The Related Discourses
1. The Aggregates
20 (14). Enjoyment (2)
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, “In the past, I had pursuits and practices of enjoying form. When I realized[2] the enjoyment of form as a result, I truly saw it with wisdom. Thus, I had pursuits and practices of enjoying feeling … conception … volition … consciousness. When I realized the enjoyment of feeling … conception … volition … consciousness as a result, I truly saw it with wisdom.
3. “Monks, I had the pursuits and practices of form’s trouble. When I realized form’s trouble as a result, I truly saw it with wisdom. Thus, I had the pursuits and practices of feeling’s … conception’s … volition’s … consciousness’s trouble. When I realized consciousness’s trouble as a result, I truly saw it with wisdom.
4. “Monks, I had the pursuits and practices of escaping form. When I realized the escape from form as a result, I truly saw it with wisdom. Thus, I had the pursuits and practices of escaping feeling … conception … volition … consciousness. When I realized the escape from consciousness as a result, I truly saw it with wisdom.
5. “Monks, had I not truly known the enjoyment of the five acquired aggregates to be enjoyment … trouble to be trouble … escape to be escape, I wouldn’t be freed from, parted with, and escaped from [bondage]. I would have forever stood in delusion among the gods, Māra, Brahmā, ascetics, and priests in the assemblies of gods and humans, and I couldn’t have realized my attainment of the unsurpassed and complete awakening.
6. “Monks, I did truly know the enjoyment of the five acquired aggregates to be enjoyment … trouble to be trouble … escape to be escape, and I was freed from, parted with, and escaped from [bondage]. I never again stood in delusion among the gods, Māra, Brahmā, ascetics, and priests in the assemblies of gods and humans, and I could realize my attainment of the unsurpassed and complete awakening.”
7. When the monks heard what the Buddha taught, they rejoiced and approved.
Summary Verse
- [11-14] The past explained in four ways,
[15] Disillusionment and [16] liberation,
[17-18] Two ways of explaining causes and conditions,
[19-20] And two kinds of enjoyment.
Notes
- This sūtra is parallel with SN 22.27. [back]
- As a result … realized. Ch. 隨順覺, Skt. *anubodhana. [back]
Translator: Charles Patton
Last Revised: 17 October 2022
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