Six Cases of Incapability by One Accomplished in View (First Discourse)

Monks, there are these six cases of incapability.

What six?

One accomplished in view is:

(1) incapable of considering any conditioned phenomenon (thing) as permanent;

(2) incapable of considering any conditioned phenomenon (thing) as pleasurable;

(3) incapable of considering any phenomenon (thing) as a self;

(4) incapable of doing a grave act that brings immediate results;

(5) incapable of resorting to [the belief] that purity (Enlightenment) comes about through superstitious and auspicious acts;

(6) incapable of seeking a person worthy of offerings outside here.

These are the six cases of incapability.

(Reference: AN 6.93)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares six (6) cases of incapability of one accomplished in view (First Discourse).

“Accomplished in view” is one who is firm established in Right View deeply understanding and practicing The Four Noble Truths. A Practitioner who understands and is deeply practicing The Four Noble Truths will not be capable of any of these “six incapabilities”.

A Practitioner who has attained the first Stage of Enlightenment as a Stream-Enterer would be “accomplished in view”.

(1) Incapable of considering any conditioned phenomenon (thing) as permanent: A Practitioner who is accomplished in view would deeply understand and practice The Universal Truth of Impermanence, therefore, they would not be capable of seeing any conditioned phenomenon (thing) as permanent.

A Practitioner would have learned, reflected, and practiced The Universal Truth of Impermanence understanding that there is no conditioned feeling, object, or thing that is permanent.

A conditioned feeling, object, or thing is going to arise, change, and then fade away (i.e. cease to exist). An unconditioned feeling, object, or thing is not going to arise, change, or fade away (i.e. cease to exist).

Detailed explanation of The Universal Truth of Impermanence is available in this same book series found in Chapter 4 of the book “Developing a Life Practice: The Path That Leads to Enlightenment” (Volume 1).

(2) Incapable of considering any conditioned phenomenon (thing) as pleasurable: A Practitioner who is accomplished in view would deeply understand The Universal Truth of Discontentedness, therefore, they would not be capable of seeing any conditioned phenomenon (thing) as pleasurable. The mind would understand that basing inner feelings on impermanent conditions would cause pleasant feelings such as happiness, excitement, elation, thrill, exhilaration, euphoria, etc.

Pleasant feelings arising from impermanent conditions are temporary and thus, ultimately unsatisfactory. They do not last permanently and therefore, are dissatisfying to the mind leading to painful feelings when the pleasant feelings no longer exist.

An Enlightened mind will be trained to no longer seek pleasant feelings based on impermanent conditions. A Practitioner “accomplish in view” who is unEnlightened will still be experiencing pleasant feelings based on impermanent conditions but they will intellectually know that these are not “pleasurable” and are ultimately dissatisfying because the pleasant feelings are not permanent.

The Practitioner would be working towards attaining permanent joy where the mind is unconditioned no longer basing its inner feelings on impermanent conditions.

Detailed explanation of The Universal Truth of Discontentedness is available in this same book series found in Chapter 4 of the book “Developing a Life Practice: The Path That Leads to Enlightenment” (Volume 1).

(3) Incapable of considering any phenomenon (thing) as a self: A Practitioner who is accomplished in view would deeply understand and be practicing The Universal Truth of Non-self, therefore, they would not be capable of seeing any conditioned phenomenon (thing) as a self. The mind would understand that there is no permanent self and would have eliminated the fetter/taint/pollution of mind described as “Personal Existence View”.

Personal existence view (Eliminating the concept of a permanent self from the mind. Realization of The Universal Truth of Non-self.)

Detailed explanation of The Universal Truth of Non-self is available in this same book series found in Chapter 4 and 16 of the book “Developing a Life Practice: The Path That Leads to Enlightenment” (Volume 1).

(4) Incapable of doing a grave act that brings immediate results: A Practitioner who is accomplished in view would deeply understand The Five Heinous Unwholesome Acts (i.e. The Five Heinous Crimes), therefore, they would not be capable of doing a grave act that brings immediate results.

The mind would understand that doing any of the following would bring immediate unwholesome results and would choose to not do any of these unwholesome acts:

• Kill one’s mother.

• Kill one’s father.

• Kill an Arahant (Enlightened being).

• Harm a Buddha (Tathāgata).

• Create division in The Community of Practitioners.

A Practitioner who is accomplished in view would understand that each of these unwholesome acts would bring about harm to others and harm to themselves, therefore, they would not be capable of performing any of these actions.

(5) Incapable of resorting to [the belief] that purity (Enlightenment) comes about through superstitious and auspicious acts: A Practitioner who is accomplished in view would deeply understand the fetter/taint/pollution of mind and would have eliminated the fetter/taint/pollution of mind described as “Wrong Behavior and Observances”.

Wrong behavior and observances (Elimination of the mind’s belief that rites, rituals, ceremonies, and worship will help a Practitioner to attain Enlightenment. Well developed practice of The Eight Fold Path.)

(6) Incapable of seeking a person worthy of offerings outside here: A Practitioner who is accomplished in view would deeply understand the fetter/taint/pollution of mind and would have eliminated the fetter/taint/pollution of mind described as “Doubt”.

A Practitioner would have learned, reflected, and practiced The Teachings so well that they would have experienced significant improvements to the condition of the mind. There would be observable evidence that the Practitioner would be able to see that these Teachings have led to dramatic improvements in focus, concentration, and clarity of mind that they would know these Teachings are leading them towards Enlightenment and they would be interested in supporting these Teachings through making meritorious offerings to The Community of Practitioners who are sharing these Teachings.

Meritorious offerings can be made to ordained male and female Practitioners or Teachers as well as anyone who has attained one of The Four Stages of Enlightenment. These offerings help to support the continued learning and sharing of these Teachings in the world for the benefit of all beings.

Doubt (Elimination of doubts about The Teachings and the ability of them to attain Enlightenment. Confidence in The Buddha, The Teachings, The Community, your Teacher, and your own ability to attain Enlightenment.)

Detailed explanation of “What is Merit?” is available in this same book series found in Chapter 10 of the book “Developing a Life Practice: The Path That Leads to Enlightenment” (Volume 1).

Detailed explanation of making meritorious offerings is available in this same book series found in the book “Generosity” (Volume 13).