Saṃyutta Nikāya
II. Nidāna Vagga
12. Nidāna Saṃyutta
6. Rukkha 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
6. 'The Tree' Suttas
Sutta 60
Nidāna (Paṭicca-Samuppāda) Suttaṃ
The Base
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by F. L. Woodward
Originally Published by
The Pali Text Society
Public Domain
The Exalted One was once staying among the Kurus at Kammāsadamma,
a township of the Kurus.[1]
And the venerable Ānanda went into the presence of the Exalted One,
and saluting him sat down at one side.
So seated he said thus to the Exalted One:
"Wonderful, lord, marvellous, lord,
is the depth of this causal law
and how deep it appears.[2]
And yet I reckon it as ever so plain."
"Say not so, Ānanda,
say not so!
Deep indeed is this causal law,
and deep indeed it appears.
It is through not knowing,
not understanding,
not penetrating,
that doctrine,
that this generation has become entangled
like a ball of string,
and covered with blight,
like unto munja grass and rushes,
unable to overpass the doom of the Waste,
the Woeful Way,
the Downfall,
the Constant Faring on.
In him, Ānanda, who contemplates the enjoyment that there is
in all [65] that makes for grasping,
there comes a descent of consciousness.
Name-and-shape is conditioned by consciousness.
Sense is conditioned by name-and-shape.
Contact is conditioned by sense.
Feeling is conditioned by contact.
Craving is condtitioned by feeling.
Grasping is conditioned by craving.
Becoming is conditioned by grasping.
Birth is conditioned by becoming.
Decay-and-death is conditioned by birth.
Grief,
lamenting,
suffering,
sorrow,
despair come to pass.
Such is the uprising of this entire mass of ill.
It is just as if there were a great tree,
the roots whereof
going downward and across
bring upward all the juice.
Verily, Ānanda, such a great tree
so fed,
so supplied with fuel
would stand for a long while.
Even so in him who contemplates the enjoyment that there is
in all that makes for grasping,
there comes a descent of consciousness.
Name-and-shape is conditioned by consciousness.
Sense is conditioned by name-and-shape.
Contact is conditioned by sense.
Feeling is conditioned by contact.
Craving is condtitioned by feeling.
Grasping is conditioned by craving.
Becoming is conditioned by grasping.
Birth is conditioned by becoming.
Decay-and-death is conditioned by birth.
Grief,
lamenting,
suffering,
sorrow,
despair come to pass.
Such is the uprising of this entire mass of ill.
§
In him, Ānanda, who contemplates the misery that there is
in all that makes for grasping,
there comes no descent of consciousness.
When consciousness ceases, name-and-shape ceases.
When name-and-shape ceases, sense ceases.
When sense ceases, contact ceases.
When contact ceases, feeling ceases.
When feeling ceases, craving ceases.
When craving ceases, grasping ceases.
When grasping ceases becoming ceases.
When becoming ceases birth ceases.
When birth ceases decay-and-death ceases.
Grief,
lamenting,
suffering,
sorrow,
despair cease.
Such is the ceasing of this entire mass of ill.
It is just as if there were a great tree,
and a man were to come with axe and basket,
and were to cut down that tree at the root.
Cutting it by the root
he were to dig a trench
and were to pull out the roots
even to the rootlets
and root-fibres.
Then he were to cut the tree into logs,
and were then to split the logs,
and were then to make the logs into chips.
Then he were to dry the chips in wind and sun,
then burn them by fire,
then make an ashheap,
then winnow the ashes in a strong wind,
or let them be borne down
by the swift stream of a river.
Verily that great tree
thus cut down at the root
would be made as a palmtree stump,
a no-thing,
incapable of growing again in the future.
Even so in him who contemplates the misery that there is
in all that makes for grasping,
there comes no descent of consciousness.
When consciousness ceases, name-and-shape ceases.
When name-and-shape ceases, sense ceases.
When sense ceases, contact ceases.
When contact ceases, feeling ceases.
When feeling ceases, craving ceases.
When craving ceases, grasping ceases.
When grasping ceases becoming ceases.
When becoming ceases birth ceases.
When birth ceases decay-and-death ceases.
Grief,
lamenting,
suffering,
sorrow,
despair cease.
Such is the ceasing of this entire mass of ill."
[1] Their country lay around Delhi. Their capital was Indraprastha. Tradition gives their kingdom a circumference of 2,000 miles, but at this time they were not politically of importance. Some important Suttas are associated with Kammāsadamma. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, p. 27.
[2] See above, p. 29 (§ 24) and Dialogues, ii, p. 50. Buddhaghosa expatiates at some length on Ānanda's remark and the Master's caveat, giving legendary antecedents for the same.
