Saṃyutta Nikāya
4. Saḷāyatana Vagga
35. Saḷāyatana Saṃyutta
§ I: Mūla-Paññāsa
1. Anicca Vagga Paṭhama
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
4. The Book Called the Khandhā-Vagga
Containing Kindred Sayings on the 'Six-Fold Sphere' of Sense and Other Subjects
§ I: The First Fifty Suttas
35. Kindred Sayings the Sixfold Sphere of Sense
1. The First Chapter on Impermanence
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato Sammā-Sam-Buddhassa
Sutta 1
Ajjhatta Anicca Suttaṃ (Aniccam 1: Ajjhattam)
Impermanent (i): The Personal[1]
Translated by F. L. Woodward
Edited by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Copyright The Pali Text Society
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The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthī, at Jeta Grove, in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
Then the Exalted One addressed the brethren, saying:
"Brethren."
"Lord," responded those brethren to the Exalted One.
The Exalted One thus spake:
"The eye,[2] brethren,
is impermanent.
What is impermanent,
that is ill.[3]
What is [2] ill,
that is void of the self.
What is void of the self,
that is not mine:
I am not it:
it is not my self.
That is how it is to be regarded
with perfect insight
of what it really is.
■
The ear is impermanent.
What is impermanent,
that is ill.
What is ill,
that is void of the self.
What is void of the self,
that is not mine:
I am not it:
it is not my self.
That is how it is to be regarded
with perfect insight
of what it really is.
■
The nose is impermanent.
What is impermanent,
that is ill.
What is ill,
that is void of the self.
What is void of the self,
that is not mine:
I am not it:
it is not my self.
That is how it is to be regarded
with perfect insight
of what it really is.
■
The tongue is impermanent.
What is impermanent,
that is ill.
What is ill,
that is void of the self.
What is void of the self,
that is not mine:
I am not it:
it is not my self.
That is how it is to be regarded
with perfect insight
of what it really is.
■
The body is impermanent.
What is impermanent,
that is ill.
What is ill,
that is void of the self.
What is void of the self,
that is not mine:
I am not it:
it is not my self.
That is how it is to be regarded
with perfect insight
of what it really is.
■
The mind is impermanent.
What is impermanent,
that is ill.
What is ill,
that is void of the self.
What is void of the self,
that is not mine:
I am not it:
it is not my self.
That is how it is to be regarded
with perfect insight
of what it really is.
§
So seeing, brethren,
the well-taught Ariyan disciple
is repelled by eye,
ear,
nose,
tongue,
body,
and mind.
Being repelled by them,
he lusts not for them.
Not lusting,
he is set free.
In this freedom
comes insight of being free.
Thus he realizes:
'Rebirth is destroyed,
lived is the righteous life,
done is the task,
for life in these conditions
there is no hereafter.'"[4]
[1] Ajjhattaṇ, lit. 'what refers to self,' personal, interior, as opposed to bāhiraṇ, external or objective.
[2] 'There are two eyes: the eye of cognition (ñāṇa) and the eye of the flesh (maṇsa). The eye of cognition is fivefold, to wit: the Buddha eye, the Norm eye, the all-seeing eye, the divine eye and the wisdom eye. ... The eye of the flesh is twofold: that composed of the elements (sasambhāra) and that of the sensitive surface (pasāda).' (Buddhaghosa's Commentary on Saṃyutta Nikāya, called Sārattha Pakāsinī, an edition of which I am now preparing. - F.L.W.)
[3] Cf. K.S. iii, 21 n., and Buddhist Psychology (Mrs. Khys Davids), 2nd ed., chap. 4.
[4] Cf. K.S. iii, 20 and n.* [n2].
