Cause and Condition (2) (SA12)

Thus I have heard: One time, the Buddha was staying at Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park in Jeta’s Grove of Śrāvastī.

It was then that the Bhagavān addressed the monks, “Form is impermanent. Whatever causes and conditions give rise to forms, they are also impermanent. How could forms that arise from impermanent causes and conditions be permanent? Thus, feeling … conception … volition … consciousness is impermanent. Whatever causes and conditions give rise to consciousnesses, they are also impermanent. How could consciousnesses that arise from impermanent causes and conditions be permanent?

“Thus, monks, form is impermanent. Feeling … conception … volition … consciousness is impermanent. What’s impermanent is painful, something painful is not self, and something that’s not self doesn’t belong to self. Observing in this way is called true observation.

“Noble disciples who observe it in this way are liberated from form … liberated from feeling … conception … volition … consciousness. I say that this is liberation from birth, old age, illness, death, grief, sorrow, pain, and trouble.”

When the monks heard what the Buddha taught, they rejoiced and approved.

This sūtra is part of the Dharma Pearls translation project.

Prepared by Charles Patton for SuttaCentral.