Fourteen Imponderables
The extant Sanskrit (and the Tibetan and Chinese texts following the Sanskrit) include the following fourteen imponderables (which adds the "both or neither" questions to the ten imponderables of the Pali tradition):
- Is the world eternal?
- ...or not?
- ...or both?
- ...or neither?
- Is the world finite?
- ...or not?
- ...or both?
- ...or neither?
- Is the self identical with the body?
- ...or is it different from the body?
- Does the Tathagata (Buddha) exist after death?
- ...or not?
- ...or both?
- ...or neither?
Sixteen Questions
The Sabbasava Sutta / Majjhima Nikaya also mentions 16 questions which are seen as "unwise reflection" and lead to attachment to views relating to a self. These are similar in spirit but distinct from the 14 imponderables:
- What am I?
- How am I?
- Am I?
- Am I not?
- Did I exist in the past?
- Did I not exist in the past?
- What was I in the past?
- How was I in the past?
- Having been what, did I become what in the past?
- Shall I exist in future?
- Shall I not exist in future?
- What shall I be in future?
- How shall I be in future?
- Having been what, shall I become what in future?
- Whence came this person?
- Whither will he go?
The Buddha states that it is unwise to be attached to both views of having and perceiving a self and views about not having a self. Any view which sees the self as "permanent, stable, everlasting, unchanging, remaining the same for ever and ever" is "becoming enmeshed in views, a jungle of views, a wilderness of views; scuffling in views, the agitation (struggle) of views, the fetter of views."