21. Discourse on Being Agitated (SA21)

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park. A that time a certain monk rose from his seat, paid homage to the Buddha and said to the Buddha:

“May the Blessed One teach me the essentials of the Dharma in brief. On having heard the Dharma I shall alone and in a quiet place reflect on it with energy. Having become established in it without negligence, I shall reflect on that for whose sake a clansman’s son out of right faith goes forth to homelessness … up to … knowing myself that there will be no receiving of further existence.’”

At that time the Blessed One said to that monk: “It is well, it is well, that you speak like this: ‘It would be well if the Blessed One would teach me the essentials of the Dharma in brief. On having heard the Dharma, I shall alone and in a quiet place reflect on it with energy. Being established in it without negligence … up to … knowing myself that there will be no receiving of further existence.’ Is it like this?” The monk said to the Buddha: “It is like this, Blessed One.”

The Buddha said to the monk: “Listen, listen and pay careful attention to what I will tell you. Monk, at the time of being agitated, one is bound by Māra. If one is not agitated, one is free from the Evil One.” The monk said to the Buddha: “I understood, Blessed One, I understood Well Gone One!”

The Buddha said to the monk: “How do you understand in full the meaning of the teaching I herein spoke in brief?” The monk said to the Buddha: “Blessed One, at the time of being agitated by bodily form, one is bound by Māra. If one is not agitated, one is free from the Evil One. In the same way at the time of being agitated by feeling … perception … formations … consciousness, one is bound by Māra. If one is not agitated, one is free from the Evil One. Blessed One, I thus understand in full the meaning of the teaching herein spoken in brief.”

The Buddha said to the monk: “It is well, it is well, that you understand in full the meaning of the teaching I herein spoke in brief. Why is that? At the time of being agitated by bodily form, one is bound by Māra. If one is not agitated, one is free from the Evil One. In the same way, at the time of being agitated by feeling … perception … formations … consciousness, one is bound by Māra. If one is not agitated, one is free from the Evil One.”

… up to … he himself knew that there will be no receiving of further existence … attaining liberation of the mind he became an arahant.

Translated by Bhikkhu Anālayo. Originally published in ‘On the Five Aggregates (1)—A Translation of Saṁyukta-āgama Discourses 1 to 32’. Dharma Drum Journal of Buddhist Studies, vol. 11, pp. 1–61 (2012). New Taipei City: Dharma Drum Buddhist College.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.