223. [Second Discourse on Understanding] (SA223)

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 do not say that without understanding and without discerning one thing, one attains the unsurpassed transcendence of dukkha. What is the one thing of which I do not say that, without understanding and without discerning it, one attains the unsurpassed transcendence of dukkha? That is, I do not say that, without understanding and without discerning the eye, one attains the unsurpassed transcendence of dukkha.

“I also do not say that without understanding and without discerning forms, eye-consciousness, eye-contact, and feeling arisen in dependence on eye-contact and experienced within, be it painful, pleasant, or neutral, one attains the unsurpassed transcendence of dukkha.

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

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.