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SN 1.27PTS (1st ed) SN 1.151 min read

Streams

Sarasutta

The stream of rebirth stops flowing when name and form ceases.

Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 1.27Linked Discourses 1.27
  • 0.23. Sattivagga3. A Sword

0.3SarasuttaStreams

1.1“Kuto sarā nivattanti,“From where do streams recoil?11.2kattha vaṭṭaṁ na vattati;Where does the cycle spin no more?21.3Kattha nāmañca rūpañca,Where does name and form1.4asesaṁ uparujjhatī”ti.cease with no residue left behind?”

2.1“Yattha āpo ca pathavī,“Where water and earth,2.2tejo vāyo na gādhati;fire and air have no footing—3

2.3Ato sarā nivattanti,from here the streams recoil;2.4ettha vaṭṭaṁ na vattati;here the cycle spins no more;42.5Ettha nāmañca rūpañca,here name and form2.6asesaṁ uparujjhatī”ti.cease with no residue left behind.”5

Translator’s notes

  1. The “stream” (here sara, otherwise sota) is usually explained as craving (SN 41.5:5.10, Iti 109:3.3). Or else it could be the “stream of lives” (bhavasota) as in the next sutta (SN 1.28:2.2).

    ↩ sn1.27:1.1

  2. The “cycle” of transmigration (saṁsāra) through endless rebirths (see DN 15:22.6, MN 22:42.2).

    The “streams” and the “cycle” also occur together in Ud 7.2:4.1.

    ↩ sn1.27:1.2

  3. The commentary says this is Nibbāna.

    A gādha is a “ford” across a river (Rig Veda 7.60.7, 7.97.8, 10.106.9; Gopatha Brāhmaṇa 1.5.2a), a safe path on which one has a “footing” to cross the water. In this verse, the verb form gādhati means to be “established” (patiṭṭhita) like a seed in soil, or a beam of light on a floor, or consciousness in name and form.

    ↩ sn1.27:2.2

  4. Compare eg. SN 22.56:5.3, MN 22:42.2, MN 109:9.10, Ud 6.8:5.7, and DN 15:22.6.

    ↩ sn1.27:2.4

  5. Passages such as Snp 5.2:6.3, DN 15:22.6 and DN 11:85.26 say that consciousness ceases at this point, too.

    ↩ sn1.27:2.6