228. [Discourse on What Increases] (SA228)

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 now teach you what is of a nature to increase and what is of a nature to cease. What is of a nature to increase? That is, 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 … to be spoken in full up to … this is the arising of the entire great mass of dukkha. This is called being of a nature to increase.

“The ear … the nose … the tongue … the body … the mind is also like that. This is called being of a nature to increase.

“What is of a nature to cease? In dependence on the eye and forms, eye-consciousness arises. The coming together of these three things is contact. With the cessation of contact, feeling then ceases … to be spoken in full up to … the cessation of the entire great mass of dukkha.

“The ear … the nose … the tongue … the body … the mind is also like that. This is called being of a nature to cease.”

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

As for increasing and ceasing, in the same way also for being of a nature to rise up, being of a nature to change while remaining, being of a nature to rise, and being of a nature to cease, [discourses] are to be recited as above.

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.