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Saṁyutta Nikāya — The Linked Discourses

Vol 1:
Verses
SN1-11
Vol 2:
Causation
SN12-21
Vol 3:
Aggregates
SN22-34
Vol 4:
Sense Bases
SN35-44
Vol 5:
Great Book
SN45-56

35. Saḷāyatanasaṁyutta: On the Six Sense Fields

XVIII. The Ocean — SN35.229: The Ocean (2nd)

1“Mendicants, an uneducated ordinary person speaks of the ocean. But that’s not the ocean in the training of the noble one. That’s just a large body of water, a large sea of water.

There are sights known by the eye that are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. This is called the ocean in the training of the noble one. And it’s here that this world—with its gods, Māras and Brahmās, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, gods and humans—is for the most part sunk. It’s become tangled like string, knotted like a ball of thread, and matted like rushes and reeds, and it doesn’t escape the places of loss, the bad places, the underworld, transmigration.

2There are sounds … smells … tastes … touches … thoughts known by the mind that are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. This is called the ocean in the training of the noble one. And it’s here that this world—with its gods, Māras and Brahmās, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, gods and humans—is for the most part sunk. It’s become tangled like string, knotted like a ball of thread, and matted like rushes and reeds, and it doesn’t escape the places of loss, the bad places, the underworld, transmigration.


3Those who have discarded
greed, hate, and ignorance
have crossed the ocean so hard to cross,
with its sharks and monsters, its waves and dangers.

4They’ve got over clinging, given up death, and have no attachments.
They’ve given up suffering, so there are no more future lives.
They’ve come to an end, and cannot be measured;
and they’ve confounded the King of Death, I say.”

1"‘Samuddo, samuddo’ti, bhikkhave, assutavā puthujjano bhāsati. Neso, bhikkhave, ariyassa vinaye samuddo. Mahā eso, bhikkhave, udakarāsi mahāudakaṇṇavo.

Santi, bhikkhave, cakkhuviññeyyā rūpā iṭṭhā kantā manāpā piyarūpā kāmūpasaṁhitā rajanīyā. Ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, ariyassa vinaye samuddo. Etthāyaṁ sadevako loko samārako sabrahmako sassamaṇabrāhmaṇī pajā sadevamanussā yebhuyyena samunnā tantākulakajātā kulagaṇṭhikajātā muñjapabbajabhūtā, apāyaṁ duggatiṁ vinipātaṁ saṁsāraṁ nātivattati … pe … .

2Santi, bhikkhave, jivhāviññeyyā rasā … pe … santi, bhikkhave, manoviññeyyā dhammā iṭṭhā kantā manāpā piyarūpā kāmūpasaṁhitā rajanīyā. Ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, ariyassa vinaye samuddo. Etthāyaṁ sadevako loko samārako sabrahmako sassamaṇabrāhmaṇī pajā sadevamanussā yebhuyyena samunnā tantākulakajātā kulagaṇṭhikajātā muñjapabbajabhūtā apāyaṁ duggatiṁ vinipātaṁ saṁsāraṁ nātivattatīti.


3Yassa rāgo ca doso ca,
Avijjā ca virājitā;
So imaṁ samuddaṁ sagāhaṁ sarakkhasaṁ,
Saūmibhayaṁ duttaraṁ accatari.

4Saṅgātigo maccujaho nirupadhi,
Pahāsi dukkhaṁ apunabbhavāya;
Atthaṅgato so na puneti,
Amohayī maccurājanti brūmī"ti.

Dutiyaṁ.