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- Samyutta Nikaya XXXV.28
- Aditta-pariyaya Sutta
- The Fire Sermon
- For free distribution only, as a gift of Dhamma
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Gaya,
at Gaya Head, with 1,000 monks. There he addressed the monks:
"Monks, the All is aflame. What All is aflame? The eye is aflame. Forms are
aflame. Consciousness at the eye is aflame. Contact at the eye is aflame. And whatever
there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye -- experienced as pleasure, pain
or neither-pleasure-nor-pain -- that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire
of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth,
aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs.
"The ear is aflame. Sounds are aflame...
"The nose is aflame. Aromas are aflame...
"The tongue is aflame. Flavors are aflame...
"The body is aflame. Tactile sensations are aflame...
"The intellect is aflame. Ideas are aflame. Consciousness at the intellect is
aflame. Contact at the intellect is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in
dependence on contact at the intellect -- experienced as pleasure, pain or
neither-pleasure-nor-pain -- that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of
passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I say, with birth, aging
& death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs.
"Seeing thus, the instructed noble disciple grows disenchanted with the eye,
disenchanted with forms, disenchanted with consciousness at the eye, disenchanted with
contact at the eye. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye,
experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain: With that, too, he grows
disenchanted.
"He grows disenchanted with the ear...
"He grows disenchanted with the nose...
"He grows disenchanted with the tongue...
"He grows disenchanted with the body...
"He grows disenchanted with the intellect, disenchanted with ideas, disenchanted
with consciousness at the intellect, disenchanted with contact at the intellect. And
whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the intellect, experienced as
pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain: He grows disenchanted with that too.
Disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, he is fully released. With
full release, there is the knowledge, 'Fully released.' He discerns that 'Birth is
depleted, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this
world.'"
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the monks delighted at his words. And
while this explanation was being given, the hearts of the 1,000 monks, through no clinging
(not being sustained), were fully released from fermentation/effluents.