The Related Discourses
1. The Aggregates
| （五〇） 阿難 | 162 (50). Ānanda (2) |
|---|---|
| 如是我聞： 一時，佛住舍衛國、祇樹、給孤獨園。 | 1. Thus I have heard:1 One time, the Buddha was staying at Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park in Jeta’s Grove of Śrāvastī. |
| 爾時，世尊告尊者阿難曰： 「若有諸外道出家來問汝言： 『阿難，世尊何故教人修諸梵行？』 如是問者云何答乎？」 | 2. It was then that the Bhagavān addressed Venerable Ānanda, “Suppose some mendicants from another religion were to come and ask you, ‘Ānanda, why does the Bhagavān instruct people to cultivate religious practices?’ How would you answer someone who asks this?” |
| 阿難白佛： 「世尊，若外道出家來問我言：『阿難，世尊何故教人修諸梵行？』者，我當答言： 『為於色修厭、離欲、滅盡、解脫、不生故，世尊教人修諸梵行。 為於受⋯想⋯行⋯識，修厭、離欲、滅盡、解脫、不生故，教人修諸梵行。』 世尊，若有外道出家作如是問者，我當作如是答。」 | 3. Ānanda told the Buddha, “If a mendicant from another religion were to come and asked me, ‘Ānanda, why does the Bhagavān instruct people to cultivate religious practices?’ I would answer: ‘The Bhagavān instructs people to cultivate religious practices so that they will cultivate disillusionment with form, part with desire for it, completely cease it, be freed from it, and for it not to arise. He instructs people to cultivate religious practices so that they will cultivate disillusionment with feeling … conception … volition … awareness, part with desire for it, completely cease it, be freed from it, and for it not to arise.’ Bhagavān, if a mendicant from another religion were to question me thus, I would answer them in this way.” |
| 佛告阿難： 「善哉，善哉！應如是答。 所以者何？ 我實為於色修厭、離欲、滅盡、解脫、不生故，教人修諸梵行。 於受⋯想⋯行⋯識，修厭、離欲、滅盡、解脫、不生故，教人修諸梵行。」 | 4. The Buddha told Ānanda, “Good, good! You should answer in this way. Why is that? I really do instruct people to cultivate religious practices so that they will cultivate disillusionment with form, part with desire for it, completely cease it, be freed from it, and for it not to arise. I instruct people to cultivate religious practices so that they will cultivate disillusionment with feeling … conception … volition … awareness, part with desire for it, completely cease it, be freed from it, and for it not to arise.” |
| 佛說此經已，尊者阿難聞佛所說歡喜，奉行。 | 5. After the Buddha spoke this sūtra, the monks who heard what the Buddha taught rejoiced and approved. |
Notes
- This is sūtra no. 50 in the Taisho edition and no. 162 in Yinshun (T99.2.12b10-24). It begins with the same premise as SN 22.37-38 and SĀ 1.161, where the Buddha asks Ānanda how he would respond to a question. However, the rest of this sūtra is different aside from the basic point that disillusionment with the five aggregates leads to liberation. By contrast, SN 22.38 is a simpler variant that superficially triples the size of SN 22.37 by asking and answering the same question in terms of past, future, and present. We should probably regard this sūtra as a third variant that wasn’t preserved in Pali. [back]
Translator: Charles Patton
Last Revised: 13 September 2024
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