#Linked Discourses 12

Sāriputta is asked by various ascetics as to the origin of suffering. He replies that the Buddha teaches that suffering originates by conditions. Moreover, all those who offer opinions as to the source of suffering are themselves part of the web of conditions, as they cannot state their views without contact. Ānanda reports the exchange to the Buddha, who praises Sāriputta’s answer.Near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove. Then Venerable Sāriputta robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, entered Rājagaha for alms. [Read More]

The ending of defilements comes only when the truth is seen. But seeing the truth comes about due to a vital condition. In this way, twelve factors leading to freedom are united with the twelve factors leading to suffering.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, I say that the ending of defilements is for one who knows and sees, not for one who does not know or see. For one who knows and sees what? [Read More]

The Buddha’s teaching rests on his possession of ten powers and four grounds for self-confidence. When hearing such an open teaching, a mendicant puts forth great effort, considering the good for both themselves and for others.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, a Realized One has ten powers and four kinds of self-assurance. With these he claims the bull’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and turns the holy wheel. Such is form, such is the origin of form, such is the ending of form. [Read More]

The Buddha’s teaching rests on his possession of ten powers and four grounds for self-confidence.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, a Realized One has ten powers and four kinds of self-assurance. With these he claims the bull’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and turns the holy wheel. Such is form, such is the origin of form, such is the ending of form. Such is feeling, such is the origin of feeling, such is the ending of feeling. [Read More]

The Buddha distinguishes between “dependently originated phenomena”—the twelve factors—and “dependent origination”—the principle of conditionality. Someone who understands these things no longer worries about the past or future.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, I will teach you dependent origination and dependently originated phenomena. Listen and pay close attention, I will speak.” “Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this: “And what is dependent origination? Rebirth is a condition for old age and death. Whether Realized Ones arise or not, this law of nature persists, this regularity of natural principles, this invariance of natural principles, specific conditionality. [Read More]

Both the wise and the foolish have been reborn in this life due to their deeds conditioned by ignorance in past lives. But a fool continues to make the same mistakes and is reborn yet again, whereas a wise person does not.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, for a fool hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, this body has been produced. So there is the duality of this body and external name and form. [Read More]

A wanderer named Timbaruka approaches the Buddha while he is on alms round and asks whether pleasure and pain are created by oneself, by another, by both, or by chance. Explaining why he rejects all these options, the Buddha asserts that suffering arises due to conditions.At Sāvatthī. Then the wanderer Timbaruka went up to the Buddha, and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side and said to the Buddha: “Well, Master Gotama, are pleasure and pain made by oneself? [Read More]

A naked ascetic named Kassapa approaches the Buddha while he is on alms round and asks whether suffering is created by oneself, by another, by both, or by chance. Explaining why he rejects all these options, the Buddha asserts that suffering arises due to conditions.So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground. Then the Buddha robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, entered Rājagaha for alms. [Read More]

One is qualified to be called a “Dhamma speaker” if one teaches for the ending of suffering.At Sāvatthī. Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Sir, they speak of a ‘Dhamma speaker’. How is a Dhamma speaker defined?” “If a mendicant teaches Dhamma for disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation regarding old age and death, they’re qualified to be called a ‘mendicant who speaks on Dhamma’. [Read More]

Venerable Kaccānagotta asks the Buddha about right view, and the Buddha answers that right view arises when one sees the origin and cessation of the world and is free of attachments. This sutta, brief but profound and difficult, became renowned as the only canonical reference named in Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, perhaps the most famous philosophical treatise in all Buddhism.At Sāvatthī. Then Venerable Kaccānagotta went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Sir, they speak of this thing called ‘right view’. [Read More]