The world will end in 2012 (by fire)

Wisdom Quarterly based on Ñanamoli Thera translation (SN 35.28, Adittapariyaya Sutta)

THE FIRE SERMON - Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Buddha was living at Gaya, in Gayasisa, together with 1,000 recluses. There he addressed them:

"Recluses, all is burning! What 'all' (sabba) is burning?

• The eye is burning,
• forms are burning,
• eye-consciousness is burning,
• eye-contact is burning. 
• And whatever is felt as pleasant, or painful, or neutral that arises with eye-contact as its indispensable condition, that too is burning!

"Burning with what?

"It is burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrow, with lamentation, with pain, with grief, with despair.

• The ear is burning; sounds are burning...
• The nose is burning; odors are burning...
• The tongue is burning; flavors are burning...
• The body is burning; tangibles are burning...
• The mind is burning, ideas are burning, mind-consciousness is burning, mind-contact is burning. Whatever is felt as pleasant, or painful, or neutral that arises with mind-contact as its indispensable condition, that too is burning! Burning with what? It is burning with the fire of lust... hate... delusion...

"Recluses, when a noble follower who has heard (the truth) sees this, that person finds estrangement in the eye, in forms, in eye-consciousness, in eye-contact. And whatever is felt as pleasant, or painful, or neutral that arises with eye-contact as its indispensable condition, in that too one finds estrangement.

• One finds estrangement in the ear... in sounds...
• One finds estrangement in the nose... in odors...
• One finds estrangement in the tongue... in flavors...
• One finds estrangement in the body... in tangibles...
• One finds estrangement in the mind, in ideas, in mind-consciousness, in mind-contact. And whatever is felt as pleasant, or painful, or neutral that arises with mind-contact as its indispensable condition, in that too one finds estrangement.

"When one finds estrangement, passion fades out. With the fading of passion, one is liberated. When liberated, there is knowledge that one is liberated. One understands: 'Birth is exhausted, the higher life has been lived out, what can be done is done, of this there is no more beyond.'"

That is what the Buddha said. The recluses were glad and approved of his words.

Now during his utterance, the hearts of those 1,000 recluses were liberated from taints (asavas) through clinging no more.

COMMENTARY

Wisdom Quarterly (Wikipedia edit of Fire Sermon)

As sure as anything on December 21, 2012, the world will end. But even today, even now, the world is ending! It is on fire engulfed by a conflagration.

The Buddha declared the arising and passing away of the "world" in this fathom-long body. After all, what is the world except the one we experience. That depends on sense bases, contact, and consciousness. The mind is a base as well.

In our silliness we become obsessed with worrying about the Mayan Calendar, about time, about the future -- and we neglect what is happening NOW in this body.

In this sutra, the Buddha attempts to awaken us to our living experience: the sense bases and resultant mental phenomena are "burning," passing away, hurtling toward destruction with passion, (greed, selfishness, lust), aversion (fear, hate, dislike), delusion (wrong views, ignorance, confusion). But most of all it is being consumed by disappointment (dukkha). 

Suddenly becoming aware of this, a noble disciple becomes disenchanted with and dispassionate toward the senses bases. The mind/heart lets go, pulls back, sees things as they really are for the first time, and thereby achieves arhatship.

The ensuing text reveals that "all" refers to:

• the six internal sense bases (sense bases): eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind
• the six external sense bases: visible forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and mental objects
• consciousness contingent on these sense bases
• the contact of a specific sense organ (such as the ear), its sense object (sound), and sense-specific consciousness.
• what is subsequently felt: pleasure (sukha), pain (dukkha), or neither (adukkhamasukhaṃ).

By "burning" (āditta) is meant the:

• fire of passion (rāga)
• fire of aversion (dosa)
• fire of delusion (moha)
• manifested suffering: birth, aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair.

According to the Buddha, a "well-instructed noble disciple" (sutavā ariyasāvako) sees this burning and becomes disenchanted/cool (nibbindati) with the sense bases and their mental results.

The text then uses a formula found in many discourses to describe the manner in which such disenchantment leads to liberation from suffering:

"Disenchanted, one becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, one is fully released. With release comes the certainty, 'Fully released.' One discerns that 'Birth is ended, the higher life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'"

Nibbindaṃ virajjati virāgā vimuccati, vimuttasmiṃ vimuttamiti ñāṇaṃ hoti, khīṇā jāti, vusitaṃ brahmacariyaṃ, kataṃ karaṇīyaṃ nāparaṃ itthattāyāti pajānātī ti.'

The closing paragraph reports that, during this discourse, those in attendance became liberated.