The Related Discourses

1. The Aggregates

17 (11). Causes and Conditions

1. Thus I have heard:[1] One time, the Buddha was staying at Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park in Jeta’s Grove of Śrāvastī.

2. It was then that the Bhagavān addressed the monks, “Form is impermanent. Whatever causes and conditions give rise to forms, they are also impermanent. How could forms that arise from impermanent causes and conditions be permanent? Thus, feeling … conception … volition … consciousness is impermanent. Whatever causes and conditions give rise to consciousnesses, they are also impermanent. How could consciousnesses that arise from impermanent causes and conditions be permanent?

3. “Thus, monks, form is impermanent … Feeling … Conception … Volition … Consciousness is impermanent. What’s impermanent is painful, what’s painful is not self, and what’s not self doesn’t belong to self.

4. “Noble disciples who thus observe it become disillusioned with form … become disillusioned with feeling … conception … volition … consciousness. Being disillusioned, they don’t enjoy it. Not enjoying it, they are liberated. Being liberated, they know and see: ‘My births have been ended, the religious practice has been established, and the task has been accomplished. I myself know that I won’t be subject to a later existence.’”

5. When the monks heard what the Buddha taught, they rejoiced and approved.

Notes

1. This sūtra is parallel with SN 22.18 and similar to SN 22.19 and 20. [back]

Translator: Charles Patton

Last Revised: 17 October 2022