Discourse on Crying (sutra)

A. Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Assu Sutra (SN 15.3) Ven. Thanissaro (trans.), Wisdom Quarterly

You mean this continues in future lives!?

Thus have I heard. The [Buddha] was once staying in Savatthi where he said:

"From an inconceivable (undiscernable, inconstruable) beginning comes rebirth. No beginning point is evident from which beings, hindered by ignorance and ensnared by craving, set off to continue wandering on.

What is the Wheel of Life and Death, the Continued Wandering On (Samsara)? Hamster Wheel

"What do you think, meditators? Which is greater, the tears shed while wandering on through rebirth all this time -- crying and lamenting due to meeting the unpleasant and being separated from the pleasant -- or the water contained in the four great oceans?"

One ocean is immense. How about four?

"As we understand the Dharma taught to us by the Blessed One, greater are the tears shed while wandering on through rebirth all this time -- crying and lamenting due to meeting with the unpleasant and being separated from the pleasant -- rather than the water contained in the four great oceans."

"Excellent, meditators, excellent! It is excellent to thus understand this Dharma taught by me.
 
"Greater are the tears shed while wandering on through rebirth all this time -- crying and lamenting due to meeting with the unpleasant and being separated from the pleasant -- rather than the water contained in the four great oceans.
 

No, not another death, not another death!

"Long have we (repeatedly) experienced the death of a mother. The tears shed over the death of a mother while wandering on through rebirth all this time -- crying and lamenting due to meeting with the unpleasant and being separated from the pleasant -- are greater than the water contained in the four great oceans.

"Long have we (repeatedly) experienced the death

• of a father...
• of a sister...
• of a brother...
• of a son...
• of a daughter...
• of relatives...
• of wealth...
• loss due to disease.

I was the killer, for what?

"The tears shed over loss due to disease while wandering on through rebirth all this time -- crying and lamenting due to meeting with the unpleasant or being separated from the pleasant -- are greater than the water contained in the four great oceans.

"Why is it? From an inconceivable beginning comes rebirth. No beginning point is evident from which beings, hindered by ignorance and ensnared by craving, set off to continue wandering on.

"Long has been the experience of suffering (the range of unpleasant, unwelcome feeling ranging from discomfort to agony), experienced pain, experienced loss, swelling the cemeteries -- long enough to become disenchanted with all fabricated things (formations, conditioned-phenomena), long enough to become dispassionate, long enough to become liberated."

• See also SN 15.13