst, and (9) cold, and (10) heat,
And (11) darkness, and (12) by poison, too.

A pause can be made to bring in these similes anywhere among the kinds of knowledge from appearance as terror onwards. But if they are brought in here, then all becomes clear from appearance as terror up to fruition knowledge, which is why it was said that they should be brought in here.^[1]

91. 1. The Fruit Bat. There was a fruit bat, it seems. She had alighted on a honey tree (madhuka) with five branches, thinking, “I shall find flowers or fruits here.” She investigated one branch but saw no flowers or fruits there worth taking. And as with the first so too she tried the second, the third, the fourth, and the fifth, but saw nothing. She thought, “This tree is barren; there is nothing worth taking here,” so she lost interest in the tree. She climbed up on a straight branch, and poking her head through a gap in the foliage, she looked upwards, flew up into the air and alighted on another tree.

92. Herein, the meditator should be regarded as like the fruit bat. The five aggregates as objects of clinging are like the honey tree with the five branches. The meditator’s interpreting of the five aggregates is like the fruit bat’s alighting on the tree. His comprehending the materiality aggregate and, seeing nothing there worth taking, comprehending the remaining aggregates is like her trying each branch and, seeing nothing there worth taking, trying the rest. His triple knowledge beginning with desire for deliverance, after he has become dispassionate towards the five aggregates [664] through seeing their characteristic of impermanence, etc., is like her thinking “This tree is barren; there is nothing worth taking here” and losing interest. His conformity knowledge is like her climbing up the straight branch. His change-oflineage knowledge is like her poking her head out and looking upwards. His path knowledge is like her flying up into the air. His fruition knowledge is like her alighting on a different tree.

93. 2. The Black Snake. This simile has already been given (§49). But the application of the simile here is this. Change-of-lineage knowledge is like throwing the snake away. Path knowledge is like the man’s standing and looking back whence he had come after getting free from it. Fruition knowledge is like his standing in a place free from fear after he had got away. This is the difference.

94. 3. The House. The owner of a house, it seems, ate his meal in the evening, climbed into his bed and fell asleep. The house caught fire. When he woke up and saw the fire, he was frightened. He thought, “It would be good if I could get out without getting burnt.” Looking round, he saw a way. Getting out, he quickly went away to a safe place and stayed there.

95. Herein, the foolish ordinary man’s taking the five aggregates as “I” and “mine” is like the house-owner’s falling asleep after he had eaten and climbed into bed. Knowledge of appearance as terror after entering upon the right way and seeing the three characteristics is like the time when the man was frightened on waking up and seeing the fire. Knowledge of desire for deliverance is like the man’s looking for a way out. Conformity knowledge is like the man’s seeing the way. Change-of-lineage is like the man’s going away quickly. Fruition knowledge is like his staying in a safe place.

96. 4. The Oxen. One night, it seems, while a farmer was sleeping his oxen broke out of their stable and escaped. When he went there at dawn and looked in, he found that they had escaped. Going to find them, he saw the king’s oxen. He thought that they were his and drove them back. When it got light, he recognized that they were not his but the king’s oxen. He was frightened. Thinking, “I shall escape before the king’s men seize me for a thief and bring me to ruin and destruction,” he abandoned the oxen. Escaping quickly, he stopped in a place free from fear.

97. Herein, the foolish ordinary man’s taking the five aggregates as “I” and “mine” is like the man’s taking the king’s oxen. The meditator’s recognizing the five aggregates as impermanent, painful, and not-self by means of the three characteristics is like the man’s recognizing the oxen as the king’s when it got light. Knowledge of appearance as terror is like the time when the man was frightened. Desire for deliverance is like the man’s desire to leave them and go away. Change-of-lineage is like the man’s actual leaving. The path is like his escaping. Fruition is like the man’s staying in a place without fear after escaping. [665]

98. 5. The Ghoul. A man went to live with a ghoul, it seems. At night, thinking he was asleep, she went to the place where the dead were exposed and ate human flesh. He wondered where she was going and followed her. When he saw her eating human flesh, he knew that she was a non-human being. He was frightened, and he thought, “I shall escape before she eats me.” Quickly escaping, he went to a safe place and stayed there.

99. Herein, taking the aggregates as “I” and “mine” is like the man’s living with the ghoul. Recognizing the aggregates as impermanent, etc., by seeing the three characteristics is like the man’s recognizing that she was a ghoul on seeing her eating human flesh in the place for the dead. Appearance as terror is like the time when the man was frightened. Desire for deliverance is like his desire to escape. Change-of-lineage is like his leaving the place for the dead. The path is like his escaping quickly. Fruition is like his standing in the place without fear.

100. 6. The Child. A woman was very fond of her son, it seems. While sitting on an upper floor she heard the sound of a child in the street. Wondering, “Is someone hurting my child?,” she hurried down. Mistaking the child for her own son, she picked up someone else’s son. Then she recognized that it was someone else’s son, and she was ashamed and looked about her. She thought, “Let no one say I am a baby thief” and she put the child down there and then, and she quickly returned to the upper floor and sat down.

101. Herein, taking the five aggregates as “I” and “mine” is like the woman’s mistaking someone else’s child for her own. The recognition that “This is not I, not mine” by means of the three characteristics is like her recognizing it as someone else’s child. Knowledge of desire for deliverance is like her looking about her. Conformity knowledge is like her putting the child down there and then. Change-of-lineage is like the time when she stood in the street after putting the child down. The path is like her return to the upper floor. Fruition is like her sitting down after returning.

102. 7–12. Hunger, Thirst, Cold, Heat, Darkness, and By Poison. These six similes, however, are given for the purpose of showing that one with insight that leads to emergence tends, inclines and leans in the direction of the supramundane states.

103. 7. Just as a man faint with hunger and famished longs for delicious food, so too the meditator famished with the hunger of the round of rebirths longs for the food consisting of mindfulness occupied with the body, which tastes of the deathless.

104. 8. Just as a thirsty man whose throat and mouth are parched longs for a drink with many ingredients, so too this meditator [666] who is parched with the thirst of the round of rebirths longs for the noble drink of the Eightfold Path.

105. 9. Just as a man frozen by cold longs for heat, so too this meditator frozen by the cold of craving and [selfish] affection in the round of rebirths longs for the fire of the path that burns up the defilements.

106. 10. Just as a man faint with heat longs for cold, so too this meditator scorched by the burning of the eleven fires (see S IV 19) in the round of rebirths longs for Nibbāna.

107. 11. Just as a man smothered in darkness longs for light, so too this meditator wrapped and enveloped in the darkness of ignorance longs for the light of knowledge consisting in path development.

108. 12. Just as a man sick with poison longs for an antidote, so too this meditator sick with the poison of defilement longs for Nibbāna, the deathless medicine that destroys the poison of defilement.

109. That is why it was said above: “When he knows and sees thus, his heart retreats, retracts and recoils from the three kinds of becoming, the four kinds of generation, the five kinds of destiny, the seven stations of consciousness, and the nine abodes of beings; his heart no longer goes out to them. Just as water drops retreat, retract and recoil on a lotus leaf that slopes a little …” (§63), all of which should be given in the way already stated.

110. But at this point he is called “one who walks aloof,” with reference to whom it is said:

“When a bhikkhu keeps apart
And cultivates seclusion of the mind,
It will befit him, as they say,
To show himself no more in this becoming” (Sn 810).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

“Said in the Discourse on Purification (visuddhi-kathā)” (Vism-mhṭ 855). See XX.77.