Saɱyutta Nikāya
3. Khandha Vagga
22. Khandha Saɱyutta
3. Bhāra Vagga

The Connected Discourses of the Buddha
Part II.
The Book of the Aggregates Khandha-Vagga
22. Connected Discourses on the Aggregates
III. The Burden

Sutta 28

Tatiya Assāda Suttaɱ

Gratification 3

Translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi

Copyright Bhikkhu Bodhi 2000, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Wisdom Publications, 2000)
This selection from The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saɱyutta Nikāya by Bhikkhu Bodhi is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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[29] [875]

[1][pts] At Sāvatthī.

"Bhikkhus, if there were no gratification in form, [30] beings would not become enamoured with it; but because there is gratification in form, beings become enamoured with it.

If there were no danger in form, beings would not experience revulsion towards it; but because there is danger in form, beings experience revulsion towards it.

If there were no escape from form, beings would not escape from it; but because there is an escape from form, beings escape from it.

"Bhikkhus, if there were no gratification in feeling ... in perception ... in volitional formations ... in consciousness, beings would not become enamoured with it ... but because there is an escape from consciousness, beings escape from it.

"So long, bhikkhus, as beings have not directly known as they really are the gratification as gratification, the danger as danger, and the escape as escape in the case of these five aggregates subject to clinging, they have not escaped from this world with its devas, Māra, [31] and Brahmā, from this generation with its ascetics and brahmins, its devas and humans; they have not become detached from it, released from it, nor do they dwell with a mind rid of barriers.

But when beings have directly known all this as it really is, then they have escaped from this world with ... its devas and humans; they have become detached from it, released from it, and they dwell with a mind rid of barriers."