Saṃyutta Nikāya
II. Nidāna Vagga
12. Nidāna Saṃyutta
II. Āhāra Vagga
Sutta 20
Paccaya Sutta
Requisite Conditions
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Proofed against and modified in accordance with the revised edition at dhammatalks.org
Provenance, terms and conditons
[1][pts][bodh][olds] Staying near Sāvatthī ... "Monks, I will teach you dependent co-arising and dependently co-arisen phenomena. Listen and pay close attention. I will speak."
"As you say, lord," the monks replied.
The Blessed One said:
"Now what is dependent co-arising?
From birth as a requisite condition comes aging-and-death.
Whether or not there is the arising of Tathāgatas, this property stands — this regularity of the Dhamma, this orderliness of the Dhamma, this this/that conditionality.
The Tathāgata directly awakens to that, breaks through to that.
Directly awakening and breaking through to that, he declares it, teaches it, describes it, sets it forth.
He reveals it, explains it, makes it plain, and says, 'Look.'
From birth as a requisite condition comes aging-and-death.
"From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth....
"From clinging/sustenance as a requisite condition comes becoming....
"From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/sustenance....
"From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving....
"From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling....
"From the six sense media as a requisite condition comes contact....
"From name-and-form as a requisite condition come the six sense media....
"From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-and-form....
"From fabrications as a requisite condition comes consciousness....
"From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications.
Whether or not there is the arising of Tathāgatas, this property stands — this regularity of the Dhamma, this orderliness of the Dhamma, this this/that conditionality.
The Tathāgata directly awakens to that, breaks through to that.
Directly awakening and breaking through to that, he declares it, teaches it, describes it, sets it forth.
He reveals it, explains it, makes it plain, and says, 'Look.'
From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications.
What's there in this way is a reality, not an unreality, not other than what it seems, conditioned by this/that.
This is called dependent co-arising.
"And what are dependently co-arisen phenomena?
Aging-and-death are dependently co-arisen phenomena: inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen, subject to ending, subject to passing away, subject to fading, subject to cessation.
"Birth is a dependently co-arisen phenomenon....
"Becoming is a dependently co-arisen phenomenon....
"Clinging/sustenance is a dependently co-arisen phenomenon....
"Craving is a dependently co-arisen phenomenon....
"Feeling is a dependently co-arisen phenomenon....
"Contact is a dependently co-arisen phenomenon....
"The six sense media are dependently co-arisen phenomena....
"Name-and-form is a dependently co-arisen phenomenon....
"Consciousness is a dependently co-arisen phenomenon....
"Fabrications are dependently co-arisen phenomena....
"Ignorance is a dependently co-arisen phenomenon: inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen, subject to ending, subject to passing away, subject to fading, subject to cessation.
These are called dependently co-arisen phenomena.
"When a disciple of the noble ones has seen well with right discernment this dependent co-arising and these dependently co-arisen phenomena as they have come to be, it is not possible that he would run after the past, thinking,
'Was I in the past?
Was I not in the past?
What was I in the past?
How was I in the past?
Having been what, what was I in the past?'
or that he would run after the future, thinking,
'Shall I be in the future?
Shall I not be in the future?
What shall I be in the future?
How shall I be in the future?
Having been what, what shall I be in the future?
or that he would be inwardly perplexed about the immediate present, thinking,
'Am I?
Am I not?
What am I?
How am I?
Where has this being come from?
Where is it bound?'
Such a thing is not possible.
Why is that?
Because the disciple of the noble ones has seen well with right discernment this dependent co-arising and these dependently co-arisen phenomena as they have come to be."
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