35.152. For What Purpose the Holy Life? (SN35.152)

“Bhikkhus, if wanderers of other sects ask you: ‘For what purpose, friends, is the holy life lived under the ascetic Gotama?’—being asked thus, you should answer those wanderers thus: ‘It is, friends, for the full understanding of suffering that the holy life is lived under the Blessed One.’ Then, bhikkhus, if those wanderers ask you: ‘What, friends, is that suffering for the full understanding of which the holy life is lived under the ascetic Gotama?’—being asked thus, you should answer those wanderers thus:

“‘The eye, friends, is suffering: it is for the full understanding of this that the holy life is lived under the Blessed One. Forms are suffering: it is for the full understanding of them that the holy life is lived under the Blessed One. Eye-consciousness is suffering … Eye-contact is suffering … Whatever feeling arises with eye-contact as condition—whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant—that too is suffering: it is for the full understanding of this that the holy life is lived under the Blessed One. The ear is suffering … The mind is suffering … Whatever feeling arises with mind-contact as condition … that too is suffering: it is for the full understanding of this that the holy life is lived under the Blessed One. This, friends, is the suffering for the full understanding of which the holy life is lived under the Blessed One.’

“Being asked thus, bhikkhus, you should answer those wanderers of other sects in such a way.”

© 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.

Based on the work Connected Discourses of the Buddha at Wisdom Publications.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at Wisdom Publications.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Blake Walsh.