1At Sāvatthī. "Bhikkhus, for the fool, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, sn.ii.24 this body has thereby originated. So there is this body and external name-and-form: thus this dyad. Dependent on the dyad there is contact. There are just six sense bases, contacted through which—or through a certain one among them—the fool experiences pleasure and pain. [n.48] Spk: This body has thereby originated (evam ayaṁ kāyo samudāgato): This body has been produced thus because he has been hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. So there is this body: one's own conscious body. And external name-and-form (bahiddhā ca nāmarūpaṁ): the conscious body of others externally. The meaning should be explained in terms of the five aggregates and six sense bases of oneself and others. This interpretation of bahiddhā nāmarūpa seems dubious. We may have here, rather, a rare example of the term nāmarūpa being employed to represent the entire field of experience available to consciousness, "external name" being the concepts used to designate the objects cognized. See the common expression imasmiṁ saviññāṇake kāye bahiddhā ca sabbanimittesu, "in regard to this conscious body and all external signs," at SN18.21, 22; SN22.71, 72etc., and explained below in n. 340. Spk interprets this dyad (etaṁ dvayaṁ) as the internal and external sense bases, which it calls "the great dyad" (mahadvaya). However, while the sense bases are usually shown to be the condition for contact (e.g., at SN12.43, 44) and are also called a dyad (e.g., at SN35.92, 93), it seems that here the text intends the term dyad to denote one's own conscious body and "external name-and-form." The six sense bases are introduced only in the next sentence, after contact has already been said to arise from a duality. At DN II 62,12–37 too the Buddha demonstrates that name-and-form can be a direct condition for contact without mention of the six sense bases.

2"Bhikkhus, for the wise man, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, this body has thereby originated. So there is this body and external name-and-form: thus this dyad. Dependent on the dyad there is contact. There are just six sense bases, contacted through which—or through a certain one among them—the wise man experiences pleasure and pain.

3What, bhikkhus, is the distinction here, what is the disparity, what is the difference between the wise man and the fool?"

"Venerable sir, our teachings are rooted in the Blessed One, guided by the Blessed One, take recourse in the Blessed One. It would be good if the Blessed One would clear up the meaning of this statement. [n.49] Bhagavantaṁ yeva paṭibhatu etassa bhasitassa. Lit. "Let the meaning of this statement occur to the Blessed One." I translate this Pali idiom freely in accordance with the sense. See I, n. 227. Having heard it from him, the bhikkhus will remember it."

4"Then listen and attend closely, bhikkhus, I will speak."

"Yes, venerable sir," the bhikkhus replied. The Blessed One said this:

5"Bhikkhus, for the fool, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, this body has originated. For the fool that ignorance has not been abandoned and that craving has not been utterly destroyed. For what reason?

Because the fool has not lived the holy life for the complete destruction of suffering. Therefore, with the breakup of the body, the fool fares on to another body. Faring on to another body, he is not freed from birth, aging, and death; not freed from sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair; not freed from suffering, I say.

6"Bhikkhus, for the wise man, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, this body has originated. For the wise man that ignorance has been abandoned and that craving has been utterly destroyed. For what reason?

Because the wise man has lived the holy life sn.ii.25 for the complete destruction of suffering. Therefore, with the breakup of the body, the wise man does not fare on to another body. Not faring on to another body, he is freed from birth, aging, and death; freed from sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair; freed from suffering, I say.

"This, bhikkhus, is the distinction, the disparity, the difference between the wise man and the fool, that is, the living of the holy life." [n.50] In this brief sutta we find clearly adumbrated the later exegetical scheme of "the four groups" (catusaṅkhepa) and "twenty modes" (visatakara), explained at Paṭis I 51–52; Vism 579–81 (Ppn 17:288–98); and CMA 8:7. See Table 4, p. 519. The past causes are the ignorance and craving that brought both the fool and the wise man into the present existence; the present results—the conscious body, name-and-form, the six sense bases, contact, and feeling; the present causes—the ignorance and craving that the fool does not abandon; the future results—the birth, aging, and death to which the fool is subject in the next existence. This should also help establish the validity of the "three-life" interpretation of paṭicca-samuppāda and demonstrate that such an interpretation is not a commentarial innovation.

1Sāvatthiyaṁ vihārati. "Avijjānīvaraṇassa, bhikkhave, bālassa taṇhāya sampayuttassa evamayaṁ kāyo samudāgato. Iti ayañceva kāyo bahiddhā ca nāmarūpaṁ, itthetaṁ dvayaṁ, dvayaṁ paṭicca phasso saḷevāyatanāni, yehi phuṭṭho bālo sukhadukkhaṁ paṭisaṁvedayati etesaṁ vā aññatarena.

2Avijjānīvaraṇassa, bhikkhave, paṇḍitassa taṇhāya sampayuttassa evamayaṁ kāyo samudāgato. Iti ayañceva kāyo bahiddhā ca nāmarūpaṁ, itthetaṁ dvayaṁ, dvayaṁ paṭicca phasso saḷevāyatanāni, yehi phuṭṭho paṇḍito sukhadukkhaṁ paṭisaṁvedayati etesaṁ vā aññatarena.

3Tatra, bhikkhave, ko viseso ko adhippayāso kiṁ nānākaraṇaṁ paṇḍitassa bālenā"ti?

"Bhagavaṁmūlakā no, bhante, dhammā, bhagavaṁnettikā, bhagavaṁpaṭisaraṇā. Sādhu vata, bhante, bhagavantaṁyeva paṭibhātu etassa bhāsitassa attho. Bhagavato sutvā bhikkhū dhāressantī"ti.

4"Tena hi, bhikkhave, suṇātha, sādhukaṁ manasi karotha, bhāsissāmī"ti.

"Evaṁ, bhante"ti kho te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṁ. Bhagavā etadavoca:

5"Yāya ca, bhikkhave, avijjāya nivutassa bālassa yāya ca taṇhāya sampayuttassa ayaṁ kāyo samudāgato, sā ceva avijjā bālassa appahīnā sā ca taṇhā aparikkhīṇā. Taṁ kissa hetu?

Na, bhikkhave, bālo acari brahmacariyaṁ sammā dukkhakkhayāya. Tasmā bālo kāyassa bhedā kāyūpago hoti, so kāyūpago samāno na parimuccati jātiyā jarāmaraṇena sokehi paridevehi dukkhehi domanassehi upāyāsehi. Na parimuccati dukkhasmāti vadāmi.

6Yāya ca, bhikkhave, avijjāya nivutassa paṇḍitassa yāya ca taṇhāya sampayuttassa ayaṁ kāyo samudāgato, sā ceva avijjā paṇḍitassa pahīnā, sā ca taṇhā parikkhīṇā. Taṁ kissa hetu?

Acari, bhikkhave, paṇḍito brahmacariyaṁ sammā dukkhakkhayāya. Tasmā paṇḍito kāyassa bhedā na kāyūpago hoti. So akāyūpago samāno parimuccati jātiyā jarāmaraṇena sokehi paridevehi dukkhehi domanassehi upāyāsehi. Parimuccati dukkhasmāti vadāmi.

Ayaṁ kho, bhikkhave, viseso, ayaṁ adhippayāso, idaṁ nānākaraṇaṁ paṇḍitassa bālena yadidaṁ brahmacariyavāso"ti.

Navamaṁ.