Saṃyutta Nikāya
II. Nidāna Vagga
12. Nidāna Saṃyutta
2. Āhāra Vagga
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
Part II. The Book Called the Nidāna-Vagga
Containing Kindred sayings on Cause
and Other Subjects
12. The Kindred Sayings on Cause
2. Sustenance-Suttas
Sutta 11
Āhāra Suttaṃ
Sustenances
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by F. L. Woodward
Originally Published by
The Pali Text Society
Public Domain
[1.1][than][bodh][olds] Thus have I heard:
The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthī,
at Jeta Grove,
in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park:
And there the Exalted One addressed the brethren, saying:
"Brethren!"
"Master!" responded those brethren.
The Exalted One said:
"There are these four sustenances,[1] brethren,
for the maintenance of beings
that have come to birth
or for the forwarding of them
that seek to become.
Which are the four?
Material food,
coarse or fine,[2]
secondly, contact,[3]
thirdly, volition,[4]
fourthly, consciousness.[5]
These four are the sustenances
for the maintenance of beings
that have come to birth,
or for the forwarding of those
that seek to become.
§
And of these four, brethren,
what is the base,
whence is the uprising?
How are they produced?
What causes them?
Craving is their base,
from craving is their uprising,
craving produces them,
causes them to be.
■
What is the base,
whence is the uprising of craving?
What produces it?
What causes it to be?
Feeling is its base,
feeling is its uprising,
feeling produces it,
feeling causes it to be.
■
What is the base,
whence is the uprising of feeling?
What produces it?
What causes it to be?
Contact is its base,
contact is its uprising,
contact produces it,
contact causes it to be.
■
What is the base,
whence is the uprising of contact?
What produces it?
What causes it to be?
Sense is its base,
sense is its uprising,
sense produces it,
sense causes it to be.
■
What is the base,
whence is the uprising of sense?
What produces it?
What causes it to be?
Name-and-shape is its base,
name-and-shape is its uprising,
name-and-shape produces it,
name-and-shape causes it to be.
■
What is the base,
whence is the uprising of name-and-shape?
What produces it?
What causes it to be?
Consciousness is its base,
consciousness is its uprising,
consciousness produces it,
consciousness causes it to be.
■
What is the base,
whence is the uprising of consciousness?
What produces it?
What causes it to be?
Activities is its base,
activities is its uprising,
activities produces it,
activities causes it to be.
■
What is the base,
whence is the uprising of activities?
What produces it?
What causes it to be?
Ignorance is its base,
ignorance is its uprising,
ignorance produces it,
ignorance causes it to be.
■
Such verily, brethren, is this:
Conditioned by ignorance, activities;
conditioned by activities, consciousness;
conditioned by consciousness, name-and-shape;
conditioned by name-and-shape, sense;
conditioned by sense, contact;
conditioned by contact, feeling;
conditioned by feeling, craving;
conditioned by craving, grasping;
conditioned by grasping, becoming;
conditioned by becoming, birth;
conditioned by birth,
old-age-and-death,
grief,
lamenting,
suffering,
sorrow,
despair
come to pass.
Such is the uprising [9]
of this entire mass of ill.
■
But from the utter fading away and ceasing of ignorance,
ceasing of activities;
from ceasing of activities ceasing of consciousness;
from ceasing of consciousness ceasing of name-and-shape;
from ceasing of name-and-shape ceasing of sense;
from ceasing of sense ceasing of contact;
from ceasing of contact ceasing of feeling;
from ceasing of feeling ceasing of craving;
from ceasing of craving ceasing of grasping;
from ceasing of grasping ceasing of becoming;
from ceasing of becoming ceasing of birth;
from ceasing of birth,
old age-and-death,
grief,
lamenting,
suffering,
sorrow,
despair
cease.
Such is the ceasing
of this entire mass of ill.
[1] 'Sustenances' (āhāra) is lit. conveyers, conveyings (ā to, har to bring, fetch). The Comy. defines: āhāra are conditions (paccayā), for conditions bring their own fruit (effect). A. v, 136 gives ten āhāra's.
[2] The Comy. repeats the embroidery given in Expositor, p. 431 f.
[3] The Comy. advises us that there is no ulterior significance in the order of the four. On contact, lit. touch, see Introduction and Expositor, p. 143.
[4] Mano-sañcetanā = 'cetanā ... ', 'which sustains the three forms of becoming.' Comy. Cf. below, pp. 31, 45 f., 70 f.
[5] Viññāṇa or cittaṃ. Comy. The cuti-citta, or sentience acting at the close of one span of life, as cause, is followed by the paṭisandhi-viññāṇa or reconception-consciousness as effect at the first conscious moment in the new life.
