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These go to eleven: the significance of the number 11 in the EBT


* it's an oral tradition, you memorize everything important. You number things as a check to make sure you're not missing anything in a piece of memorized Dhamma.
* you have 10 fingers, a universal counting device
* Anguttara Nikaya goes to 11, not 12, not 10.
* The famous anatta-lakkhana sutta passage has 11 ways of examining 5uk. So the number 11 may have significance as indicating comprehensive coverage, of knowing something fully and completely with no omission and gap.
* STED 11ada: all the suttas matching aniccato dukkh... : This scheme also is numbered to 11. Like the above, it's closely associated with realization of arahantship. But unlike the above, which is comprehensive in scope of input objects to examine, this set of 11 is an expansion on anicca, dukkha, anatta.

11 comprehensive ways of examining 5uk

These 11 criteria seem to be comprehensive. Past, present, future, gross, subtle, etc. It seems to say there is no phenomena or experience that falls outside this. Interestingly, Mahayana comes along hundreds of years later, and part of their marketing campaign to show they're better than Hinayana, is to say the Hinayanists understanding of emptiness and notself is incomplete, that it doesn't include all dhammas. It's hard to fathom what they mean, and how these 11 ways don't cover everything.

SN 22.59 An-atta-lakkhaṇa-sutta

1. Form

yaṃ kiñci rūpaṃ
any such form,
atītā-(a)n-āgata-paccuppannaṃ
[whether] past, -not-arrived-yet, (or) -present;
ajjhattaṃ vā bahiddhā vā
internal or external **;
oḷārikaṃ vā sukhumaṃ vā
blatant or subtle **;
hīnaṃ vā paṇītaṃ vā
inferior or sublime;
yaṃ dūre santike vā,
whatever distant (or) near **:
sabbaṃ rūpaṃ:
every form [is to be realized as]:
‘n’etaṃ mama,
'this (is) {not} mine,
n'eso-'ham-asmi,
this I am {not},
na meso attā’ti
this (is) {not} {my} self.’
evametaṃ yathā-bhūtaṃ
Thus as-(it)-actually-is,
sammap-paññāya daṭṭhabbaṃ.
(with)-right-wisdom (one)-must-see-(it).
That same passage also appears in these suttas:


alagaddūpamasuttaṃ (MN 22.1), — sabbaṃ rūpaṃ ‘netaṃ mama,...
cūḷasaccakasuttaṃ (MN 35.1),
mahārāhulovādasuttaṃ (MN 62.1),
mahāpuṇṇamasuttaṃ (MN 109.1),

susimasuttaṃ (SN 12.70),
anusayasuttaṃ (SN 18.13),
apagatasuttaṃ (SN 18.14),
khandhasuttaṃ (SN 22.48),
soṇasuttaṃ (SN 22.49),
anattalakkhaṇasuttaṃ (SN 22.59),
rādhasuttaṃ (SN 22.71),
surādhasuttaṃ (SN 22.72),
khajjanīyasuttaṃ (SN 22.79),
puṇṇamasuttaṃ (SN 22.82),
rāhulasuttaṃ (SN 22.91),
dutiyarāhulasuttaṃ (SN 22.92),
kappasuttaṃ (SN 22.124),
dutiyakappasuttaṃ (SN 22.125),
navātasuttaṃ (SN 24.31),
adukkhamasukhīsuttaṃ (SN 24.32)


yodhājīvasuttaṃ (AN 3.134)
yodhājīvasuttaṃ (AN 4.181),
sāḷhasuttaṃ (AN 4.196),

KN Paṭis, 1. mahāvaggo, 1. ñāṇakathā, 5. sammasanañāṇaniddeso, para. 2 ⇒

yaṃ kiñci rūpaṃ atītānāgatapaccuppannaṃ ajjhattaṃ vā bahiddhā vā oḷārikaṃ vā sukhumaṃ vā hīnaṃ vā paṇītaṃ vā yaṃ dūre santike vā, sabbaṃ rūpaṃ aniccato vavattheti ekaṃ sammasanaṃ, dukkhato vavattheti ekaṃ sammasanaṃ, anattato vavattheti ekaṃ sammasanaṃ.

KN Paṭis, 1. mahāvaggo, 1. ñāṇakathā, 5. sammasanañāṇaniddeso, para. 3 ⇒

yā kāci vedanā . pe . yā kāci saññā. ye keci saṅkhārā. yaṃ kiñci viññāṇaṃ atītānāgatapaccuppannaṃ ajjhattaṃ vā bahiddhā vā oḷārikaṃ vā sukhumaṃ vā hīnaṃ vā paṇītaṃ vā yaṃ dūre santike vā, sabbaṃ viññāṇaṃ aniccato vavattheti ekaṃ sammasanaṃ, dukkhato vavattheti ekaṃ sammasanaṃ, anattato vavattheti ekaṃ sammasanaṃ.

KN Paṭis, 3. paññāvaggo, 1. mahāpaññākathā, 1. soḷasapaññāniddeso, para. 20 ⇒

7. javanapaññatāya saṃvattantīti katamā javanapaññā? yaṃ kiñci rūpaṃ atītānāgatapaccuppannaṃ ajjhattaṃ vā bahiddhā vā oḷārikaṃ vā sukhumaṃ vā hīnaṃ vā paṇītaṃ vā yaṃ dūre santike vā, sabbaṃ rūpaṃ aniccato khippaṃ javatīti — javanapaññā. dukkhato khippaṃ javatīti — javanapaññā. anattato khippaṃ javatīti — javanapaññā. yā kāci vedanā . pe . yā kāci saññā. ye keci saṅkhārā. yaṃ kiñci viññāṇaṃ atītānāgatapaccuppannaṃ ajjhattaṃ vā bahiddhā vā oḷārikaṃ vā sukhumaṃ vā hīnaṃ vā paṇītaṃ vā yaṃ dūre santike vā, sabbaṃ viññāṇaṃ aniccato khippaṃ javatīti — javanapaññā. dukkhato khippaṃ javatīti — javanapaññā. anattato khippaṃ javatīti — javanapaññā. cakkhu . pe . jarāmaraṇaṃ atītānāgatapaccuppannaṃ aniccato khippaṃ javatīti — javanapaññā. dukkhato khippaṃ javatīti — javanapaññā . anattato khippaṃ javatīti — javanapaññā.







Re: These go to eleven: the significance of the number 11 in the EBT

Post by Dhammanando » Sat Apr 27, 2019 1:23 am
MN 33

"... possessed of eleven qualities, [a bhikkhu] cannot become one to reach growth, increase and maturity in this Dhamma and Discipline."

references


http://lucid24.org/sted/index.html

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