This Dharma is to be verified. |
Behold, a bubble, foam on a great river, a magic trick, empty, not at all what it seems -- misleading (appearing permanent when it's only change hurtling toward destruction, promising satisfying pleasure and fulfillment when all that arises is disappointment).
Foam on sacred river Ganges (pinterest.com) |
SUTRA: "Discourse on Bubbles and Foam"
泡沫—Bhikkhu Anālayo (trans.), Saṁyuktāgama 201-300, "Discourse on Bubbles and Foam" (SA 265), suttacentral.net); edited and expanded by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly
Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One was staying in Ayojjhā, on the banks of the river Ganges.
At that time the Buddha said: “Meditators, it is just as if a mass of foam were to drift on a great wave that has arisen on the river Ganges and a clear-sighted person were to carefully examine and analyze it.
“At the time of carefully examining and analyzing, one finds that there is nothing to it, nothing stable, nothing substantial, nothing solid. Why is that? It is because there is nothing solid or substantial to a mass of foam.
Life, formless, gains form that comes to naught. |
“It is like a disease, like a carbuncle, like a thorn, like a killer. It is impermanent, disappointing (dukkha), empty (sunnata), and not-self. Why is that? It is because there is nothing solid or substantial in bodily form.
Carbuncles are by definition a painful impurity of the body, a dangerous blemish (fity.club) |
.
“Meditators, it is just as when during a great rain there are bubbles on the surface of water, arising and ceasing one after another, and a clear-sighted person carefully examines, attends to, and analyzes them. At the time of carefully examining, attending to, and analyzing them, one finds that there is nothing in them, nothing stable, nothing substantial, they have no solidity. Why is that? It is because there is nothing solid or substantial in water bubbles.
“In the same way, a meditator carefully examines, attends to, and analyzes whatever feeling, past, future, or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, sublime or repugnant, far or near. When carefully examining, attending to, and analyzing it, the meditator finds that there is nothing in it, nothing stable, nothing substantial, it has no solidity; it is like a disease, like a carbuncle, like a thorn, like a killer, it is impermanent, disappointing, empty, and not self. Why is that? It is because there is nothing solid or substantial in feeling.
A mirage exists but is not what it seems. |
“In the same way, a meditator carefully examines, attends to, and analyzes whatever perception, past, future, or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, sublime or repugnant, far or near. When carefully examining, attending to, and analyzing it, the meditator finds that there is nothing in it, nothing stable, nothing substantial, it has no solidity; it is like a disease, like a carbuncle, like a thorn, like a killer, it is impermanent, disappointing, empty, and not self. Why is that? It is because there is nothing solid or substantial in perception.
Like an onion, there's no core in a plantain trunk |
Heartwood is the pith, the core, the essence. |
Behold, nothing! It was all just an illusion. |
The self = Five Aggregates clung to as "self" |
Illusion begets misery. Awaken to unending peace of wisdom. |
“Contemplate bodily form as a mass of foam,
Feelings as bubbles on water,
Perceptions as the glare in spring,
Formations as sheaths of a plantain,
And the nature of any consciousness like a magical illusion,
As the Kinsman of the Sun [the Scythian of the solar race] has explained.
“Carefully attending to it from all sides
With right mindfulness, examining it well,
It is found to be insubstantial and without solidity,
There is no self nor anything that belongs to a self
In this bodily aggregate, which is disappointing.
“The Great Wise One has analyzed and explained that,
Bereft of three things,
The body will be abandoned:
Vitality, heat, and consciousness of every kind,
Bereft of these, the remaining form falls apart
And is forever abandoned in a tomb,
A discarded log, without conscious perceptions.
“This body is always in this way
Illusory and deceptive, enticing foolish beings.
It is like a killer, a poison-tip thorn,
Being without solidity.
“For a meditator who energetically cultivates
Contemplation of this body, this aggregate of form,
Day and night constantly engaging it
With right view, with mindfulness well established,
Conditioned formations will cease
And one attains the deathless, the cool peace.”
Then the monastics, hearing what the Buddha had said, rejoiced and approved of what he had said.
- 泡沫—Bhikkhu Anālayo (trans.), Saṁyuktāgama 201-300, "Discourse on Bubbles and Foam" (SA 265), from the Connected or Linked Discourses (Samyutta Nikaya) 201-300, preserved in the Agamas, suttacentral.net)
- What are the Āgamas in Buddhism?
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