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SN 22.8PTS SN 3.181 min read

Anxiety Because of Grasping (2nd)

Dutiyaupādāparitassanāsutta

An ordinary person identifies their self with the five aggregates and suffers anxiety when the aggregates change. But a noble disciple, free of such identification, does not suffer.

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

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 22.8Linked Discourses 22.8
  • 0.21. Nakulapituvagga1. Nakula’s Father

0.3DutiyaupādāparitassanāsuttaAnxiety Because of Grasping (2nd)

1.1Sāvatthinidānaṁ.At Sāvatthī.

1.2“Upādāparitassanañca vo, bhikkhave, desessāmi anupādāaparitassanañca.“Mendicants, I will teach you how grasping leads to anxiety, and how not grasping leads to freedom from anxiety.1.3Taṁ suṇātha …pe…Listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.1.4kathañca, bhikkhave, upādāparitassanā hoti?And how does grasping lead to anxiety?1.5Idha, bhikkhave, assutavā puthujjano rūpaṁ ‘etaṁ mama, esohamasmi, eso me attā’ti samanupassati.It’s when an unlearned ordinary person regards form like this: ‘This is mine, I am this, this is my self.’11.6Tassa taṁ rūpaṁ vipariṇamati aññathā hoti.But that form of theirs decays and perishes,1.7Tassa rūpavipariṇāmaññathābhāvā uppajjanti sokaparidevadukkhadomanassupāyāsā.which gives rise to sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress.1.8Vedanaṁ etaṁ mama …pe…They regard feeling …1.9saññaṁ etaṁ mama …perception …1.10saṅkhāre etaṁ mama …choices …1.11viññāṇaṁ ‘etaṁ mama, esohamasmi, eso me attā’ti samanupassati.consciousness like this: ‘This is mine, I am this, this is my self.’1.12Tassa taṁ viññāṇaṁ vipariṇamati aññathā hoti.But that consciousness of theirs decays and perishes,1.13Tassa viññāṇavipariṇāmaññathābhāvā uppajjanti sokaparidevadukkhadomanassupāyāsā.which gives rise to sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress.1.14Evaṁ kho, bhikkhave, upādāparitassanā hoti.That’s how grasping leads to anxiety.

2.1PTS 3.19Kathañca, bhikkhave, anupādāaparitassanā hoti?And how does not grasping lead to freedom from anxiety?2.2Idha, bhikkhave, sutavā ariyasāvako rūpaṁ ‘netaṁ mama, nesohamasmi, na meso attā’ti samanupassati.It’s when a learned noble disciple regards form like this: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’2.3Tassa taṁ rūpaṁ vipariṇamati aññathā hoti.When that form of theirs decays and perishes,2.4Tassa rūpavipariṇāmaññathābhāvā nuppajjanti sokaparidevadukkhadomanassupāyāsā.it doesn’t give rise to sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress.2.5Vedanaṁ netaṁ mama …They regard feeling …2.6saññaṁ netaṁ mama …perception …2.7saṅkhāre netaṁ mama …choices …2.8viññāṇaṁ ‘netaṁ mama, nesohamasmi, na meso attā’ti samanupassati.consciousness like this: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’2.9Tassa taṁ viññāṇaṁ vipariṇamati aññathā hoti.When that consciousness of theirs decays and perishes,2.10Tassa viññāṇavipariṇāmaññathābhāvā nuppajjanti sokaparidevadukkhadomanassupāyāsā.it doesn’t give rise to sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress.2.11Evaṁ kho, bhikkhave, anupādāaparitassanā hotī”ti.That’s how not grasping leads to freedom from anxiety.”

2.12Aṭṭhamaṁ.

Translator’s notes

  1. This directly rejects all forms of self, especially the conceptions of self as expressed in the Upaniṣads.

    Etaṁ mama occurs as mamedaṁ (“this is mine”, Maitrī Upaniṣad 3.2), which in context is a limited view of self. An illegitimate king betrays his country with the thought, “It is not mine” (na etan mama, Arthaśāstra 8.2.08).

    Eso’hamasmi is Yājñavalkya’s so’hamasmi (“I am that”, Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.4.1; BU 5.15.1 = Īśā Upaniṣad 16; Chāndogya Upaniṣad 4.11.1, 4.12.1, 4.13.1; Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka 3.6), which Uddālaka’s tattvamasi puts in second person (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.8.7).

    The same passage also parallels eso me attā with sa ātmā (“that is the self”), for which we also find eṣa ma ātmā (CU 3.14.3), and in the optative mood, ma idaṁ syād ātman (BU 1.2.7).

    ↩ sn22.8:1.5