DooDoot wrote
"The above appears false. What Buddha said to Bahia is not repeated in many suttas"
Perhaps it is failure to pay the right attention to suttas, that makes you think so.
I will address this one point as briefly as possible, so as not to get entangled with you.
When i wrote 'repeated' i did not mean verbatim, even though it appears verbatim in a sutta spoken to Malunkyaputta. Dhamma is not a parrot's domain. It has to be understood through Dhammic lang. as Rev. Buddhadasa wrote.
SN 35.95 Malunkyaputta's liberation
In reference to the seen, there will be only the seen.
In reference to the heard, only the heard.
In reference to the sensed, only the sensed. In reference to the cognized, only the cognized.
That is how you should train yourself.
When for you there will be only the seen in reference to the seen, only the heard in reference to the heard, only the sensed in reference to the sensed, only the cognized in reference to the cognized, then, Malunkyaputta, there is no you in connection with that. When there is no you in connection with that, there is no you there.
When there is no you there, you are neither here nor yonder nor between the two. This, just this, is the end of stress."
MN 1 Mulapariyaya sutta, sections 19-20. perceiving the seen as the seen, ....cognized as cognized
(but not inserting a self in the midst, by conceiving himself in the sensed)
In MN 51 Kandaraka sutta section16.On seeing a form with the eye.... on cognizing a mind object he does not grasp at its signs and features.
In MN 112 Chabbisodhana sutta Section 4."Regarding the seen as the seen, heard as the heard, ...cognized as the cognized, i abide unattracted, unrepelled, independent, detached, free, dissociated"
only the one who has eradicated defilements can act in this manner. One without right view, without right intention, etc. how can he?
In AN 11.1 Sandha suttaPerception has disappeared, in relation to whatever is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, reached, sought after, and examined by the mind.
Dearest DooDoot, Don't you think in all suttas where Buddha says There is no "I", what he intends is there is the seen, but no one to be seen, neither is there the "I" seeing,
People immersed in ignorance have a hard time believing that there is no "I" here,
even Buddha's advice to his son Rahula
"that there is no "I" in the past, the future and the present feelings, perceptions etc."
incline towards the same notion,
that there is the seen, heard, sensed, cognized,
without the insertion of "I"
Dhamma can only be seen when you still the mind,
when you get rid of the ego,
In a posture of humility. That everywhere and anywhere, all that Buddha was trying to say in this vast sensosphere we are born to, due to craving and kamma in this repeated birthing, the culprit of our suffering is the insertion of "I".
Instead of letting go of the seen, heard, sensed and cognized, we revel in these and hence we suffer, and fail to see the cause of our suffering is our own failure.
Buddha claims in Mahavagga.
- 'This that through many toils I've known?
By folk with lust and hate consumed;
The dhamma is not understood-
Subtle, deep difficult to see delicate. Unseen it will be by passion's slaves,
cloaked in the murk of ignorance.
With love
PS There are many more suttas, but you are smart, these few should convince you.