The Related Discourses

35. Views

49-51 (157). Affliction Has No Cause

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, “Because of what’s existence, what’s cause, being bound by what, adherence to what, and viewing what as self do sentient beings make such views and such statements as this? ‘The afflictions of sentient beings have no cause and no condition.’”[2]

3. The monks said to the Buddha, “The Bhagavān is the Dharma root, the Dharma eye, and the Dharma refuge …”

It’s explained in detail the same as the remainder of SĀ 35.7, and the next two sūtras are like SĀ 35.8-9 above but with this introduction.

Notes

1. Parallels for this sūtra include SN 24.7. [back]
2. This wrong view is attributed to Makkhali Gosāla in DN 2 and to Kakuda Katyāyana in DĀ 27. [back]

Translator: Charles Patton

Last Revised: 1 November 2023