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SN 35.28PTS SN 4.191 min read

Burning

Ādittasutta

The “all” consisting of the six interior and exterior sense fields is burning. This is the famous “third sermon” taught at Gayā’s Head to the followers of the three Kassapa brothers.

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

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 35.28Linked Discourses 35.28
  • 0.23. Sabbavagga3. All

0.3ĀdittasuttaBurning

1.1PTS 4.20Ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā gayāyaṁ viharati gayāsīse saddhiṁ bhikkhusahassena.At one time the Buddha was staying near Gayā on Gayā Head together with a thousand mendicants.11.2Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi:There the Buddha addressed the mendicants:

1.3“sabbaṁ, bhikkhave, ādittaṁ.“Mendicants, all is burning.21.4Kiñca, bhikkhave, sabbaṁ ādittaṁ?And what is the all that is burning?

1.5Cakkhu, bhikkhave, ādittaṁ, rūpā ādittā, cakkhuviññāṇaṁ ādittaṁ, cakkhusamphasso āditto. Yampidaṁ cakkhusamphassapaccayā uppajjati vedayitaṁ sukhaṁ vā dukkhaṁ vā adukkhamasukhaṁ vā tampi ādittaṁ.The eye is burning. Sights are burning. Eye consciousness is burning. Eye contact is burning. The painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on eye contact is also burning.1.6Kena ādittaṁ?Burning with what?31.7‘Rāgagginā, dosagginā, mohagginā ādittaṁ, jātiyā jarāya maraṇena sokehi paridevehi dukkhehi domanassehi upāyāsehi ādittan’ti vadāmi …pe…Burning with the fires of greed, hate, and delusion. Burning with rebirth, old age, and death, with sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress.4

1.8jivhā ādittā, rasā ādittā, jivhāviññāṇaṁ ādittaṁ, jivhāsamphasso āditto. Yampidaṁ jivhāsamphassapaccayā uppajjati vedayitaṁ sukhaṁ vā dukkhaṁ vā adukkhamasukhaṁ vā tampi ādittaṁ.The ear … nose … tongue … body …1.9Kena ādittaṁ?1.10‘Rāgagginā, dosagginā, mohagginā ādittaṁ, jātiyā jarāya maraṇena sokehi paridevehi dukkhehi domanassehi upāyāsehi ādittan’ti vadāmi …pe…

1.11mano āditto, dhammā ādittā, manoviññāṇaṁ ādittaṁ, manosamphasso āditto. Yampidaṁ manosamphassapaccayā uppajjati vedayitaṁ sukhaṁ vā dukkhaṁ vā adukkhamasukhaṁ vā tampi ādittaṁ.The mind is burning. Ideas are burning. Mind consciousness is burning. Mind contact is burning. The painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on mind contact is also burning.1.12Kena ādittaṁ?Burning with what?1.13‘Rāgagginā, dosagginā, mohagginā ādittaṁ, jātiyā jarāya maraṇena sokehi paridevehi dukkhehi domanassehi upāyāsehi ādittan’ti vadāmi.Burning with the fires of greed, hate, and delusion. Burning with rebirth, old age, and death, with sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress, I say.

1.14Evaṁ passaṁ, bhikkhave, sutavā ariyasāvako cakkhusmimpi nibbindati, rūpesupi nibbindati, cakkhuviññāṇepi nibbindati, cakkhusamphassepi nibbindati, yampidaṁ cakkhusamphassapaccayā uppajjati vedayitaṁ sukhaṁ vā dukkhaṁ vā adukkhamasukhaṁ vā tasmimpi nibbindati …pe…Seeing this, a learned noble disciple grows disillusioned with the eye, sights, eye consciousness, and eye contact. And they grow disillusioned with the painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on eye contact.

1.15yampidaṁ manosamphassapaccayā uppajjati vedayitaṁ sukhaṁ vā dukkhaṁ vā adukkhamasukhaṁ vā tasmimpi nibbindati.They grow disillusioned with the ear … nose … tongue … body … mind … painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on mind contact.

1.16Nibbindaṁ virajjati; virāgā vimuccati; vimuttasmiṁ vimuttamiti ñāṇaṁ hoti.Being disillusioned, desire fades away. When desire fades away they’re freed. When they’re freed, they know they’re freed.

1.17‘Khīṇā jāti, vusitaṁ brahmacariyaṁ, kataṁ karaṇīyaṁ, nāparaṁ itthattāyā’ti pajānātī”ti.They understand: ‘Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed, what had to be done has been done, there is nothing further for this place.’”

2.1Idamavoca bhagavā.That is what the Buddha said.2.2Attamanā te bhikkhū bhagavato bhāsitaṁ abhinanduṁ.Satisfied, the mendicants approved what the Buddha said.2.3Imasmiñca pana veyyākaraṇasmiṁ bhaññamāne tassa bhikkhusahassassa anupādāya āsavehi cittāni vimucciṁsūti.And while this discourse was being spoken, the minds of the thousand mendicants were freed from defilements by not grasping.

2.4Chaṭṭhaṁ.

Translator’s notes

  1. This is the famous “third sermon”. After the Buddha’s awakening at Uruvelā, he went to Varanasi to teach the five mendicants (SN 56.11), then returned to Uruvelā, where he stayed with and ultimately converted a community of dreadlocked fire-worshiping ascetics led by three Kassapa brothers. The elaborate narrative prominently features the ascetics’ reverence for fire, over which the Buddha wielded mastery. They took ordination, then he taught this discourse (Kd 1:15.1.1).

    ↩ sn35.28:1.1

  2. The Buddha starts with the uncommon term āditta, which refers to a current state (“is burning”, “has been set on fire”), avoiding the use of aggi (Sanskrit agni), which would evoke the deity of that name.

    References to agni, to sarva (“all”), and to Agni as all, are legion in Vedic texts. Since all sacrifices are Agni (4.5.1.13), Agni is all the gods (1.6.2.8, 3.1.3.1, 3.4.1.19, 4.6.3.2), or is the Self of all the gods (14.3.2.5). Fire consumes all, so all food is of Agni (10.1.4.13). But the direct inspiration for this discourse is probably the famous “Honey Lore”. Situated just after the revelation that the true Self is infinite consciousness, this passage identifies all aspects of being, including fire, as “honey”, since they partake of the immortal, the divine, and the “all” (Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.5). Likewise, after his teaching that the aggregates, including all forms of consciousness, are “not self” (SN 22.59), the Buddha inverts the message of the Honey Lore, pointing out that “all” we experience is on fire.

    ↩ sn35.28:1.3

  3. Or perhaps, “Set on fire by what?”

    ↩ sn35.28:1.6

  4. These “three fires” are also at AN 7.47 and Iti 93.

    Only after establishing that the senses are “burning” does the Buddha complete his inversion of Vedic values: it is fire itself which, far from being a benevolent deity, is aflame with greed, hate, and delusion. This had to wait until the Buddha was sure in his students, for it has the unpalatable implication that the god himself is subject to such flaws. After all, the ritual is performed with verses of desire (chandas) in order to secure worldly prosperity (Snp 1.2) or an eternity in heaven (SN 42.6:2.1); it is carried out by means of sacrificial violence (MN 51:10.7, AN 4.39, SN 3.9); and it is based on a delusional way of seeing the world, the blind leading the blind (MN 95:13.23).

    ↩ sn35.28:1.7