SN12:35 With Ignorance as Condition (1)
- DG BB TBW © Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. (More copyright information)
1At Sāvatthī. "Bhikkhus, with ignorance as condition, volitional formations come to be;
with volitional formations as condition, consciousness;
with consciousness as condition, name-and-form;
with name-and-form as condition, the six sense bases;
with the six sense bases as condition, contact;
with contact as condition, feeling;
with feeling as condition, craving;
with craving as condition, clinging;
with clinging as condition, existence;
with existence as condition, birth;
with birth as condition, aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair come to be.
Such is the origin of this whole mass of suffering."
When he had said this, a certain bhikkhu said to the Blessed One: "Venerable sir, what now is aging-and-death, and for whom is there this aging-and-death?"
"Not a valid question," the Blessed One replied.
[n.106] Kassa ca pan’ idaṁ jarāmaraṇaṁ. This question, and the following ones moulded on the same pattern, presuppose the reality of a self and thus, like the questions at SN12.12, must be rejected by the Buddha as invalid.
Spk: Even though the question, "What is aging-and-death?" is properly formulated, because it is combined with the question, "For whom is there aging-and-death?" —which implicitly affirms belief in a being (sattūpaladdhi-vāda)—the entire question becomes wrongly formulated. This is like a dish of delicious food served on a golden platter, on top of which a small lump of excrement is placed: all the food becomes inedible and must be discarded.
sn.ii.61 "Bhikkhu, whether one says, ‘What now is aging-and-death, and for whom is there this aging-and-death?’ or whether one says, ‘Aging-and-death is one thing, the one for whom there is this aging-and-death is another’—both these assertions are identical in meaning; they differ only in the phrasing.
If there is the view, ‘The soul and the body are the same,’ there is no living of the holy life; and if there is the view, ‘The soul is one thing, the body is another,’ there is no living of the holy life. [n.107] Spk: The living of the holy life (brahmacariyavāsa) is the living of the noble path. One who holds the view "the soul and the body are the same" (taṁ jīvaṁ taṁ sarīraṁ) holds that the soul and the body are annihilated together (at death). For one who holds this, the annihilationist view follows, for he holds that "a being is annihilated." Now this noble path arises to stop and eradicate the round of existence. But on the annihilationist view the round ceases even without the development of the path, and thus the development of the path becomes purposeless. In the second case, one holding the view "the soul is one thing, the body another" (aññaṁ jīvaṁ aññaṁ sarīraṁ) holds that the body alone is annihilated here, while the soul goes about freely like a bird released from a cage. This view is eternalism. But if there were even one formation that is permanent, stable, and eternal, the noble path would not be able to bring the round to an end; thus again the development of the path would be purposeless.
Without veering towards either of these extremes, the Tathāgata teaches the Dhamma by the middle: ‘With birth as condition, aging-and-death. ’"
2"Venerable sir, what now is birth, and for whom is there this birth?"
"Not a valid question," the Blessed One replied. "Bhikkhu, whether one says, ‘What now is birth, and for whom is there this birth?’ or whether one says, ‘Birth is one thing, the one for whom there is this birth is another’—both these assertions are identical in meaning; they differ only in the phrasing.
If there is the view, ‘The soul and the body are the same,’ there is no living of the holy life; and if there is the view, ‘The soul is one thing, the body is another,’ there is no living of the holy life.
Without veering towards either of these extremes, the Tathāgata teaches the Dhamma by the middle: ‘With existence as condition, birth.’"
3"Venerable sir, what now is existence, and for whom is there this existence?"
"Not a valid question," the Blessed One replied. "Bhikkhu, whether one says, ‘What now is existence, and for whom is there this existence?’ or whether one says, ‘Existence is one thing, the one for whom there is this existence is another’—both these assertions are identical in meaning; they differ only in the phrasing.
If there is the view, ‘The soul and the body are the same,’ there is no living of the holy life; and if there is the view, ‘The soul is one thing, the body is another,’ there is no living of the holy life.
Without veering towards either of these extremes, the Tathāgata teaches the Dhamma by the middle: ‘With clinging as condition, existence … .
With craving as condition, clinging … . With feeling as condition, craving … . With contact as condition, feeling … . With the six sense bases as condition, contact … . With name-and-form as condition, the six sense bases … . sn.ii.62 With consciousness as condition, name-and-form … . With volitional formations as condition, consciousness.’"
4"Venerable sir, what now are volitional formations, and for whom are there these volitional formations?"
"Not a valid question," the Blessed One replied. "Bhikkhu, whether one says, ‘What now are volitional formations, and for whom are there these volitional formations?’ or whether one says, ‘Volitional formations are one thing, the one for whom there are these volitional formations is another’—both these assertions are identical in meaning; they differ only in the phrasing.
If there is the view, ‘The soul and the body are the same,’ there is no living of the holy life; and if there is the view, ‘The soul is one thing, the body is another,’ there is no living of the holy life.
Without veering towards either of these extremes, the Tathāgata teaches the Dhamma by the middle: ‘With ignorance as condition, volitional formations.’
5"But with the remainderless fading away and cessation of ignorance, whatever kinds of contortions, manoeuvres, and vacillations there may be
[n.108] I read with Be: yāni ’ssa tāni visūkāyikāni visevitāni vipphanditāni kānici kānici. Se is almost the same, but the orthography in Ee is very unsatisfactory. Spk explains that the three nouns are all synonyms for wrong view. This is called a contortion (visūkāyika) because it is an obstruction to oneself, being like a spike (visūkam iva; Spk-pṭ: = kaṇṭaka, a thorn) in the sense that it punctures right view (sammādiṭṭhiya vinivijjhanaṭṭhena). It is a manoeuvre (visevita) because it fails to conform to right view but instead runs contrary to it; and a vacillation (vipphandita) because of grasping now annihilationism, now eternalism.
Spk takes visūkāyika to be related to sūci, needle, but it would be difficult to justify this derivation by the actual use of the term. The three synonyms also occur at SN4.24 (I 123,30–31) and MN I 234,19–20; at MN I 446,12–13 they describe the behaviour of an untrained horse.
—‘What now is aging-and-death, and for whom is there this aging-and-death?’ or ‘Aging-and-death is one thing, the one for whom there is this aging-and-death is another,’ or ‘The soul and the body are the same,’ or ‘The soul is one thing, the body is another’
—all these are abandoned, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated so that they are no more subject to future arising. [n.109] Spk glosses tālāvatthukatāni as tālavatthu viya katāni, "made like a palm-base," and explains: "Made like a palm with cut-off head (i.e., a palm stump) in the sense of never growing again; and made like a place for the support of a palm after it has been extricated along with its root" (puna aviruhaṇaṭṭhena matthakacchinnatālo viya samūlaṁ tālaṁ uddharitvā tassa patiṭṭhitaṭṭhānaṁ viya ca katāni). Spk-pṭ first accepts the original reading tālāvatthu. Spk-pṭ first accepts the original reading tālāvatthu (lit. "palm-nonbase") as it stands and explains: "The palm itself is the ‘palm-non-base’ because it is not a base for leaves, flowers, fruit, and sprouts. But some read tālāvatthukatāni, which means: ‘made like a palm because of being without a base.’"
6"With the remainderless fading away and cessation of ignorance, whatever kinds of contortions, manoeuvres, and vacillations there may be—‘What now is birth, and for whom is there this birth?’ …
—all these are abandoned, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated so that they are no more subject to future arising.sn.ii.63
7 … existence … clinging … craving … feeling … contact … six sense bases …name-and-form …consciousness …
8‘What now are volitional formations, and for whom are there these volitional formations?’ or ‘Volitional formations are one thing, the one for whom there are these volitional formations are another,’ or ‘The soul and the body are the same,’ or ‘The soul is one thing, the body is another’
—all these are abandoned, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated so that they are no more subject to future arising."
1Sāvatthiyaṁ vihārati. "Avijjāpaccayā, bhikkhave, saṅkhārā; saṅkhārapaccayā viññāṇaṁ … pe …
Evametassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa samudayo hotī"ti.
Evaṁ vutte, aññataro bhikkhu bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: "‘katamaṁ nu kho, bhante, jarāmaraṇaṁ, kassa ca panidaṁ jarāmaraṇan’ti?
‘No kallo pañho’ti bhagavā avoca, ‘katamaṁ jarāmaraṇaṁ, kassa ca panidaṁ jarāmaraṇan’ti iti vā, bhikkhu, yo vadeyya, ‘aññaṁ jarāmaraṇaṁ aññassa ca panidaṁ jarāmaraṇan’ti, iti vā, bhikkhu, yo vadeyya, ubhayametaṁ ekatthaṁ byañjanameva nānaṁ.
Taṁ jīvaṁ taṁ sarīranti vā, bhikkhu, diṭṭhiyā sati brahmacariyavāso na hoti. Aññaṁ jīvaṁ aññaṁ sarīranti vā, bhikkhu, diṭṭhiyā sati brahmacariyavāso na hoti.
Ete te, bhikkhu, ubho ante anupāgamma majjhena tathāgato dhammaṁ deseti: ‘jātipaccayā jarāmaraṇan’"ti.
2"Katamā nu kho, bhante, jāti, kassa ca panāyaṁ jātī"ti?
"No kallo pañho"ti bhagavā avoca, "‘katamā jāti, kassa ca panāyaṁ jātī’ti iti vā, bhikkhu, yo vadeyya, ‘aññā jāti aññassa ca panāyaṁ jātī’ti iti vā, bhikkhu, yo vadeyya, ubhayametaṁ ekatthaṁ byañjanameva nānaṁ.
Taṁ jīvaṁ taṁ sarīranti vā, bhikkhu, diṭṭhiyā sati brahmacariyavāso na hoti. Aññaṁ jīvaṁ aññaṁ sarīranti vā, bhikkhu, diṭṭhiyā sati brahmacariyavāso na hoti.
Ete te, bhikkhu, ubho ante anupāgamma majjhena tathāgato dhammaṁ deseti: ‘bhavapaccayā jātī’"ti.
3"Katamo nu kho, bhante, bhavo, kassa ca panāyaṁ bhavo"ti?
"No kallo pañho"ti bhagavā avoca, "‘katamo bhavo, kassa ca panāyaṁ bhavo’ti iti vā, bhikkhu, yo vadeyya, ‘añño bhavo aññassa ca panāyaṁ bhavo’ti iti vā, bhikkhu, yo vadeyya, ubhayametaṁ ekatthaṁ byañjanameva nānaṁ.
Taṁ jīvaṁ taṁ sarīranti vā, bhikkhu, diṭṭhiyā sati brahmacariyavāso na hoti; aññaṁ jīvaṁ aññaṁ sarīranti vā, bhikkhu, diṭṭhiyā sati brahmacariyavāso na hoti.
Ete te, bhikkhu, ubho ante anupāgamma majjhena tathāgato dhammaṁ deseti: ‘upādānapaccayā bhavo’ti … pe …
‘taṇhāpaccayā upādānanti … vedanāpaccayā taṇhāti … phassapaccayā vedanāti … saḷāyatanapaccayā phassoti … nāmarūpapaccayā saḷāyatananti … viññāṇapaccayā nāmarūpanti … saṅkhārapaccayā viññāṇan’"ti.
4"Katame nu kho, bhante, saṅkhārā, kassa ca panime saṅkhārā"ti?
"No kallo pañho"ti bhagavā avoca, "‘katame saṅkhārā kassa ca panime saṅkhārā’ti iti vā, bhikkhu, yo vadeyya, ‘aññe saṅkhārā aññassa ca panime saṅkhārā’ti iti vā, bhikkhu, yo vadeyya, ubhayametaṁ ekatthaṁ byañjanameva nānaṁ.
Taṁ jīvaṁ taṁ sarīranti vā, bhikkhu, diṭṭhiyā sati brahmacariyavāso na hoti; aññaṁ jīvaṁ aññaṁ sarīranti vā, bhikkhu, diṭṭhiyā sati brahmacariyavāso na hoti.
Ete te, bhikkhu, ubho ante anupāgamma majjhena tathāgato dhammaṁ deseti: ‘avijjāpaccayā saṅkhārā’"ti.
5"Avijjāya tveva, bhikkhu, asesavirāganirodhā yānissa tāni visūkāyikāni visevitāni vipphanditāni kānici kānici. ‘Katamaṁ jarāmaraṇaṁ, kassa ca panidaṁ jarāmaraṇaṁ’ iti vā, ‘aññaṁ jarāmaraṇaṁ, aññassa ca panidaṁ jarāmaraṇaṁ’ iti vā, ‘taṁ jīvaṁ taṁ sarīraṁ’ iti vā, ‘aññaṁ jīvaṁ aññaṁ sarīraṁ’ iti vā.
Sabbānissa tāni pahīnāni bhavanti ucchinnamūlāni tālāvatthukatāni anabhāvaṅkatāni āyatiṁ anuppāda dhammāni.
6Avijjāya tveva, bhikkhu, asesavirāganirodhā yānissa tāni visūkāyikāni visevitāni vipphanditāni kānici kānici. ‘Katamā jāti, kassa ca panāyaṁ jāti’ iti vā, ‘aññā jāti, aññassa ca panāyaṁ jāti’ iti vā, ‘taṁ jīvaṁ taṁ sarīraṁ’ iti vā, ‘aññaṁ jīvaṁ aññaṁ sarīraṁ’ iti vā.
Sabbānissa tāni pahīnāni bhavanti ucchinnamūlāni tālāvatthukatāni anabhāvaṅkatāni āyatiṁ anuppāda dhammāni.
7Avijjāya tveva, bhikkhu, asesavirāganirodhā yānissa tāni visūkāyikāni visevitāni vipphanditāni kānici kānici. Katamo bhavo … pe … katamaṁ upādānaṁ … katamā taṇhā … katamā vedanā … katamo phasso … katamaṁ saḷāyatanaṁ … katamaṁ nāmarūpaṁ … katamaṁ viññāṇaṁ … pe … .
8Avijjāya tveva, bhikkhu, asesavirāganirodhā yānissa tāni visūkāyikāni visevitāni vipphanditāni kānici kānici. ‘Katame saṅkhārā, kassa ca panime saṅkhārā’ iti vā, ‘aññe saṅkhārā, aññassa ca panime saṅkhārā’ iti vā, ‘taṁ jīvaṁ taṁ sarīraṁ’ iti vā, ‘aññaṁ jīvaṁ, aññaṁ sarīraṁ’ iti vā.
Sabbānissa tāni pahīnāni bhavanti ucchinnamūlāni tālāvatthukatāni anabhāvaṅkatāni āyatiṁ anuppāda dhammānī"ti.
Pañcamaṁ.