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The Fire Sermon (Adittá-pariyayá-sutta) Thus I heard. On one occasion
the Exalted One was living at Gaya, at Gayasisa, together with a thousand
bhikkus. There he addressed the bhikkus. “Bhikkus, all is burning.
And what is the all that is burning? The eye is burning,
visible forms are burning, eye-consciousness is burning, eye-contact is
burning; also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or
neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact as its condition,
that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of greed, with
the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth,
ageing and death, with sorrow, with lamentation, with pain, grief and
despair.” “The ear is burning,
sounds are burning ….(repeat previous section). “The nose is burning,
odours are burning ….. “The tongue is burning,
flavours are burning ….. “The body is burning,
tangibles are burning ….. “The mind is burning,
mental objects are burning, mind-consciousness is burning, mind-contact is
burning; also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant
that arises with mind-contact as its condition, that too is burning. Burning
with what? Burning with the fire of greed, with the fire of hate, with the
fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth, ageing and death, with sorrow,
with lamentation, with pain, grief and despair.” “Bhikkus, when a noble
follower who has heard (the truth) sees thus, he becomes dispassionate
towards the eye, towards visible forms, towards eye-consciousness, towards
eye-contact; and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or
neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact as its condition,
towards that too he becomes dispassionate. “He becomes dispassionate
towards the ear... towards sounds... “He becomes dispassionate
towards the nose... towards odours... “He becomes dispassionate
towards the tongue... towards flavours … “He becomes dispassionate
towards the body... towards tangibles... “He becomes dispassionate towards
the mind, towards mental objects, towards mind-consciousness, towards
mind-contact; and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or
neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact as condition,
towards that too he becomes dispassionate.” “Becoming dispassionate,
his greed fades away. With the fading of greed his heart is liberated. When
his heart is liberated, there comes the knowledge, ‘It is liberated.’ He
understands: ‘Birth is exhausted, the noble life has been lived out, what can
be done is done, of this there is no more beyond.’” That is what the Exalted
One said. The bhikkus were glad, and they approved his words. Now during his
utterance, the hearts of those thousand bhikkus were liberated from taints
through clinging no more. |