Saṁyutta-Nikāya,
Nidāna-vaggo
15. Anamatagga Saṁyuttam

Sutta 9

Daṇḍa Suttaṁ

The Stick

 

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Thus have I heard:

The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthi at the Jeta Grove in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.

And there the Exalted One addressed the brethren, saying:

"Brethren!"

"Master!" responded those brethren.

The Exalted One said:

Incalculable is the beginning, brethren, of this faring on.

The earliest point is not revealed
of the running on, the faring on,
of beings cloaked in ignorance,
tied to craving.

Just as a stick, brethren,
thrown up into the air,
falls now on the butt-end,
now on its side,
now on its tip,
even so do beings,
cloaked in ignorance,
tied by craving,
running on,
faring on,
go now from this world to the other world,
now from the other world to this.

How is this?

Incalculable is the beginning, brethren, of this faring on.

The earliest point is not revealed
of the faring on, running on,
of beings cloaked in ignorance,
tied to craving.

Thus many a day, brethren,
have ye been suffering ill,
have ye been suffering pain,
have ye been suffering disaster,
have the charnel-fields been growing.

Thus far enough is there, brethren,
for you to be repelled
by all the things of this world,
enough to lose all passion for them,
enough to be delivered therefrom.