Saṃyutta Nikāya
II. Nidāna Vagga
12. Nidāna Saṃyutta
3. Dasa-Balā 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
3. The 'Ten Powers' Suttas
Sutta 21
Paṭhama Dasa-Balā Suttaṃ
The Ten Powers (1)
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by F. L. Woodward
Originally Published by
The Pali Text Society
Public Domain
[1][bodh][olds] Thus have I heard:
The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthī
at the Jeta Grove
in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
And there the Exalted One addressed the brethren, saying:
"Brethren!"
"Master!" responded those brethren.
The Exalted One said:
"The Tathāgata, brethren,
endowed with the ten powers,
and the four confidences,[1]
claims the Place of the Bull;[2]
he roars the Lion's Roar amid the congregations;
he turns the Divine Wheel,[3]
saying:
'Such is material shape,
such is its arising,
such is its passing away;
such is feeling,
such is its arising,
such is its passing away;
such is perception,
such is its arising,
such is its passing away;
such are activities,
such is its arising,
such is its passing away;
such is consciousness,
such is its arising,
such is its passing away.'
Thus:
'This' being,
'that' becomes;
from the arising of this,
that arises;
this not being,
that becomes not;
from the ceasing of this,
that ceases.
That is to say,
conditioned by ignorance activities come to pass;
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 of this entire mass of ill.
But from the utter fading away and ceasing of ignorance [comes] 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] The ten powers (bala) and the four grounds of confidence (vesārajja) are stated in detail, M. i, 69 f., the 'Sutta of the Lion's Roar.' Cf. above i, 138.
[2] 'The best, the supreme place; the rank of former Buddhas.' Comy.
[3] Usually dhamma-cakka here and in M. i, 69, brahma-cakka.
Of Related Interest:
See The Ten Powers and the Four Confidences of the Tathāgata,
MN 12: The Greater Discourse on the Lion's Roar
AN 10.21
