The Related Discourses
2. The Sense Fields
| （二一〇） 莫樂、苦 | 94 (210). Don’t Be Pleased or Suffer |
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| 如是我聞： 一時，佛住毘舍離、耆婆拘摩羅藥師、菴羅園。 | 1. Thus I have heard:1 One time, the Buddha was staying at Doctor Jīvaka Kumāra’s Mango Park of Vaiśālī. |
| 爾時，世尊告諸比丘： 「莫樂，莫苦。 所以者何？ 有六觸入處地獄。 眾生生彼地獄中者，眼所見不可愛色、不見可愛色。 見不可念色、不見可念色。 見不善色、不見善色。 以是因緣故，一向受憂苦。 耳聲⋯鼻香⋯舌味⋯身觸⋯意識法⋯見不可愛、不見可愛。 見不可念、不見可念。 見不善法、不見善法。 以是因緣故，長受憂苦。 | 2. It was then that the Bhagavān addressed the monks, “Don’t be pleased and don’t suffer. Why is that? There is a hell of six sense fields of contact. The sentient beings who are born in that hell see undesirable forms with their eyes, but they don’t see desirable forms. They see unthinkable forms, but they don’t see thinkable forms. They see forms that aren’t good, but they don’t see good forms. For this reason, they experience nothing not sorrow and pain. Ear and sounds … nose and odors … tongue and flavors … body and touches … notions of which their mind is aware are undesirable, but they don’t experience desirable [notions]. They experience unthinkable [notions], but they don’t experience thinkable [notions]. They experience [notions] that aren’t good, but they don’t experience good notions. For this reason, they experience sorrow and pain for a long time. |
| 「諸比丘，有六觸入處。 其有眾生生彼處者，眼見可愛、不見不可愛。 見可念色、非不可念色。 見善色、非不善色。 以是因緣故，一向長受喜樂。 耳聲⋯鼻香⋯舌味⋯身觸⋯意所識法⋯可愛、非不可愛。 可念、非不可念。 見善、非不善。」 | 3. “Monks, there is [a heaven of] six sense fields of contact. Sentient beings who are born there see desirable forms with their eyes, but they don’t see undesirable forms. They see thinkable forms, but they don’t see unthinkable forms. They see good forms, but they don’t see forms that aren’t good. For this reason, they experience nothing but joy and pleasure. Ear and sounds … nose and odors … tongue and flavors … body and touches … notions of which their mind is aware are desirable, and they don’t experience undesirable [notions]. They experience thinkable [notions], and they don’t experience unthinkable [notions]. They experience good [notions], and they don’t experience [notions] that aren’t good.” |
| 佛說此經已，諸比丘聞佛所說歡喜，奉行。 | 4. After the Buddha spoke this sūtra, the monks who heard what the Buddha taught rejoiced and approved. |
Notes
This is sūtra no. 210 in the Taisho edition and no. 272 in Yinshun (T99.2.53a11-25). Its closest parallel is SN 35.135.
Comparing this text with SN 35.135, we notice a couple important textual issues: First is that the second case omits a “heaven” of six sensory contacts as the contrast to the hell of six sensory contacts, making the paragraph read strangely. Second, the three descriptions of sensory experience as “desirable” (可愛) “thinkable” (可念) and “good” (善) correspond to P. iṭṭha (“desirable”), kanta (“lovely”), and manāpa (“agreeable”). I wonder if 可念 might’ve been an overly literal attempt at translating a word like manāpa. Usually, the C. word for “agreeable” would be 可意, so it may be a case of awkward wording in Chinese. [back]
Translator: Charles Patton
Last Revised: 15 April 2025
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