213. [First Discourse on Two Things] (SA213)

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park.

At that time the Blessed One said to the monks: “I will expound to you two things, listen and pay proper attention. What are the two? The eye and forms are two, the ear and sounds … the nose and odours … the tongue and flavours … the body and tangibles … the mind and mental objects are two. These are called two things.

“Suppose a recluse or brahmin speaks like this: ‘These are not two. The things declared by the recluse Gotama as being two, they are not two’, and he proclaims two things according to his own ideas. Yet, on being questioned about what he says, he will not know, and be increasingly bewildered, because this is not within his domain. Why is that?

“In dependence on the eye and forms, eye-consciousness arises. In dependence on the coming together of these three things there is contact. From contact arises feeling, be it painful, pleasant, or neutral.

“He does not understand as it really is the arising of these feelings, the cessation of feelings, the gratification of feelings, the danger in feelings, and the escape from feelings.

“He breeds the bodily knot of lustful desires, he breeds the bodily knot of anger, he breeds the bodily knot of clinging to rules, and he breeds the bodily knot of the view of self, and he breads and increases evil and unwholesome states. In this way the entire great mass of dukkha completely arises from it.

“In the same way in dependence on the ear [and sounds] … the nose [and odours] … the tongue [and flavours] … the body [and tangibles] … the mind and mental objects, mind-consciousness arises. [In dependence on] the coming together of these three things there is contact … to be recited in full as above.

“Again, in dependence on the eye and forms, eye-consciousness arises. The coming together of these three things is contact. In dependence on contact there is feeling, be it painful, pleasant, or neutral. One understands in this way the arising of these feelings, their cessation, their gratification, their danger, and the escape from them.

“Having understood it in this way, one does not breed the bodily knot of lustful desires, does not breed the bodily knot of anger, does not breed the bodily knot of clinging to rules, does not breed the bodily knot of the view of self, and does not breed evil and unwholesome states. In this way evil and unwholesome states cease and the entire great mass of dukkha ceases.

“[In dependence] on the ear [and sounds] … the nose [and odours] … the tongue [and flavours] … the body [and tangibles] … the mind and mental objects it is also like this.

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.