Saɱyutta Nikāya
4. Saḷāyatana Vagga
35. Saḷāyatana Saɱyutta
§ IV: Paññāsaka Catuttha
3. Samudda Vagga
The Connected Discourses of the Buddha
IV. The Book of the Six Sense Bases
35: Connected Discourses on the Six Sense Bases
The Fourth Fifty
3. The Ocean
Sutta 187 [WP: #228]
Paṭhama Samudda Suttaɱ
The Ocean 1
Translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi
Copyright Bhikkhu Bodhi 2000, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Wisdom Publications, 2000)
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[1][pts][than] "Bhikkhus, the uninstructed worldling speaks of 'the ocean, the ocean.'
But that is not the ocean in the Noble One's Discipline; that is only a great mass of water, a great expanse of water.
"The eye, bhikkhus, is the ocean for a person; its current consists of forms.
One who withstands that current consisting of forms is said to have crossed the ocean of the eye with its waves, whirlpools, sharks, and demons.
Crossed over, gone beyond, the brahmin stands on high ground.
"The ear, bhikkhus, is the ocean for a person. ...
The mind is the ocean for a person; its current consists of mental phenomena.
One who withstands that current consisting of mental phenomena is said to have crossed the ocean of the mind with its waves, whirlpools, sharks, and demons.
Crossed over, gone beyond, the brahmin stands on high ground."
This is what the Blessed One said.
Having said this, the Fortunate One, the Teacher, further said this:
"One who has crossed this ocean so hard to cross,
With its dangers of sharks, demons, waves,
The knowledge-master who has lived the holy life,
Reached the world's end, is called one gone beyond."
