Saṁyutta Nikāya
IV. Saḷāyatana Vagga
35: Saḷāyatana Saṁyutta
Paññāsa Catutthaṁ
3. Samudda Vagga
IV. Kindred Sayings on the 'Six-Fold Sphere' of Sense and Other Subjects
35: Kindred Sayings the Sixfold Sphere of Sense The 'Fourth Fifty' Suttas
3. The Chapter on the Ocean
Sutta 188
Samudda Suttaṁ (2)
Ocean (ii)
[157] [98]
Thus have I heard:
Once the Exalted One addressed the brethren, saying:
"Brethren."
"Lord," responded those brethren to the Exalted One.
The Exalted One thus spoke:
"'The ocean! The ocean!'1 Brethren,
says the ignorant worldling.
But that, Brethren, is not the ocean
in the discipline of the Ariyan.
That is a heap of water,
a great flood of water.
There are, Brethren,
objects cognizable by the eye,
objects desirable,
pleasant,
delightful
and dear,
passion-fraught,
inciting to lust.
These are called 'ocean,' Brethren,
in the discipline of the Ariyan.
The world,
with its devas,
its Māras,
its Brahmas,
its hosts of recluses and brahmins,
its devas and mankind,
is for the most part2 plunged3 herein,
tangled like a ball of thread,
covered with blight,
become like a woven rope of grass,4
unable to cross over the downfall,
the way of woe,
the ruin,
and the round of birth.
■
There are, Brethren,
sounds cognizable by the ear,
sounds desirable,
pleasant,
delightful
and dear,
passion-fraught,
inciting to lust.
These are called 'ocean,' Brethren,
in the discipline of the Ariyan.
The world,
with its devas,
its Māras,
its Brahmas,
its hosts of recluses and brahmins,
its devas and mankind,
is for the most part plunged herein,
tangled like a ball of thread,
covered with blight,
become like a woven rope of grass,
unable to cross over the downfall,
the way of woe,
the ruin,
and the round of birth.
■
There are, Brethren,
scents cognizable by the nose,
pleasant,
delightful
and dear,
passion-fraught,
inciting to lust.
These are called 'ocean,' Brethren,
in the discipline of the Ariyan.
The world,
with its devas,
its Māras,
its Brahmas,
its hosts of recluses and brahmins,
its devas and mankind,
is for the most part plunged herein,
tangled like a ball of thread,
covered with blight,
become like a woven rope of grass,
unable to cross over the downfall,
the way of woe,
the ruin,
and the round of birth.
■
There are, Brethren,
savours cognizable by the tongue,
pleasant,
delightful
and dear,
passion-fraught,
inciting to lust.
These are called 'ocean,' Brethren,
in the discipline of the Ariyan.
The world,
with its devas,
its Māras,
its Brahmas,
its hosts of recluses and brahmins,
its devas and mankind,
is for the most part plunged herein,
tangled like a ball of thread,
covered with blight,
become like a woven rope of grass,
unable to cross over the downfall,
the way of woe,
the ruin,
and the round of birth.
■
There are, Brethren,
tangibles cognizable by the body,
pleasant,
delightful
and dear,
passion-fraught,
inciting to lust.
These are called 'ocean,' Brethren,
in the discipline of the Ariyan.
The world,
with its devas,
its Māras,
its Brahmas,
its hosts of recluses and brahmins,
its devas and mankind,
is for the most part plunged herein,
tangled like a ball of thread,
covered with blight,
become like a woven rope of grass,
unable to cross over the downfall,
the way of woe,
the ruin,
and the round of birth.
■
There are, Brethren,
mind-states cognizable by the mind,
pleasant,
delightful
and dear,
passion-fraught,
inciting to lust.
These are called 'ocean,' Brethren,
in the discipline of the Ariyan.
The world,
with its devas,
its Māras,
its Brahmas,
its hosts of recluses and brahmins,
its devas and mankind,
is for the most part plunged herein,
tangled like a ball of thread,
covered with blight,
become like a woven rope of grass,
unable to cross over the downfall,
the way of woe,
the ruin,
and the round of birth.
ed1 He in whom lust, malice and ignorance are cast off, - he has passed over this ocean, with its sharks and demons, with its fearsome waves impassable.
Bond-free, escaped from Death and without base,
Transcending sorrow, to become no more,
Evanishèd, incomparable one -
He has befooled the King of Death, I say.5
1 Comy's interpr. here implies 'wetness' (uda-), kledan'atthena.
2 Yebhuyyena. 'Except Arahants.' Comy.
3 Samunnā ( = kilinnā, tintā, nimuggā. Comy.). Cf. A. ii, 211.
4 Reading tantākula-jātā, guḷā-guṇṭhika-jātā for kulakajātā, guṇa-guṇikajātā. of text and Comy. (guṇḍika-). Cf. D. ii, 55; S. ii, 92 (K.S. ii, 64); A. ii, 211 and J.P.T.S., 1919, p. 49.
5 Cf. K.S. i, 152
ed1 The PTS Pali and Woodward's translation both include this in the next sutta, but the internal reference is clearly to the ocean of this sutta.