Translating Classical Buddhism to Modern English

The Related Discourses

2. The Sense Fields

(一九六) 一切 15-39 (196). Everything
如是我聞: 一時,佛住舍衛國、祇樹、給孤獨園。 1. Thus I have heard:1 One time, the Buddha was staying at Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park in Jeta’s Grove of Śrāvastī.
爾時,世尊告諸比丘: 「一切無常。 云何一切? 謂眼無常。 若色、眼識、眼觸、眼觸因緣生受,若苦、若樂、不苦不樂,彼亦無常。 如是耳⋯鼻⋯舌⋯身⋯意。 若法、意識、意觸、意觸因緣生受,若苦、若樂、不苦不樂,彼亦無常。 2. It was then that the Bhagavān addressed the monks, “Everything is [15] impermanent … [16] painful … [17] empty … [18] not self … [19] subject to vain deeds … [20] liable to disintegrate … [21] subject to birth … [22] subject to old age … [23] subject to illness … [24] subject to death … [25] subject to grief … [26] subject to affliction … [27] subject to formation … [28] subject to cessation … [29] subject to being known … [30] subject to being well understood … [31] subject to being ended … [32] subject to realization … [33] actualized … [34] Māra … [35] Māra’s strength … [36] Māra’s tool … [37] burning … [38] blazing … [39] a conflagration. How is everything [impermanent]? It means the eye … and so on … is impermanent. Whether it’s form, visual awareness, visual contact, or the painful, pleasant, and neither painful nor pleasant feelings that arise from visual contact, they are impermanent … and so on … too. So it is with the ear … nose … tongue … body … mind. Whether it’s ideas, mental awareness, mental contact, or the painful, pleasant, and neither painful nor pleasant feelings that arise from mental contact, they are impermanent … and so on … too.
「多聞聖弟子如是觀者,於眼解脫。 若色、眼識、眼觸、眼觸因緣生受,若苦、若樂、不苦不樂,彼亦解脫。 如是耳⋯鼻⋯舌⋯身⋯意。 法,意識、意觸、意觸因緣生受,若苦、若樂、不苦不樂,彼亦解脫。 我說彼生、老、病、死、憂、悲、惱、苦。」 3. “The well-versed noble disciple who contemplates it in this way is liberated from the eye. Whether it’s form, visual awareness, visual contact, or the painful, pleasant, and neither painful nor pleasant feelings that arise from visual contact, the disciple is liberated from them, too. So it is with the ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. Whether it’s ideas, mental awareness, mental contact, or painful, pleasant, and neither painful nor pleasant feelings that arise from mental contact, they are liberated from them, too. I say they are liberated from birth, old age, illness, death, sorrow, lamentation, trouble, and suffering.”
佛說此經已,諸比丘聞佛所說歡喜,奉行。 4. After the Buddha spoke this sūtra, the monks who heard what the Buddha taught rejoiced and approved.
(如說「一切無常」,如是「一切苦」、「一切空」、「一切非我」、「一切虛業法」、「一切破壞法」、「一切生法」、「一切老法」、「一切病法」、「一切死法」、「一切愁憂法」、「一切煩惱法」、「一切集法」、「一切滅法」、「一切知法」、「一切識法」、「一切斷法」、「一切覺法」、「一切作證」、「一切魔」、「一切魔勢」、「一切魔器」、「一切然」、「一切熾然」、「一切燒」。 皆如上二經廣說。) Like the teaching that “everything is impermanent,” thus “everything is painful,” “everything is empty,” “everything is not self,” “everything is subject to vain deeds,” “everything is liable to disintegrate,” “everything is subject to birth,” “everything is subject to old age,” “everything is subject to illness,” “everything is subject to death,” “everything is subject to grief,” “everything is subject to affliction,” “everything is subject to formation,” “everything is subject to cessation,” “everything is subject to being known,” “everything is subject to being well understood,” “everything is subject to being ended,” “everything is subject to realization,” “everything is actualized,” “everything is Māra,” “everything is Māra’s strength,” “everything is Māra’s tool,” “everything is burning,” “everything is blazing,” and “everything is a conflagration” likewise. They are taught at length like the previous two sūtras.

Notes

  1. This is sūtra no. 196 in the Taisho edition and nos. 193-217 in Yinshun (T99.2.50a24-b13). This group of twenty-five sūtras is generally parallel to SN 35.33-52. The wording for liberation has been changed compared to SĀ 2.11-14 and SN 35.33-52, though the basic meaning is not different. The correspondence between the Chinese and Pali suttas are as follows: SĀ 2.15 ≈ SN 35.43, 16 ≈ 44, 18 ≈ 45, 20 ≈ 39, 21 ≈ 33, 22 ≈ 34, 23 ≈ 35, 24 ≈ 36, 25 ≈ 37, 26 ≈ 38, 27 ≈ 41, 28 ≈ 42, 29 ≈ 46, 30 ≈ 47, 31 ≈ 48, 32 ≈ 49, and 33 ≈ 50. SĀ 2.17, 19, and 34-39 lack direct parallels. [back]

Translator: Charles Patton

Last Revised: 16 March 2024