Index of the Suttas of the
Saṃyutta Nikāya
Nidana Vagga
Rāhula Saṃyutta
II. Nidāna Vagga
PTS: Saṃyutta Nikāya Volume 2, Nidāna Vagga ed. by M. Léon Feer, London: Pāḷi Text Society 1888. The html formatted Pāḷi Text Society edition of the Pāḷi text.
BJT: Saṃyutta Nikāya Volume 2, Nidāna-Vagga The Sri Lanka Buddha Jayanti Tripitaka Series Pāḷi text.
The Pāḷi text for individual suttas listed below is adapted from the Sri Lanka Buddha Jayanti Tripitaka Series [BJT], not from the PTS version.
Each translation is linked to its Pāḷi version and to the PTS, Sister Upalavanna, Olds and where available to the ATI Bhk. Thanissaro translation, and each of these is in turn linked back to each of the others. Many, but not all have been checked against the Pāḷi Text Society edition, and many have been reformatted to include the original Pāḷi (and/or organizational) phrase and sentence breaks.
PTS: The Kindred Sayings on Cause, translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids assisted by F.L. Woodward,
WP: The Book of Causation, translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi
ATI: The translations of Bhikkhu Thanissaro and others originally located on Access to Insight.
BD: The translations of M. Olds
MNL: The translations of Sister Upalavanna.
VII. Rāhula Saṃyutta, II.244
PTS: Kindred Sayings about Rāhula, II.165
WP: Connected Discourses with Rāhula, I.694
I.
1. Cakkhu Suttaṃ, II.244
Rāhula, Gotama's son, receives instruction on change, pain, and not self from the Buddha.
This and the following nine suttas, which are all constructed using the same form, are not a series of variations, but a series which gets progressively deeper.
Although each sutta is here apparently independent, it is much more likely it was given as a whole, perhaps over several days. In any case, once completed it makes a whole and should be read as such.
Mrs. Rhys Davids translation here is misleading and spoils the message. She translates the terms 'eye, ear, nose, etc.' as 'sight, hearing, smelling, etc.' which is to speak of the sense experience when what is being spoken of is the sense organ. The idea is that when the sense organ is not stable, anything derived from that is going to be unstable. She gives the lesson no foundation in the concrete. Her abridgements in the following suttas are so severe as to allow multiple interpretations; I have chosen in expanding these suttas those possibilities I believe are most closely aligned with the Pāḷi.
The lesson is:
Dependent on the eye and visual objects, eye-consciousness;
Dependent on the eye, visual objects and eye-consciousness, visual contact;
Dependent on the eye, visual objects, eye-consciousness and visual contact, eye-sense-experience;
Dependent on eye-sense-experience, eye-sense perception;
Dependent on eye-sense perception, intentions with regard to visual objects;
Dependent on intentions with regard to visual objects, thirst for visual objects;
Dependent on thirst for visual objects, pain;
and this applies to all of the senses;
for anything derived from earth, water, fire, or wind
including forms, sense-experience, perception, own-making, or consciousness.
And this lesson amounts to what? The paṭicca samuppāda.
PTS: The Eye, II.165
WP: The Eye, Etc., I.194
2. Rūpa Suttaṃ, II.245
PTS: Thing Seen, II.166
WP: Forms, Etc., I.695
3. Viññāṇa Suttaṃ, II.246
PTS: Awareness, II.166
WP: Consciousness, I.695
4. Samphasso Suttaṃ, II.246
PTS: Contact, II.166
WP: Contact, I.695
5. Vedanā Suttaṃ, II.247
PTS: Feeling, II.166
WP: Feeling, I.695
6. Saññā Suttaṃ, II.247
PTS: Perception, II.166
WP: Perception, I.696
7. Sañcetanā Suttaṃ, II.247
PTS: Volition, II.166
WP: Volition, I.696
8. Taṇhā Suttaṃ, II.248
PTS: Craving, II.166
WP: Craving, I.696
9. Dhātu Suttaṃ, II.
Rāhula, Gotama's son, receives instruction on change, pain, and not self from the Buddha. On the data points: earth, water, fire, and wind.
PTS: Element, II.166
WP: Elements, I.697
10. Khandha Suttaṃ, II.249
Rāhula, Gotama's son, receives instruction on change, pain, and not self from the Buddha. On the stockpiles: form, sense-experience, perception, own-making and consciousness.
PTS: Aggregates, II.166
WP: Aggregates, I.697
II.
11. Cakkhu Suttaṃ, II.249
Rāhula, Gotama's son, receives instruction on change, pain, and not self from the Buddha. On the six sense organs from another angle.
This and the following ten suttas are identical respectively to Numbers 1 to 10 above with the difference that they omit the request by Rāhula. The first batch therefore were the lessons, the second batch a re-enforcement. In the PTS they are abridged into one line that does not explain the difference.
PTS: The Eye, II. 167
WP: 11-20: The Eye, Etc., I.697
12. Rūpa Suttaṃ, II.251
PTS: Thing Seen, II. 167
13. Viññāṇa Suttaṃ, II.251
PTS: Awareness, II. 167
14. Samphasso Suttaṃ, II.251
PTS: Contact, II. 167
15. Vedanā Suttaṃ, II.251
PTS: Feeling, II. 167
16. Saññā Suttaṃ, II.251
PTS: Perception, II. 167
17. Sañcetanā Suttaṃ, II.251
PTS: Volition, II. 167
18. Taṇhā Suttaṃ, II.251
PTS: Craving, II. 167
19. Dhātu Suttaṃ, II.251
PTS: Element, II. 167
20. Khandha Suttaṃ, II.252
PTS: Aggregates, II. 167
21. Anusaya Suttaṃ, II.252
Rāhula, Gotama's son, receives instruction on how to view all things as not-self.
The trick is to break perception down into the categories called 'the khandhas' 'the stockpiles': form, sense-experience, perception, own-making and consciousness where it is easy to see these things as 'not self'. This already creates a tendency to objectification and makes the transfer of that objectivity to the otherwise identified-with body and mind much easier.
PTS: Insidious Tendency, II.167
WP: Underlying Tendency, I.698
22. Mānāpagata Suttaṃ, II.253
Rāhula, Gotama's son, receives instruction on how to view all things as not-self.
PTS: Gone Away From, II.168
WP: Rid Of, I.698
