120. （一二〇）说无常经

I have heard thus:

At one time, the Buddha was traveling in the country of Śrāvastī, staying at the Jeta Grove Anāthapiṇḍada-ārāma.

At that time, the World-Honored One told the bhikṣus: "Form is impermanent, what is impermanent is suffering, and what is suffering is not the self. Sensation is also impermanent, what is impermanent is suffering, and what is suffering is not the self. Perception is also impermanent, what is impermanent is suffering, and what is suffering is not the self. Volitional formations are also impermanent, what is impermanent is suffering, and what is suffering is not the self. Consciousness is also impermanent, what is impermanent is suffering, and what is suffering is not the self. This is called the impermanence of form, sensation, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness. What is impermanent is suffering, and what is suffering is not the self. The well-versed noble disciples contemplate in this way, cultivating the seven factors of awakening, unobstructed right thought and right mindfulness. They know and see in this way, their minds are liberated from the taints of desire, existence, and ignorance. Having been liberated, they know liberation. They know: 'My birth is ended, the holy life has been established, what was to be done has been done, there will be no more of this state.' If there are sentient beings and the nine abodes of sentient beings, up to the realm of neither perception nor non-perception, and the remaining first absorption, among them, the best, the greatest, the superior, the most excellent, the most noble, the most sublime, is the arhat in the world. Why is that? Because the arhat in the world attains peace and happiness."

Then the World-Honored One spoke this verse:

The foremost happiness is without attachment, cutting off desire, without craving
forever abandoning the conceit of self, and tearing apart the net
of ignorance. They attain the immovable, with no defilement in the
mind, not attached to the world, with the holy life attaining
the undefiled. Understanding the five aggregates, the seven good dharmas of
the realm, the place where the great hero roams, free from
all fears. Accomplishing the seven treasures of awakening, mastering the three
trainings, with wonderful praise as the supreme friend, the Buddha's supreme
true son. Accomplishing the ten branches of the path, the great
dragon with a mind of supreme concentration, they are the foremost
in the world, without craving. All things are immovable, liberated from
future existence, cutting off birth, old age, sickness, and death, accomplishing
what is to be done, extinguishing the taints. Arousing the knowledge
of the non-learner, attaining the final body, with the foremost perfection
of the holy life, their mind is not dependent on others
Above, below, and in all directions, they have no joy or
pleasure, able to roar like a lion, the unsurpassed awakening in the world.

The Buddha spoke thus. Those bhikṣus, having heard the Buddha's words, rejoiced and upheld them.