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SN 15.1PTS SN 2.1781 min read

Grass and Sticks

Tiṇakaṭṭhasutta

Transmigration is endless, like the grass and twigs in India.

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

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 15.1Linked Discourses 15.1
  • 0.21. PaṭhamavaggaChapter One

0.3TiṇakaṭṭhasuttaGrass and Sticks

1.1PTS 2.178Evaṁ me sutaṁ—So I have heard.11.2ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā sāvatthiyaṁ viharati jetavane anāthapiṇḍikassa ārāme.At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.1.3Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi:There the Buddha addressed the mendicants,1.4“bhikkhavo”ti.“Mendicants!”

1.5“Bhadante”ti te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṁ.“Venerable sir,” they replied.1.6Bhagavā etadavoca:The Buddha said this:

1.7“Anamataggoyaṁ, bhikkhave, saṁsāro.“Mendicants, this transmigration has no known beginning.21.8Pubbā koṭi na paññāyati avijjānīvaraṇānaṁ sattānaṁ taṇhāsaṁyojanānaṁ sandhāvataṁ saṁsarataṁ.No first point is found of sentient beings roaming and transmigrating, shrouded by ignorance and fettered by craving.31.9Seyyathāpi, bhikkhave, puriso yaṁ imasmiṁ jambudīpe tiṇakaṭṭhasākhāpalāsaṁ taṁ chetvā ekajjhaṁ saṁharitvā caturaṅgulaṁ caturaṅgulaṁ ghaṭikaṁ katvā nikkhipeyya:Suppose a person was to strip all the grass, sticks, branches, and leaves in the Black Plum Tree Land, gather them together into one pile, and chop them each into four inch pieces. They’d lay them down, saying:41.10‘ayaṁ me mātā, tassā me mātu ayaṁ mātā’ti, apariyādinnāva, bhikkhave, tassa purisassa mātumātaro assu, atha imasmiṁ jambudīpe tiṇakaṭṭhasākhāpalāsaṁ parikkhayaṁ pariyādānaṁ gaccheyya.‘This is my mother, this is my grandmother.’ The grass, sticks, branches, and leaves of the Black Plum Tree Land would run out before that person’s mothers and grandmothers.

1.11Taṁ kissa hetu?Why is that?1.12Anamataggoyaṁ, bhikkhave, saṁsāro.This transmigration has no known beginning.1.13Pubbā koṭi na paññāyati avijjānīvaraṇānaṁ sattānaṁ taṇhāsaṁyojanānaṁ sandhāvataṁ saṁsarataṁ.No first point is found of sentient beings roaming and transmigrating, shrouded by ignorance and fettered by craving.1.14Evaṁ dīgharattaṁ vo, bhikkhave, dukkhaṁ paccanubhūtaṁ tibbaṁ paccanubhūtaṁ byasanaṁ paccanubhūtaṁ, kaṭasī vaḍḍhitā.For such a long time you have undergone suffering, agony, and disaster, swelling the cemeteries.1.15Yāvañcidaṁ, bhikkhave, alameva sabbasaṅkhāresu nibbindituṁ alaṁ virajjituṁ alaṁ vimuccitun”ti.This is quite enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding all conditions.”

1.16Paṭhamaṁ.

Translator’s notes

  1. This chapter links to the Nidānasaṁyutta through the concept of beginningless transmigration, in which beings are lost because of not understanding dependent origination (SN 12.60:2.3).

    ↩ sn15.1:1.1

  2. Resolve anamatagga as ana’mat’agga, where ana is a doubled negative: “no known beginning”.

    The idea stems from the the Nāsadīya Sūkta, which twice mentions “in the beginning” (agre, Rig Veda 10.129.3, 4; see too 10.90.7, 10.121.1). There, from thought (manaso) evolved desire. It concludes, “This creation—from where it came to be, if it was produced or if not—he who is the overseer of this (world) in the furthest heaven, he surely knows. Or if he does not know …?” (Rig Veda 10.129.7, Jamison/Brereton). Perhaps the Buddha picked up the phrase from his former teacher Uddaka Rāmaputta, who at Isibhāsiyāiṁ 23 describes transmigration as aṇādīyaṁ aṇavadaggaṁ (“beginningless, without first point”).

    ↩ sn15.1:1.7

  3. We encountered a slight variation of this phrase at SN 12.19:1.2.

    ↩ sn15.1:1.8

  4. The “Black Plum Tree Land” is jambudīpa, the South Asian subcontinent, including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

    ↩ sn15.1:1.9