A mendicant asks who possesses old and death, and the other factors. The Buddha says the question is improper, as it assumes a self as agent. Rather, dependent origination is the teaching “by the middle”, explaining phenomena according to natural conditions.At Sāvatthī. “Ignorance is a condition for choices. Choices are a condition for consciousness. … That is how this entire mass of suffering originates.” When this was said, one of the mendicants asked the Buddha, “What are old age and death, sir, and who do they belong to? [Read More]

An analysis of 77 contexts for developing insight with regard to dependent origination.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, I will teach seventy-seven grounds for knowledge. Listen and pay close attention, I will speak.” “Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this: “And what are the seventy-seven grounds for knowledge? The knowledge that rebirth is a condition for old age and death, and the knowledge that when rebirth doesn’t exist, there is no old age and death. [Read More]

An analysis of 44 contexts for developing insight with regard to dependent origination. This includes an important distinction between knowledge arising from direct vision of the present, and that derived from inference as to the past and future.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, I will teach forty-four grounds for knowledge. Listen and pay close attention, I will speak.” “Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this: “And what are the forty-four grounds for knowledge? [Read More]

A mendicant named Kaḷāra the Khattiya informs Sāriputta that the mendicant Moḷiyaphagguna had disrobed. Overinterpreting Sāriputta’s reply, Kaḷāra reports to the Buddha that Sāriputta had claimed to have ended all defilements. The Buddha calls Sāriputta to clarify his statements, and Sāriputta explains in terms of dependent origination.At Sāvatthī. Then the mendicant Kaḷāra the Aristocrat went up to Venerable Sāriputta and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side and said to him, “Reverend Sāriputta, the mendicant Phagguna of the Top-Knot has rejected the training and returned to a lesser life. [Read More]

The Buddha asks Sāriputta to explain a verse from “The Questions of Ajita” in the Parāyana (Snp 5.2). At first, Sāriputta hesitates, but proceeds when the Buddha indicates he is looking for an answer in terms of conditionality.At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī. Then the Buddha said to Venerable Sāriputta, “Sāriputta, this was said in ‘The Way to the Beyond’, in ‘The Questions of Ajita’: ‘Those who have comprehended the teaching, and the many kinds of trainees here—dear sir, you are alert; when questioned, please tell me their conduct. [Read More]