203. [Discourse on Being Able to Abandon One Thing] (SA203)

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying at Vesālī in Jīvaka’s Mango Grove.

At that time the Blessed One said to the monks: “If a monk is able to abandon one thing, he then attains right knowledge and is able to declare of himself: ‘Birth for me has been eradicated, the holy life has been established, what had to be done has been done, I myself know that there will be no receiving of any further existence.’”

The monks said to the Buddha: “The Blessed One is the root of the Dharma, the eye of the Dharma, the foundation of the Dharma. May he expound it. Having heard it, the monks will uphold and receive it respectfully.”

The Buddha said to the monks: “Listen and pay proper attention to what I shall teach you. Monks, because of abandoning what one thing … up to … no receiving of any further existence? That is, becoming dispassionate with ignorance and giving rise to knowledge, one attains right comprehension and is able to declare of oneself: ‘Birth for me has been eradicated, the holy life has been established, what had to be done has been done, I myself know that there will be no receiving of any further existence.’”

Then a certain monk rose from his seat, adjusted his robes so as to bare his right shoulder, paid respect to the Buddha, knelt on the ground with his right knee and, with palms together, said to the Buddha: “Blessed One, knowing what, seeing what, does one become dispassionate with ignorance and give rise to knowledge?”

The Buddha said to the monk: “One should rightly examine the eye as impermanent, and also rightly contemplate forms, eye-consciousness, eye-contact, and feeling arisen in dependence on eye-contact, be it painful, pleasant, or neutral, as impermanent.

“The ear … the nose … the tongue … the body … the mind is also like this.

“Monk, knowing like this and seeing like this, one becomes dispassionate with ignorance and gives rise to knowledge.”

When the Buddha had spoken this discourse, hearing what the Buddha had said the monks were delighted and received it respectfully.

Translated by Bhikkhu Anālayo. Originally published in "On the Six Sense-spheres (1) ―A Translation of Saṁyukta-āgama Discourses 188 to 229 (Fascicle 8)", Dharma Drum Journal of Buddhist Studies, 2016, vol. 18 pp. 1–61.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Ayya Vimala.