Saṃyutta Nikāya
II. Nidāna Vagga
12. Nidāna Saṃyutta
5. Gahapati Vagga
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
Part II. The Book Called the Nidāna-Vagga
Containing Kindred sayings on Cause
and Other Subjects
12. The Kindred Sayings on Cause
5. The Housefather
Sutta 47
Jāṇussoṇi Suttaṃ
Jāṇussoṇi
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by F. L. Woodward
Originally Published by
The Pali Text Society
Public Domain
The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthī
at the Jeta Grove
in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
And there Jānussoṇi the brahmin[1] came into the presence of the Exalted One,
and exchanged greetings with him,
and in courteous and friendly converse
sat down at one side.
So seated Jānussoṇi the brahmin said to the Exalted One:
"What [say you] here, Master Gotama:
Everything is?[2]
"'Everything is': -
this, brahmin, is one extreme."
"Well, then, Master Gotama, -
nothing is?"
"'Nothing is': -
this, brahmin, is the other extreme.
The Tathāgata, not approaching either of these extremes, teaches you a Doctrine by a middle [way]:
Conditioned by ignorance activities come to pass;
conditioned by activities consciousness,
conditioned by consciousness name-and-shape,
conditioned by name-and-shape sense,
conditioned by sense contact,
conditioned by contact feeling,
conditioned by feeling craving,
conditioned by craving grasping,
conditioned by grasping becoming,
conditioned by becoming birth,
conditioned by birth old age-and death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow, despair come to pass.
Such is the uprising of this entire mass of ill.
But from the utter fading away and ceasing of ignorance [comes] ceasing of activities;
from ceasing of activities ceasing of consciousness;
from ceasing of consciousness ceasing of name-and-shape;
from ceasing of name-and-shape ceasing of sense;
from ceasing of sense ceasing of contact;
from ceasing of contact ceasing of feeling;
from ceasing of feeling ceasing of craving;
from ceasing of craving ceasing of grasping;
from ceasing of grasping ceasing of becoming;
from ceasing of becoming ceasing of birth;
from ceasing of birth,
old age-and-death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow, despair cease.
Such is the ceasing of this entire mass of ill."
And when he had thus spoken, Jānussoṇi the brahmin said:
"Wonderful, Master Gotama, wonderful!
Just as if a man were to set up
that which had been thrown down,
or were to reveal
that which was hidden away,
or were to point out the right road
to him who had gone astray,
or were to bring a lamp into the darkness,
so that those who had eyes could see shapes, -
even so, lord, has the lord Gotama shown me
his doctrine in various ways.
I, even I, lord, betake myself to the Exalted One as my refuge,
to the Norm
and to the Order.
May Master Gotama accept me as a follower,
as one who from this day forth,
as long as life lasts,
has taken his refuge therein!"
[1] A frequent interlocutor of the Buddha, wealthy and learned, residing at Manasākata in Kosala. Dialogues, i, 300. He is encountered in all the Nikāyas. According to the Comy. on Aṇguttara i, 56, the name was in reality a title conferred by royal warrant. MSS. spell it variously.
[2] Cf. above, § 15.
