SN 25.1PTS SN 3.2251 min read

The Eye

Cakkhusutta

One with faith in the teachings on the six interior sense fields is called a “follower by faith”, while someone with conceptual understanding is called a “follower of the teachings”. But someone who sees them directly is called a stream-enterer.

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

0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 25.1Linked Discourses 25.1
0.21. Cakkhuvagga1. The Eye

0.3CakkhusuttaThe Eye

1.1PTS 3.225Sāvatthinidānaṁ.At Sāvatthī.¹

1.2“Cakkhuṁ, bhikkhave, aniccaṁ vipariṇāmi aññathābhāvi;“Mendicants, the eye is impermanent, decaying, and perishing.1.3sotaṁ aniccaṁ vipariṇāmi aññathābhāvi;The ear,1.4ghānaṁ aniccaṁ vipariṇāmi aññathābhāvi;nose,1.5jivhā aniccā vipariṇāmī aññathābhāvī;tongue,1.6kāyo anicco vipariṇāmi aññathābhāvi;body,1.7mano anicco vipariṇāmī aññathābhāvī.and mind are impermanent, decaying, and perishing.

1.8Yo, bhikkhave, ime dhamme evaṁ saddahati adhimuccati—ayaṁ vuccati saddhānusārī, okkanto sammattaniyāmaṁ, sappurisabhūmiṁ okkanto, vītivatto puthujjanabhūmiṁ;Someone who has faith and confidence in these teachings is called a follower by faith. They’ve stepped into the sure path, they’ve stepped into the level of the true person, and they’ve passed beyond the level of the untrue person.²1.9abhabbo taṁ kammaṁ kātuṁ, yaṁ kammaṁ katvā nirayaṁ vā tiracchānayoniṁ vā pettivisayaṁ vā upapajjeyya;They can’t do any deed which would make them be reborn in hell, the animal realm, or the ghost realm.1.10abhabbo ca tāva kālaṁ kātuṁ yāva na sotāpattiphalaṁ sacchikaroti.They can’t die without realizing the fruit of stream-entry.³

2.1Yassa kho, bhikkhave, ime dhammā evaṁ paññāya mattaso nijjhānaṁ khamanti, ayaṁ vuccati: ‘dhammānusārī, okkanto sammattaniyāmaṁ, sappurisabhūmiṁ okkanto, vītivatto puthujjanabhūmiṁ;Someone who accepts these teachings after deliberating them with a degree of wisdom is called a follower of teachings. They’ve stepped into the sure path, they’ve stepped into the level of the true person, and they’ve passed beyond the level of the untrue person.2.2abhabbo taṁ kammaṁ kātuṁ, yaṁ kammaṁ katvā nirayaṁ vā tiracchānayoniṁ vā pettivisayaṁ vā upapajjeyya;They can’t do any deed which would make them be reborn in hell, the animal realm, or the ghost realm.2.3abhabbo ca tāva kālaṁ kātuṁ yāva na sotāpattiphalaṁ sacchikaroti’.They can’t die without realizing the fruit of stream-entry.⁴

2.4Yo, bhikkhave, ime dhamme evaṁ pajānāti evaṁ passati, ayaṁ vuccati: ‘sotāpanno avinipātadhammo niyato sambodhiparāyano’”ti.Someone who understands and sees these principles is called a stream-enterer, not liable to be reborn in the underworld, assured, destined for awakening.”⁵

2.5Paṭhamaṁ.

Translator’s notes

This chapter is named after the technical term “stepping into” (okkanti). Literally, it is to “step down” or “trample”, or in the context of rebirth to descend or “be conceived” in the womb. For the sense here, compare Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 4.4.5.11: the sacrificer is led to a still pool in flowing water, into which he “descends” seeking release from Varuṇa’s snare. Here the commentary glosses paviṭṭha (“entered”), which is supported by praveśa at Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 4.4.5.11. I use “step into” to disambiguate from “stream-entry” which is a different word (āpatti), even though the sense is similar.
↩ sn25.1:1.1
This chapter offers some of the clearest details on the “follower by faith” (saddhānusārī) and “follower of teachings” (dhammānusārī), both of whom are “practicing to realize the fruit of stream-entry”. Elsewhere, they are distinguished by the degree of faculties (SN 48.12:1.5). See too MN 22:46.2 and MN 34:10.2; also SN 55.24 and SN 55.25.
Sammatta (literally “rightness” or the “right way”) is defined as the noble eightfold path at SN 45.21:1.7. It is frequently used with niyāma (“fixedness, inevitability, surety”) to mean “the fixedness of the right way”, which I render more idiomatically as “sure path”.
↩ sn25.1:1.8
When the faith-follower realizes stream-entry, they are called “freed by faith” (saddhāvimutta, MN 70:19.1).
↩ sn25.1:1.10
When they realize stream-entry, they are called “attained to view” (diṭṭhippatta, MN 70:18.1).
↩ sn25.1:2.3
This makes explicit a distinction that is consistently upheld throughout the Suttas. To “know and see” or to “truly understand” is, in this context, a distinct apperception of the four noble truths with intuitive wisdom that severs certain fetters forever. Those on the path to stream entry have not yet had such a realization, hence they must follow by faith, or by reflecting on the teachings. Though the conditions for realization are present, since they possess the five faculties and are on the path, they have not yet realized the fruit. Compare a mango tree that has been planted with good seeds in fertile soil, watered and sunned and protected from pests. At a certain point the conditions have been fulfilled for the fruit to appear, but it takes time for the conditions to mature.
↩ sn25.1:2.4