22.21. Ānanda (SN22.21)

At Savatthi. Then the Venerable Ānanda approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, sat down to one side, and said to him:

“Venerable sir, it is said, ‘cessation, cessation.’ Through the cessation of what things is cessation spoken of?”

“Form, Ānanda, is impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, subject to destruction, to vanishing, to fading away, to cessation. Through its cessation, cessation is spoken of.

“Feeling is impermanent … Perception is impermanent … Volitional formations are impermanent … … Consciousness is impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, subject to destruction, to vanishing, to fading away, to cessation. Through its cessation, cessation is spoken of.

“It is through the cessation of these things, Ānanda, that cessation is spoken of.”

© Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Wisdom Publications, 2000)

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