i. Origination

1"Bhikkhus, before my enlightenment, while I was still a bodhisatta, not yet fully enlightened, it occurred to me: ‘Alas, this world has fallen into trouble, in that it is born, ages, and dies, it passes away and is reborn, yet it does not understand the escape from this suffering headed by aging-and-death. When now will an escape be discerned from this suffering headed by aging-and-death?’

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2"Then, bhikkhus, it occurred to me: ‘When what exists does aging-and-death come to be? By what is aging-and-death conditioned? ’ Then, bhikkhus, through careful attention, there took place in me a breakthrough by wisdom: [n.13] Yoniso manasikara ahu paññāya abhisamayo. The commentaries consistently gloss yoniso manasikara as upayamanasikara, pathamanasikara, "attention that is the right means, attention on the (right) course."
There took place (in me) a breakthrough by wisdom. Spk: There was a breakthrough, a concurrence, a conjunction of the reason for aging-and-death together with wisdom (paññāya saddhiṁ jaramaraṇākārāṇassa abhisamayo samavayo samayogo); the meaning is that it was seen by him, "Aging-and-death has birth as its condition." Or alternatively, the sense can be construed thus: Through careful attention and wisdom there took place a breakthrough (yoniso manasikarena ca paññāya ca abhisamayo ahu). The meaning is that the penetration of aging-and-death occurred thus, "When there is birth, aging-and-death comes to be."
The first of these explanations is improbable, and even the second is unsatisfactory in construing careful attention and wisdom as joint causes. In general sutta usage yoniso manasikara is the forerunner of paññā, while paññā is the efficient cause of abhisamaya. As a technical term, abhisamaya appears in the Nikāyas in two main contexts: (i) As signifying the initial breakthrough to the Dhamma, dhammabhisamaya, it is identical with the obtaining of the vision of the Dhamma (dhammacakkhupaṭilabha), and thus with the attainment of stream-entry; see SN13.1 (II 134,4–5). (ii) As signifying the complete breaking through of conceit (samma manabhisamaya) it is equivalent to the attainment of arahantship; see SN36.5 (IV 207,14–15) and I, v. 725c. A third suttanta use is to denote the Buddha’s discovery of the Dhamma, as here and in the verb form abhisameti at SN12.20 below. In the commentaries abhisamaya is synonymous with paṭivedha, penetration, both terms being used interchangeably to characterize the four functions of the supramundane path; see Vism 689–91 (Ppn 22:92–97). ‘When there is birth, aging-and-death comes to be; aging-and-death has birth as its condition.’ [n.14] The two statements about the origination of aging-and-death from birth correspond respectively to the two forms of the abstract principle of conditionality. The abstract formula occurs at SN12.21, 22, 49, 50, 61, and 62, with a variant at SN12.41. See below n. 59. From this it would evidently be a mistake to insist that the formulation in terms of existence (sati … hoti) relates to synchronic conditionality while the formulation in terms of arising (uppada … uppajjati) relates to diachronic conditionality. Since both apply to every pair of factors, they seem to be alternative ways of expressing the conditioning relationship, either of which subsumes under itself all possible modes of conditionality in their wide variety.

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3"Then, bhikkhus, it occurred to me: ‘When what exists does birth come to be? By what is birth conditioned?’ Then, bhikkhus, through careful attention, there took place in me a breakthrough by wisdom: ‘When there is existence, birth comes to be; birth has existence as its condition.’

"Then, bhikkhus, it occurred to me: ‘When what exists does existence come to be? By what is existence conditioned?’ Then, bhikkhus, through careful attention, there took place in me a breakthrough by wisdom: ‘When there is clinging, existence comes to be; existence has clinging as its condition.’

"Then, bhikkhus, it occurred to me: ‘When what exists does clinging come to be? By what is clinging conditioned?’ Then, bhikkhus, through careful attention, there took place in me a breakthrough by wisdom: ‘When there is craving, clinging comes to be; clinging has craving as its condition.’

"Then, bhikkhus, it occurred to me: ‘When what exists does craving come to be? By what is craving conditioned?’ Then, bhikkhus, through careful attention, there took place in me a breakthrough by wisdom: ‘When there is feeling, craving comes to be; craving has feeling as its condition.’

"Then, bhikkhus, it occurred to me: ‘When what exists does feeling come to be? By what is feeling conditioned?’ Then, bhikkhus, through careful attention, there took place in me a breakthrough by wisdom: ‘When there is contact, feeling comes to be; feeling has contact as its condition.’

"Then, bhikkhus, it occurred to me: ‘When what exists does contact come to be? By what is contact conditioned?’ Then, bhikkhus, through careful attention, there took place in me a breakthrough by wisdom: ‘When there are the six sense bases, contact comes to be; contact has the six sense bases as its condition.’

"Then, bhikkhus, it occurred to me: ‘When what exists do the six sense bases come to be? By what are the six sense bases conditioned? ’ Then, bhikkhus, through careful attention, there took place in me a breakthrough by wisdom: ‘When there is name-and-form, the six sense bases come to be; the six sense bases have name-and-form as their condition.’

"Then, bhikkhus, it occurred to me: ‘When what exists does name-and-form come to be? By what is name-and-form conditioned? ’ Then, bhikkhus, through careful attention, there took place in me a breakthrough by wisdom: ‘When there is consciousness, name-and-form comes to be; name-and-form has consciousness as its condition.’

"Then, bhikkhus, it occurred to me: ‘When what exists does consciousness come to be? By what is consciousness conditioned? ’ Then, bhikkhus, through careful attention, there took place in me a breakthrough by wisdom: ‘When there are volitional formations, consciousness comes to be; consciousness has volitional formations as its condition.’ [n.15] In the account of his enlightenment at SN12.65 (II 104,13 foll.) the Buddha traces the sequence of conditions back only as far as consciousness, which he then shows to arise in dependence on name-and-form. The same difference in treatment occurs in the corresponding passage on cessation (II 105,20 foll.)

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"Then, bhikkhus, it occurred to me: ‘When what exists do volitional formations come to be? By what are volitional formations conditioned?’ Then, bhikkhus, through careful attention, there took place in me a breakthrough by wisdom: ‘When there is ignorance, volitional formations come to be; volitional formations have ignorance as their condition.’

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4"Thus with ignorance as condition, volitional formations come to be;
with volitional formations as condition, consciousness;
with consciousness as condition, name-and-form;
with name-and-form as condition, the six sense bases;
with the six sense bases as condition, contact;
with contact as condition, feeling;
with feeling as condition, craving;
with craving as condition, clinging;
with clinging as condition, existence;
with existence as condition, birth;
with birth as condition, aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair come to be.

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Such is the origin of this whole mass of suffering.

"‘Origination, origination’—thus, bhikkhus, in regard to things unheard before there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light. [n.16] The five Pali words are cakkhu, ñāṇa, paññā, vijjā, and āloka. While vijjā is actually derived from vindati, Spk here glosses it as paṭivedha, penetration, as though it derived from vijjhati, to pierce.

ii. Cessation

5"Then, bhikkhus, it occurred to me: ‘When what does not exist does aging-and-death not come to be? With the cessation of what does the cessation of aging-and-death come about?’ Then, bhikkhus, through careful attention, there took place in me a breakthrough by wisdom: ‘When there is no birth, aging-and-death does not come to be; with the cessation of birth comes cessation of aging-and-death.’

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6"Then, bhikkhus, it occurred to me: sn.ii.11 ‘When what does not exist does birth not come to be? By the cessation of what does the cessation of birth come about?’ Then, bhikkhus, through careful attention, there took place in me a breakthrough by wisdom: ‘When there is no existence, birth does not come to be; with the cessation of existence comes cessation of birth.’

… ‘When there is no clinging, existence does not come to be; with the cessation of clinging comes cessation of existence.’

… ‘When there is no craving, clinging does not come to be; with the cessation of craving comes cessation of clinging.’

… ‘When there is no feeling, craving does not come to be; with the cessation of feeling comes cessation of craving.’

… ‘When there is no contact, feeling does not come to be; with the cessation of contact comes cessation of feeling.’

… ‘When there are no six sense bases, contact does not come to be; with the cessation of the six sense bases comes cessation of contact. ’

… ‘When there is no name-and-form, the six sense bases do not come to be; with the cessation of name-and-form comes cessation of the six sense bases.’

… ‘When there is no consciousness, name-and-form does not come to be; with the cessation of consciousness comes cessation of name-and-form.’

… ‘When there are no volitional formations, consciousness does not come to be; with the cessation of volitional formations comes cessation of consciousness.’

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‘When what does not exist do volitional formations not come to be?’ Then, bhikkhus, through careful attention, there took place in me a breakthrough by wisdom: ‘When there is no ignorance, volitional formations do not come to be; with the cessation of ignorance comes cessation of volitional formations.’

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7"Thus with the cessation of ignorance comes cessation of volitional formations;
with the cessation of volitional formations, cessation of consciousness;
with the cessation of consciousness, cessation of name-and-form;
with the cessation of name-and-form, cessation of the six sense bases;
with the cessation of the six sense bases, cessation of contact;
with the cessation of contact, cessation of feeling;
with the cessation of feeling, cessation of craving;
with the cessation of craving, cessation of clinging;
with the cessation of clinging, cessation of existence;
with the cessation of existence, cessation of birth;
with the cessation of birth, aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair cease.

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Such is the cessation of this whole mass of suffering.

"‘Cessation, cessation’—thus, bhikkhus, in regard to things unheard before there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light."

 

1"Pubbeva me, bhikkhave, sambodhā anabhisambuddhassa bodhisattasseva sato etadahosi: ‘kicchaṁ vatāyaṁ loko āpanno jāyati ca jīyati ca mīyati ca cavati ca upapajjati ca. Atha ca panimassa dukkhassa nissaraṇaṁ nappajānāti jarāmaraṇassa. Kudāssu nāma imassa dukkhassa nissaraṇaṁ paññāyissati jarāmaraṇassā’ti?

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2Tassa mayhaṁ, bhikkhave, etadahosi: ‘kimhi nu kho sati jarāmaraṇaṁ hoti, kiṁpaccayā jarāmaraṇan’ti? Tassa mayhaṁ, bhikkhave, yoniso manasikārā ahu paññāya abhisamayo: ‘jātiyā kho sati jarāmaraṇaṁ hoti, jātipaccayā jarāmaraṇan’ti.

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3Tassa mayhaṁ, bhikkhave, etadahosi: ‘kimhi nu kho sati jāti hoti … pe … bhavo … upādānaṁ … taṇhā … vedanā … phasso … saḷāyatanaṁ … nāmarūpaṁ … viññāṇaṁ …

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… saṅkhārā honti, kiṁpaccayā saṅkhārā’ti? Tassa mayhaṁ, bhikkhave, yoniso manasikārā ahu paññāya abhisamayo: ‘avijjāya kho sati saṅkhārā honti, avijjāpaccayā saṅkhārā’ti.

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4Iti hidaṁ avijjāpaccayā saṅkhārā; saṅkhārapaccayā viññāṇaṁ … pe …

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Evametassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa samudayo hoti.

‘Samudayo, samudayo’ti kho me, bhikkhave, pubbe ananussutesu dhammesu cakkhuṁ udapādi, ñāṇaṁ udapādi, paññā udapādi, vijjā udapādi, āloko udapādi.

 

5Tassa mayhaṁ, bhikkhave, etadahosi: ‘kimhi nu kho asati jarāmaraṇaṁ na hoti, kissa nirodhā jarāmaraṇanirodho’ti? Tassa mayhaṁ, bhikkhave, yoniso manasikārā ahu paññāya abhisamayo: ‘jātiyā kho asati jarāmaraṇaṁ na hoti, jātinirodhā jarāmaraṇanirodho’ti.

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6Tassa mayhaṁ, bhikkhave, etadahosi: ‘kimhi nu kho asati jāti na hoti … pe … bhavo … upādānaṁ … taṇhā … vedanā … phasso … saḷāyatanaṁ … nāmarūpaṁ … viññāṇaṁ …

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… saṅkhārā na honti, kissa nirodhā saṅkhāranirodho’ti? Tassa mayhaṁ, bhikkhave, yoniso manasikārā ahu paññāya abhisamayo: ‘avijjāya kho asati saṅkhārā na honti, avijjānirodhā saṅkhāranirodho’ti.

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7Iti hidaṁ avijjānirodhā saṅkhāranirodho; saṅkhāranirodhā viññāṇanirodho … pe …

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Evametassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa nirodho hoti.

‘Nirodho, nirodho’ti kho me, bhikkhave, pubbe ananussutesu dhammesu cakkhuṁ udapādi, ñāṇaṁ udapādi, paññā udapādi, vijjā udapādi, āloko udapādī"ti.

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Dasamo.

Buddhavaggo paṭhamo.

8Desanā vibhaṅgapaṭipadā ca,
Vipassī sikhī ca vessabhū;
Kakusandho koṇāgamano kassapo,
Mahāsakyamuni ca gotamoti.