Saɱyutta Nikāya
4. Saḷāyatana Vagga
35. Saḷāyatana Saɱyutta
§ III: Paññāsaka Tatiya
4. Devadaha Vagga
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
4. The Book Called the Saḷāyatana-Vagga
Containing Kindred Sayings on the 'Six-Fold Sphere' of Sense and Other Subjects
35. Kindred Sayings the Sixfold Sphere of Sense
§ III: The 'Third Fifty' Suttas
4. The Chapter on Devadaha
Sutta 136
Rūpā-Pārāma Suttaɱ
(PTS: Agayha Suttaɱ;
BJT: Sagayha Suttaɱ + Gayha Suttaɱ;
CSCD: Paṭhama Rūpāpārāma Suttaɱ + Dutiya Rūpāpārāma Suttaɱ)[ed1]
Not Including (The Sixfold Sense-sphere)
Translated by F. L. Woodward
Edited by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Copyright The Pali Text Society
Commercial Rights Reserved
For details see Terms of Use.
[1][bodh][than] Thus have I heard:
Once the Exalted One was staying among the Sakkas at Devadaha,
a township of the Sakkas.
Then the Exalted One addressed the brethren, saying:
"Brethren."
"Lord," responded those brethren to the Exalted One.
The Exalted One thus spake:
"Devas and mankind, Brethren, delight in objects,
they are excited by objects.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of objects, Brethren,
that devas and [82] mankind live woefully.[1]
■
Devas and mankind, Brethren, delight in sounds,
they axe excited by sounds.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of sounds, Brethren,
that devas and mankind live woefully.
■
Devas and mankind, Brethren, delight in scents,
they axe excited by scents.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of scents, Brethren,
that devas and mankind live woefully.
■
Devas and mankind, Brethren, delight in savours,
they axe excited by savours.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of savours, Brethren,
that devas and mankind live woefully.
■
Devas and mankind, Brethren, delight in touch,
they axe excited by touch.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of touch, Brethren,
that devas and mankind live woefully.
■
Devas and mankind, Brethren, delight in mind-states,
they axe excited by mind-states.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of mind-states, Brethren,
that devas and mankind live woefully.
§
But the Tathāgata, Brethren,
who is Arahant,
a Fully-enlightened One,
seeing, as they really are,
both the arising and the destruction,
the satisfaction,
the misery
and the way of escape from objects, -
he delights not in objects,
takes not pleasure in objects,
is not excited by objects.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of objects
that the Tathāgata, dwells at ease.
■
The Tathāgata, Brethren,
who is Arahant,
a Fully-enlightened One,
seeing, as they really are,
both the arising and the destruction,
the satisfaction,
the misery
and the way of escape from sounds, -
he delights not in sounds,
takes not pleasure in sounds,
is not excited by sounds.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of sounds
that the Tathāgata, dwells at ease.
■
The Tathāgata, Brethren,
who is Arahant,
a Fully-enlightened One,
seeing, as they really are,
both the arising and the destruction,
the satisfaction,
the misery
and the way of escape from scents, -
he delights not in scents,
takes not pleasure in scents,
is not excited by scents.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of scents
that the Tathāgata, dwells at ease.
■
The Tathāgata, Brethren,
who is Arahant,
a Fully-enlightened One,
seeing, as they really are,
both the arising and the destruction,
the satisfaction,
the misery
and the way of escape from savours, -
he delights not in savours,
takes not pleasure in savours,
is not excited by savours.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of savours
that the Tathāgata, dwells at ease.
■
The Tathāgata, Brethren,
who is Arahant,
a Fully-enlightened One,
seeing, as they really are,
both the arising and the destruction,
the satisfaction,
the misery
and the way of escape from touch, -
he delights not in touch,
takes not pleasure in touch,
is not excited by touch.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of touch
that the Tathāgata, dwells at ease.
■
The Tathāgata, Brethren,
who is Arahant,
a Fully-enlightened One,
seeing, as they really are,
both the arising and the destruction,
the satisfaction,
the misery
and the way of escape from mind-states, -
he delights not in mind-states,
takes not pleasure in mind-states,
is not excited by mind-states.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of mind-states
that the Tathāgata, dwells at ease.
Thus spake the Exalted One.
So saying the Happy One added this further as Teacher: -[2]
Things seen and heard, tastes, odours, what we touch,
Perceive, - all, everything desirable,
Pleasant and sweet, while one can say 'it is,'
These are deemed 'sukhā' by both gods and men.
And when they cease to be they hold it woe.
The dissolution of the body-self[3]
To Ariyans seems 'sukha.' Everything
The world holds good, sages see otherwise.[4]
What other men call 'sukha,' that the saints
Call 'dukkha': what the rest so name,
That do the Ariyans know as happiness.
Behold a Norm[5] that's hard to apprehend.
[83] Hereby are baffled[6] they that are not wise.
Darkness is theirs, enmeshed by ignorance:
Blindness is theirs, who cannot see the light.
But by the wise,[7] whose eyes are opened wide,
The light is seen: and, near to it, they know it,
Skilled in the knowledge of the mighty Norm.[8] By those whom longing for rebirth destroys,
By those who float adown becoming's stream,
By those who subjects are to Māra's sway,
Not fully comprehended is this Norm.
Who but the worthy ones are worthy of
The all-enlightened Path, by knowing which
Fully, the drug-immune ones are set free?[9]
[Here BJT calls the following #137: Gayha Suttaɱ and CSCD: #137: Dutiya Rūpāma Suttaɱ]
"Devas and mankind, Brethren, delight in objects,
they are excited by objects.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of objects, Brethren,
that devas and mankind live woefully.
■
Devas and mankind, Brethren, delight in sounds,
they axe excited by sounds.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of sounds, Brethren,
that devas and mankind live woefully.
■
Devas and mankind, Brethren, delight in scents,
they axe excited by scents.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of scents, Brethren,
that devas and mankind live woefully.
■
Devas and mankind, Brethren, delight in savours,
they axe excited by savours.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of savours, Brethren,
that devas and mankind live woefully.
■
Devas and mankind, Brethren, delight in touch,
they axe excited by touch.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of touch, Brethren,
that devas and mankind live woefully.
■
Devas and mankind, Brethren, delight in mind-states,
they axe excited by mind-states.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of mind-states, Brethren,
that devas and mankind live woefully.
§
But the Tathāgata, Brethren,
who is Arahant,
a Fully-enlightened One,
seeing, as they really are,
both the arising and the destruction,
the satisfaction,
the misery
and the way of escape from objects, -
he delights not in objects,
takes not pleasure in objects,
is not excited by objects.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of objects
that the Tathāgata, dwells at ease.
■
The Tathāgata, Brethren,
who is Arahant,
a Fully-enlightened One,
seeing, as they really are,
both the arising and the destruction,
the satisfaction,
the misery
and the way of escape from sounds, -
he delights not in sounds,
takes not pleasure in sounds,
is not excited by sounds.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of sounds
that the Tathāgata, dwells at ease.
■
The Tathāgata, Brethren,
who is Arahant,
a Fully-enlightened One,
seeing, as they really are,
both the arising and the destruction,
the satisfaction,
the misery
and the way of escape from scents, -
he delights not in scents,
takes not pleasure in scents,
is not excited by scents.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of scents
that the Tathāgata, dwells at ease.
■
The Tathāgata, Brethren,
who is Arahant,
a Fully-enlightened One,
seeing, as they really are,
both the arising and the destruction,
the satisfaction,
the misery
and the way of escape from savours, -
he delights not in savours,
takes not pleasure in savours,
is not excited by savours.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of savours
that the Tathāgata, dwells at ease.
■
The Tathāgata, Brethren,
who is Arahant,
a Fully-enlightened One,
seeing, as they really are,
both the arising and the destruction,
the satisfaction,
the misery
and the way of escape from touch, -
he delights not in touch,
takes not pleasure in touch,
is not excited by touch.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of touch
that the Tathāgata, dwells at ease.
■
The Tathāgata, Brethren,
who is Arahant,
a Fully-enlightened One,
seeing, as they really are,
both the arising and the destruction,
the satisfaction,
the misery
and the way of escape from mind-states, -
he delights not in mind-states,
takes not pleasure in mind-states,
is not excited by mind-states.
It is owing to the instability,
the coming to an end,
the ceasing of mind-states
that the Tathāgata, dwells at ease.
[1] Dukkhaṅ viharanti. Dukkhaṅ here is an adverb. For a discussion of the word see K.S. iii, 21 n.
[2] See Sutta Nipaṭa, v, 759-63, and Comy. ad loc. (Par. Jot. ii, 2, 509). Our text differs from Sn. in the third couplet, but our Comy. agrees with the Sn. reading, which I follow. Sakkā yassa should be sakkāy-assa For dassanaṅ read passataṅ. [Lines 1-4, 7-9 are well turned by Mrs. Rhys Davids, Buddh Psych., 86. I give them here, and have added the other lines myself.]
[3] Reading with Sn. sakkāyass'uparodhanaṅ.
[4] Reading sabbaṅ lokena passataṅ (= passantānaṅ = paṇḍitānāṅ).
[5] Text misprints phassa-dhammaṅ for passa dhammaṅ).
[6] Sammūḷh'ettha aviddasū ( = bālā. Comy.).
[7] Sataṅ ( = sappurisānaṅ. Comy.).
[8] Reading with text santikena vijānanti mahāihammassa kovidā. But Sn. and Comy. read santike na vijānanti magā (fools) dhammass'akovidā, i.e , 'though near it, fools unskilled in the D. do not know it.'
[9] Parinibbanti anāsavā. Comy. kilesa- or khtindha-parinibbānema.
[ed1] Bhikkhu Bodhi notes: "Feer wrongly entitles this sutta Agaytha, and runs it together with the next." I here follow the PTS numbering.
