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#### Saṁyutta Nikāya
II. Nidāna Vagga
12. Nidāna Saṁyutta
3. Dasa-Balā Vagga

#### Sutta 23

#### Upanisa Suttaṁ

# Precursors[1]

Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds

[1][pts][than][bodh][bodh 2] I HEAR TELL:

Once upon a time the Lucky Man Sāvatthī-town revisiting.

There then The Lucky Man addressed the beggars, saying:

"Beggars!"

And the beggars responding "Bhante!"
The Lucky Man said this to them:

"I say it is in knowing, beggars,
in seeing,
that the corrupting influences[2] are destroyed,
not without knowing,
without seeing.

And by knowing what,
by seeing what,
are the corrupting influences destroyed?

'This is form,
this is the self-arising of form,
this is the settling-down of form.

This is sensation,
this is the self-arising of sensation,
this is the settling-down of sensation.

This is perception,
this is the self-arising of perception,
this is the settling-down of perception.

This is own-making,
this is the self-arising of own-making,
this is the settling-down of own-making.

This is consciousness,
this is the self-arising of consciousness,
this is the settling-down of consciousness.'

It is by this knowing then, beggars,
by this seeing,
that the corrupting influences are destroyed.

◦

I say, beggars, that
whatever is the knowledge
of the destruction of the destroyed
it has a precursor,
is not without a precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor
to this knowledge of destruction?

'It is freedom',
let it be said.

-◦-

I say, beggars, that
freedom also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to freedom?

'It is dispassion',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
dispassion also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to dispassion?

'It is distaste',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
distaste also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to distaste?

'It is knowledge and vision
of life as it really is',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
knowledge and vision
of life as it really is
also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor
to knowledge and vision
of life as it really is?

'It is serenity',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
knowledge and vision of serenity
also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to serenity?

'It is pleasure',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
pleasure also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to pleasure?

'It is impassivity'
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
impassivity also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to impassivity?

'It is appreciation',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
appreciation also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to appreciation?

'It is gladness', let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
gladness also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to gladness?

'It is faith',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
faith also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to faith?

'It is pain',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
pain also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to pain?

'It is birth',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
birth also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to birth?

'It is existence',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
existence also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to existence?

'It is bind-ups',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
bind-ups also have a precursor,
are not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to bind-ups?

'It is thirst',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
thirst also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to thirst?

'It is sensation',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
sensation also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to sensation?

'It is touch',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
touch also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to touch?

'It is the Six-Realms',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
the Six-Realms also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to the Six-Realms?

'It is named-form',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
named-form also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to named-form?

'It is consciousness',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
consciousness also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to consciousness?

'It is own-making',
let it be said.

◦

I say, beggars, that
own-making also has a precursor,
is not without precursor.

And what, beggars,
is the precursor to own-making?

'It is blindness',
let it be said.

■

Thus then, beggars,
blindness precurses own-making,
own-making precurses consciousness,
consciousness precurses named-form,
named-form precurses the Six-Realms,
the Six-Realms precurses touch,
touch precurses sensation,
sensation precurses thirst,
thirst precurses bind-ups,
bind-ups precurse existence,
existence precurses birth,
birth precurses pain,
pain precurses faith,
faith precurses gladness,
gladness precurses appreciation,
appreciation precurses impassivity,
impassivity precurses pleasure,
pleasure precurses serenity,
serenity precurses knowledge and vision of life as it really is,
knowledge and vision of life as it really is precurses distaste,
distaste precurses dispassion,
dispassion precurses freedom,
freedom precurses knowledge of destruction.

◦

In the same way, beggars,
as when the gods
rain heavily down upon the mountains,
the water goes down-slope
to the mountain gullies,
crevices
and streamlets;
the gullies, crevices and streamlets
being filled,
it flows into the streams,
the streams being filled,
it flows into the creeks,
the creeks being filled,
it flows into the rivers,
the rivers being filled,
it flows into the great rivers,
and the great rivers filled,
it flows into the sea.

Even so, beggars,
blindness precurses own-making,
own-making precurses consciousness,
consciousness precurses named-form,
named-form precurses the Six-Realms,
the Six-Realms precurses touch,
touch precurses sensation,
sensation precurses thirst,
thirst precurses bind-ups,
bind-ups precurse existence,
existence precurses birth,
birth precurses pain,
pain precurses faith,
faith precurses gladness,
gladness precurses appreciation,
appreciation precurses impassivity,
impassivity precurses pleasure,
pleasure precurses serenity,
serenity precurses knowledge and vision of life as it really is,
knowledge and vision of life as it really is precurses distaste,
distaste precurses dispassion,
dispassion precurses freedom,
freedom precurses knowledge of destruction.

[1] Upanisa. Bhk. Punnaji: 'antisident'; Bhk. Bodhi: 'proximate cause' and earlier 'supporting conditions' (which is better!); Bhk. Thanissaro: prerequisites. The idea 'cause' should be avoided throughout Buddhist studies! "This being, that becomes" is a statement describing events in time or the direction of a force, not cause and effect. Buddhism, with its stance concerning the avoidance of theories of existence and non-existence, must also avoid the idea of cause. Cause presumes existence.

[2] Āsava Lust, Existence and Blindness. Mrs. Rhys Davids: intoxicants. Bhk. Thanissaro: effluents: Evacuated or discharged offal, liquid waste, sewage, effluvium, outflow, discharge, emission. Which definition is saying that the flow is from inside to outside; but the āsavas flow from the outside to the inside. They are 'in'-fluences, not out-fluences (see: AN 1.49-52 "Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is defiled by incoming defilements" where Bhk. Thanissaro's own translation points to inflow); Bhk. Bodhi: cankers, (His position on AN 1.49: "This luminosity, though inherent, is functionally blocked because the mind is 'defiled by adventitious (Ed.: opportunistic or chance) defilements. The defilements are called 'adventitious' because, unlike the luminosity, they are not intrinsic to the mind itself."

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