The Question of Pañcasikha (SN35.119)

Linked Discourses 35.119

12. The World and the Kinds of Sensual Stimulation

The Question of Pañcasikha

At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, on the Vulture’s Peak Mountain.¹

And then the centaur Pañcasikha went up to the Buddha, bowed, stood to one side, and said to him:

“What is the cause, sir, what is the reason why some sentient beings are not fully extinguished in this very life?

What is the cause, sir, what is the reason why some sentient beings are fully extinguished in this very life?”

“Pañcasikha, there are sights known by the eye …

ideas known by the mind, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing.

If a mendicant approves, welcomes, and keeps clinging to them,

their consciousness has that as support and fuel for grasping.

A mendicant with fuel for grasping does not become extinguished.

That’s the cause, that’s the reason why some sentient beings are not fully extinguished in this very life.

There are sights known by the eye …

ideas known by the mind, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing.

If a mendicant doesn’t approve, welcome, and keep clinging to them, their consciousness doesn’t have that as support and fuel for grasping.

A mendicant free of grasping becomes extinguished.

That’s the cause, that’s the reason why some sentient beings are fully extinguished in this very life.”