35.136. Delight in Forms (1) (SN35.136)

“Bhikkhus, devas and humans delight in forms, take delight in forms, rejoice in forms. With the change, fading away, and cessation of forms, devas and humans dwell in suffering. Devas and humans delight in sounds … delight in odours … delight in tastes … delight in tactile objects … delight in mental phenomena, take delight in mental phenomena, rejoice in mental phenomena. With the change, fading away, and cessation of mental phenomena, devas and humans dwell in suffering.

“But, bhikkhus, the Tathagata, the Arahant, the Fully Enlightened One, has understood as they really are the origin and the passing away, the gratification, the danger, and the escape in the case of forms. He does not delight in forms, does not take delight in forms, does not rejoice in forms. With the change, fading away, and cessation of forms, the Tathagata dwells happily.

“He has understood as they really are the origin and the passing away, the gratification, the danger, and the escape in the case of sounds … odours … tastes … tactile objects … mental phenomena. He does not delight in mental phenomena, does not take delight in mental phenomena, does not rejoice in mental phenomena. With the change, fading away, and cessation of mental phenomena, the Tathagata dwells happily.”

This is what the Blessed One said. Having said this, the Fortunate One, the Teacher, further said this:

“Forms, sounds, odours, tastes,
Tactiles and all objects of mind—
Desirable, lovely, agreeable,
So long as it’s said: ‘They are.’

“These are considered happiness
By the world with its devas;
But where these cease,
That they consider suffering.

“The noble ones have seen as happiness
The ceasing of identity.
This view of those who clearly see
Runs counter to the entire world.

“What others speak of as happiness,
That the noble ones say is suffering;
What others speak of as suffering,
That the noble ones know as bliss.

“Behold this Dhamma hard to comprehend:
Here the foolish are bewildered.
For those with blocked minds it is obscure,
Sheer darkness for those who do not see.

“But for the good it is disclosed,
It is light here for those who see.
The dullards unskilled in the Dhamma
Don’t understand it in its presence.

“This Dhamma isn’t easily understood
By those afflicted with lust for existence,
Who flow along in the stream of existence,
Deeply mired in Mara’s realm.

“Who else apart from the noble ones
Are able to understand this state?
When they have rightly known that state,
The taintless ones are fully quenched.”

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

This excerpt from The Connected Discourses of the Buddha by Bhikkhu Bodhi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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