Saṃyutta Nikāya
4. Saḷāyatana Vagga
35. Saḷāyatana Saṃyutta
§ IV: Paññāsaka Catuttha
3. Samudda Vagga
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
4. The Book Called the Saḷāyatana-Vagga
Containing Kindred Sayings on the 'Six-Fold Sphere' of Sense and Other Subjects
35. Kindred Sayings the Sixfold Sphere of Sense
§ IV: The 'Fourth Fifty' Suttas
3. The Chapter on the Ocean
Sutta 187
Paṭhama Samudda Suttaṃ
Ocean (i)[1]
Translated by F. L. Woodward
Edited by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Copyright The Pali Text Society
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[1][bodh][than] Thus have I heard:
Once the Exalted One addressed the brethren, saying:
"Brethren."
"Lord," responded those brethren to the Exalted One.
The Exalted One thus spake:
"'The ocean! The ocean!' Brethren,
says the ignorant worldling.
But that, Brethren, is not the ocean
in the discipline of the Ariyan.
That ocean (of the worldling), Brethren,
is a heap of water,
a great flood of water.
The eye of a man, Brethren,
is the ocean.
Its impulse is made of objects.
Whoso endureth that object-made impulse, -
of him, Brethren, it is said:
'He hath crossed over.
That ocean of the eye,
with its waves and whirlpools,[2]
its sharks and demons,
the brahmin hath crossed[3]
and gone beyond.
He standeth on dry ground.'
■
The ear of a man, Brethren,
is the ocean.
Its impulse is made of sounds.
Whoso endureth that sound-made impulse, -
of him, Brethren, it is said:
'He hath crossed over.
That ocean of the ear,
with its waves and whirlpools,
its sharks and demons,
the brahmin hath crossed
and gone beyond.
He standeth on dry ground.'
■
The nose of a man, Brethren,
is the ocean.
Its impulse is made of scents.
Whoso endureth that scent-made impulse, -
of him, Brethren, it is said:
'He hath crossed over.
That ocean of the nose,
with its waves and whirlpools,
its sharks and demons,
the brahmin hath crossed
and gone beyond.
He standeth on dry ground.'
■
The tongue of a man, Brethren,
is the ocean.
Its impulse is made of savours.
Whoso endureth that savour-made impulse, -
of him, Brethren, it is said:
'He hath crossed over.
That ocean of the tongue,
with its waves and whirlpools,
its sharks and demons,
the brahmin hath crossed
and gone beyond.
He standeth on dry ground.'
■
The body of a man, Brethren,
is the ocean.
Its impulse is made of tangibles.
Whoso endureth that tangibles-made impulse, -
of him, Brethren, it is said:
'He hath crossed over.
That ocean of the body,
with its waves and whirlpools,
its sharks and demons,
the brahmin hath crossed
and gone beyond.
He standeth on dry ground.'
■
The mind of a man, Brethren,
is the ocean.
Its impulse [98] is made of mind-states.
Whoso endureth that mind-state-made impulse, -
of him, Brethren, it is said:
'He hath crossed over.
That ocean of the mind,
with its waves and whirlpools,
its sharks and demons,
the brahmin hath crossed
and gone beyond.
He standeth on dry ground.'
■
Thus spake the Teacher: -
Whoso hath crossed this monster-teeming sea,
With its devils and fearsome waves impassable,
'Versed in the lore,' 'living the holy life,'
'Gone to world's end,'[4] and 'gone beyond' he's called.
[1] Cf. Udāna v, 5, and Comy. 'Here the eye is likened to the ocean because it can never be filled, never satisfied, however much is poured in.' Comy. (duppūraṇ'atthena vā'samuddaṇ' atthena vā) Cf.SnA. 275. Cf. also Dhamma-sangaṇi (B. Psych. Eth.), §§ 597, etc.
[2] At Itiv. 114, sa-rakkhasa, sa-gaha is explained as mātugāma. Sa-ummi is kodh'ūp, ūpāyāsa. Sāvaṭṭa is pañca-kāma-guṇā. Cf. A. ii, 123 (Numerical Sayings, Jayasundere, p. 156 ff.), and infra. § 200.
[3] Atari. A. ii, 46 (aor. of tarati).
[4] Lokantagū.
