Index of the Suttas of the
Saṃyutta Nikāya
Nidana Vagga
Anamatagga Saṃyutta
II. Nidāna Vagga
PTS: Saṃyutta Nikāya Volume 2, Nidāna Vagga ed. by M. Léon Feer, London: Pāḷi Text Society 1888. The html formatted Pāḷi Text Society edition of the Pāḷi text.
BJT: Saṃyutta Nikāya Volume 2, Nidāna-Vagga The Sri Lanka Buddha Jayanti Tripitaka Series Pāḷi text.
The Pāḷi text for individual suttas listed below is adapted from the Sri Lanka Buddha Jayanti Tripitaka Series [BJT], not from the PTS version.
Each translation is linked to its Pāḷi version and to the PTS, Sister Upalavanna, Olds and where available to the ATI Bhk. Thanissaro translation, and each of these is in turn linked back to each of the others. Many, but not all have been checked against the Pāḷi Text Society edition, and many have been reformatted to include the original Pāḷi (and/or organizational) phrase and sentence breaks.
PTS: The Kindred Sayings on Cause, translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids assisted by F.L. Woodward,
WP: The Book of Causation, translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi
ATI: The translations of Bhikkhu Thanissaro and others originally located on Access to Insight.
BD: The translations of M. Olds
MNL: The translations of Sister Upalavanna.
1. An-amatagga Saṃyutta, I.46
PTS: Kindred Sayings on the Incalculable Beginning, II.118
WP: Connected Discourses on Without Discoverable Beginning, I.651
I.
1. Tiṇa-kaṭṭha Suttaṃ, II.178
A simile for the incalculable length of time we have been passing from birth to birth suffering pain, suffering disaster filling the charnel fields tied to the unwanted, separated from the loved.
BD: Thatch'n Twigsmo translation
PTS: Grass and brushwood, II.118
WP: Grass and Wood, I.651
2. Paṭhavi Suttaṃ, I.179
A simile for the incalculable length of time we have been passing from birth to birth suffering pain, suffering disaster filling the charnel fields tied to the unwanted, separated from the loved.
PTS: Earth, II.119
WP: The Earth, I.652
3. Assu Suttaṃ, II.179
A simile for the incalculable length of time we have been passing from birth to birth suffering pain, suffering disaster filling the charnal fields tied to the unwanted, separated from the loved.
PTS: Tears, II.120
WP: Tears, I.652
ATI: Tears
4. Khīram Suttaṃ II.180
A simile for the incalculable length of time we have been passing from birth to birth suffering pain, suffering disaster filling the charnal fields tied to the unwanted, separated from the loved.
These are four of the most moving suttas in the whole of the collections.
PTS: Milk, II.121
WP: Mother's Milk, I.653
5. Pabbata Suttaṃ, II.181
The Buddha provides a simile to describe the length of an aeon.
PTS: The Hill, II.121
ATI: A Mountain, Bhk. Thanissaro, trans.
WP: The Mountain, I.654
6. Sāsapa Suttaṃ, II.182
The Buddha provides a simile to describe the length of an aeon.
PTS: Mustard-Seed, II.122
ATI: Mustard Seed, Bhk. Thanissaro, trans.
WP: The Mustard Seed, I.654
7. Sāvaka Suttaṃ, II.182
The Buddha provides a simile to describe the number of aeons that there have been.
The simile is not intended to suggest the number of aeons that have passed since the beginning of time. It is intended to show that the scope is beyond reckoning. To reckon the scope that is provided, four disciples who live 100 years, recall just the fact of an aeon 100,000 times in a day. Figuring a disciple to start his recollections at age 15, that is 4 X 100,000 X 365 x 85 = 124,100,000 aeons. Figuring an aeon at 10,395,902,500 years (103,959,025 sesame seeds removed from a Magadhan Karika one at a time every hundred years (see Magadha Karika) that is 1,290,131,500,250,000,000 years from the time where it was not possible for our Buddha to recall back further. Our Buddha is said to have been the weakest in the line of known previous Buddhas.
PTS: Disciples, II.122
WP: Disciples, I.655
8. Gaṇgā Suttaṃ, II.183
The Buddha provides a simile to describe the number of aeons that there have been.
PTS: Ganges, II.123
ATI: The Ganges, Bhk. Thanissaro, trans.
WP: The River Ganges, I.655
9. Daṇḍa Suttaṃ, II.184
The Buddha likens the way beings are reborn here and there to the way a stick, tossed into the air, lands sometimes on one end sometimes on the other and sometimes on its side.
PTS: The Stick, II.124
WP: The Stick, I.656
ATI: The Stick, Bhk. Thanissaro, trans.
10. Eka-Puggala Suttaṃ, II.185
The Buddha tells the bhikkhus that the pile of a single person's bones during only one aeon would be greater than a huge mountain. ... if there were a collector of such bones, and if the collection were not destroyed.
PTS: A Person, II.124
ATI/DTO: Person, Bhk. Thanissaro trans.
WP: Person, I.656
II.
11. Du-g-gata Suttaṃ, II.186
Should you happen to see one who has fallen on hard times, someone hard to look at, you can say: 'Such is such as such as I in this long inconstant time gone bye.'
BD: Fall'n on Hard Times
PTS: Hard lot, II.125
WP: Unfortunate, I.657
ATI: Fallen on Hard Times, Bhk. Thanissaro, trans.
12. Su-khita Suttaṃ, II.186
Should you happen to see one who has received happiness, enjoyment you can say: Such is such as such as I in this long inconstant time gone bye.
BD: Easy Street
PTS: Happy, II.126
WP: Happy, I.658
ATI: Happy, Bhk. Thanissaro, trans.
13. Tiṃ Samatta Suttaṃ, II.187
A hair-raising sutta in which the Buddha awakens thirty bhikkhus by describing to them the oceans of their own blood that has been spilled in executions and slaughters in their round of rebirths.
PTS: Thirty Only, 126
WP: Thirty Bhikkhus, I.658
ATI: Thirty, Bhk. Thanissaro, trans.
14. Mātā Suttaṃ, II.189
The Buddha tells the bhikkhus that due to the long course of rebirths it is hard to find a being that has not at one time been one's mother.
Mrs. Rhys Davids abridges and Bhk. Thanissaro condenses into this one the next five suttas. This greatly diminishes the impact. Note that the Buddha speaks of 'beings', not just human beings. You want to be able to think for a minute after each of these suttas that anyone you can think of has at one time been your mother; that is men, women, children, brothers, sisters, enemies, friends, animals, birds, insects, gods, whatever. Also note that this is not 'mother or father, or ...' but 'mother, father, ...' so that pretty much the spectrum of feelings one reserves for mothers or fathers or ... can be applied to any being.
PTS: Mother, II.128
WP: 14-19 Mother, etc., I.659
ATI: Mother, Bhk. Thanissaro, trans. Bhk. Thanissaro combines into this sutta the different relatives found in #s 15-19 below.
15. Pītā Suttaṃ, II.189
The Buddha tells the bhikkhus that due to the long course of rebirths it is hard to find a being that has not at one time been one's father.
PTS: Father, II.128
16. Bhata Suttaṃ, II.189
The Buddha tells the bhikkhus that due to the long course of rebirths it is hard to find a being that has not at one time been one's brother.
PTS: Brother, II.128
17. Bhagini Suttaṃ, II.189
The Buddha tells the bhikkhus that due to the long course of rebirths it is hard to find a being that has not at one time been one's sister.
PTS: Sister, II.128
18. Putto Suttaṃ, II.190
The Buddha tells the bhikkhus that due to the long course of rebirths it is hard to find a being that has not at one time been one's son.
PTS: Son, II.128
19. Dhita Suttaṃ, II.190
The Buddha tells the bhikkhus that due to the long course of rebirths it is hard to find a being that has not at one time been one's daughter.
PTS: Daughter, II.128
20. Vepulla-Pabbata Suttaṃ, II.190
The Buddha illustrates the changing nature of things by revealing the evolution of Mount Vepulla over the course of the lifetimes of three previous Buddhas.
PTS: Mount Vipulla, II.128
WP: Mount Vepulla, I.659
