Saṃyutta Nikāya
3. Khandhā Vagga
23. Rādha Saṃyuttaṃ
2. Dutiya Māra Vagga
Suttas Linked to Rādha
2. Māra
Suttas 1-46
Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds
Sutta 13
Anicca Suttaṃ
Unstable
[13.1][pts][bodh] I Hear Tell:
Once upon a time, The Lucky man,
Sāvatthi-town revisiting,
Jeta Grove,
Anathapiṇḍika's Park.
Then one time there the Ancient Rādha drew near Bhagava,
gave salutation,
and took a seat to one side.
At that time, so seated,
the Ancient Rādha said this to Bhagava:
"'Unstable! Unstable!'[1] is the expression.
Now what then, Bhante, is unstable?"
"Form, Rādha is unstable,
sense experience is unstable,
perception is unstable,
own-making is unstable,
consciousness unstable.
Seeing in this way, Rādha,
the well-trained student of the Aristocrats,
finds form wearysome,
finds sense-experience wearysome,
finds perception wearysome,
finds own-making wearysome,
finds consciousness wearysome.
From weariness comes dispassion,
from dispassion comes freedom,
in freedom he knows:
'I am freed!
Left behind is rebirth,
lived is the godly life,
done is duty's doing,
no further it'n-n-at'n me.'"
[1] There is a problem here between this sutta and the next. I would like to see it constructed like the previous set ("Māra" "Rūpa is Māra"; "Māra's Thing" "Rūpa is Māra's Thing") "Instability!" / "What is instability?" for this sutta and "An unstable thing!" "What is an unstable thing?". But the response in this sutta to "What is instability?" is "Form etc.," which does not make good sense unless it is heard as something like: "Form is instability itself." Woodward's "by nature impermanent"; and Bhk. Bodhi's "of an impermanent nature" work better here but I am very reluctant to push this meaning onto 'dhamma'. So I have settled for redundancy.
