Saṁyutta-Nikāya
Nidāna-vaggo
15. Anamatagga-saṁyuttam
2. Suttas 11-20
Sutta 11
Duggataṁ
Hard Lot
The Exalted One was once staying at Sāvatthī.
There he addressed the brethren:-
Incalculable is the beginning, brethren,
of this faring on.
[126] The earliest point is not revealed of the running on,
the faring on of beings cloaked in ignorance,
tied to craving.
When, brethren, ye behold a hard lot,1
[or] that which is hard to come to,
then should ye thus judge:
— We too have suffered on this wise
down that long time.
How is this?
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.
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.
1 Explained as poverty in the C.