269. Discourse on Jeta’s Grove (SA269)

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: “Phenomena that are not yours should be abandoned completely. Having abandoned those phenomena, for a long time you will have peace and happiness. Monks, what are the phenomena that are not yours, which you should quickly abandon? In this way, bodily form … feeling … perception … formations … consciousness is not yours, you should abandon it completely. Having given up this phenomenon, for a long time you will have peace and happiness.

“It is just as if a person chopped and cut the branches and twigs of the trees in Jeta’s Grove, picking them up and carrying them away. You would not be worried or sad. Why is that? It is because for you those trees are not ‘me’ and not ‘mine’.

“In this way, monks, what is not yours should be abandoned completely. Having abandoned it, for a long time you will have peace and happiness. What is it, that is not yours and which you should abandon? Bodily form is not yours, you should abandon it completely. Having abandoned it, for a long time you will have peace and happiness. In the same way feeling … perception … formations … consciousness is not yours, you should quickly abandon it. Having abandoned this phenomenon, for a long time you will have peace and happiness.

“Monks, is bodily form permanent or is it impermanent?”

The monks said to the Buddha: “It is impermanent, Blessed One.”

The Buddha said: “Monks, what is impermanent, is it dukkha?”

The monks replied: “It is dukkha, Blessed One.”

The Buddha said to the monks: “What is impermanent, dukkha, of a nature to change, would a learned noble disciple herein see it as the self, as distinct from the self in the sense of being owned by it, as existing within the self, or the self as existing within it?”

The monks replied: “No, Blessed One.”

The Buddha said: “In the same way, is feeling … perception … formations … consciousness permanent or is it impermanent?”

The monks replied: “It is impermanent, Blessed One.”

The Buddha said to the monks: “What is impermanent, is it dukkha?”

The monks replied: “It is dukkha, Blessed One.”

The Buddha said to the monks: “What is impermanent, dukkha, of a nature to change, would a learned noble disciple herein see it as the self, as distinct from the self in the sense of being owned by it, as existing within the self, or the self as existing within it?”

The monks replied: “No, Blessed One.”

“Therefore, monks, any bodily form, whether past, future or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, sublime or repugnant, far or near, all that is not self, is not distinct from the self in the sense of being owned by it, does not exist within the self, nor does a self exist within it. In the same way feeling … perception … formations … consciousness, whether past, future or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, sublime or repugnant, far or near, all that is not self, is not distinct from the self in the sense of being owned by it, does not exist within the self, nor does a self exist within it.

“A noble disciple contemplates these five aggregates of clinging as not self or mine. When contemplating in this way, he does not grasp anything in the whole world with attachment. One who does not grasp anything with attachment personally attains Nirvāṇa, knowing: ‘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 further existence.’”

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

Translated by Bhikkhu Anālayo. Originally published in ‘On the Five Aggregates (2)—A Translation of Saṁyukta-āgama Discourses 256 to 272’. Dharma Drum Journal of Buddhist Studies, vol. 12, pp. 1–69 (2013). New Taipei City: Dharma Drum Buddhist College.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.