Saṃyutta Nikāya
4. Saḷāyatana Vagga
38. Jambukhādaka Saṃyutta
Roseapple-Eater's Questions
Sutta 14
Dukkha Suttaṃ
Pain
Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds
Once upon a time, Old Man Sāriputta,
was living amungst the Magadhese,
in Nālagā town.
There then Roseapple-Eater, the wanderer,
went to where Old Man Sāriputta was located,
where he drew near and
having drawn near Old Man Sāriputta,
having given salutation,
took a seat to one side.
Having taken a seat to one side then,
Roseapple-Eater, the wanderer, said this
to Old Man Sāriputta:
"'Pain, pain,'
they say, friend Sāriputta.
What then, friend,
is this pain?
"There are these three pains:
the pain of pain
the pain of own-making
the pain of the turn of events.[1]
These, friend,
are what is called pains."
"Is there, friend, a Way,
is there a path
to thoroughly understand
these pains?"
"There is, friend, a Way,
there is a path
to thoroughly understand
these pains.'
"What, friend, is that Way,
what is that path
to thoroughly understand
these pains?"
"This, friend:
The Aristocratic Multi-dimensional Way,[2]
that is:
Consummate view,
consummate principles,
consummate talk,
consummate works,
consummate lifestyle,
consummate self-control,
consummate mind,
consummate serenity.
"This is, friend, that Way,
that path
to thoroughly understand
these pains.'
"A lucky Way, friend,
a lucky path,
to thoroughly understand
these pains and
moreover, friend Sāriputta,
there is enough there
to bring about non-carelessness."
[1] Dukkha. The dukkha that is dukkha, the dukkha that is saṇkhāra, the dukkha that is vipariṇāma. Dukkha is pain that is known to be pain: physical or mental; the pain of own-making is the pain that results from the identified as personal things that result from identification with the intent to create personal experience through intentional acts of thought, word and deed; the pain of turns of events (vicissitude) is the pain that results from disadvantageous turns of events, things not going the way one expected, changing, ending, natural events that result in sickness, suffering or death. In other words this means ordinary painful things, the pain of being bound to the conseqences of one's deeds, the pain of repeated rebirth in saṃsara.
When the Buddha says: "All things are painful" what he is speaking of is the ultimate situation. When he says there is pleasure found in the world what he is speaking of is the fact that though it is temporary and ends in pain, there is that which is pleasant in this world.
The Maha-Satipaṭṭhana Suttanta gives us a definition of dukkha:
"And what, beggars, is
the Aristocrat of Truths
as to pain?
Birth is pain,
aging is pain,
death is pain.
Grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair
are pain.
Not to gain the wished for is pain.
Essentially the Five Boundup Stockpiles are pain."
[2] For details, see Footnote 1 of SN 4.38.01.
