Samyutta Nikaya XII.52
Upadana Sutta
Clinging
Dwelling at Savatthi. There the Blessed
One said to the monks: "In one who keeps focusing on the allure of clingable
phenomena (or: phenomena that offer sustenance = the five aggregates),
craving develops. From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/sustenance.
From clinging/sustenance as a requisite condition comes becoming. From
becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. From birth as a requisite
condition, then aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress,
& despair come into play. Such is the origin of this entire mass of
suffering & stress.
"Just as if a great mass of fire of ten...twenty...thirty
or forty cartloads of timber were burning, and into it a man would time
& again throw dried grass, dried cow dung, & dried timber, so that
the great mass of fire -- thus nourished, thus sustained -- would burn
for a long, long time. In the same way, in one who keeps focusing on the
allure of clingable phenomena, craving develops. From craving as a requisite
condition comes clinging/sustenance. From clinging/sustenance as a requisite
condition comes becoming. From becoming as a requisite condition comes
birth. From birth as a requisite condition, then aging & death, sorrow,
lamentation, pain, distress, & despair come into play. Such is the
origin of this entire mass of suffering & stress.
"Now, in one who keeps focusing on the drawbacks
of clingable phenomena, craving ceases. From the cessation of craving comes
the cessation of clinging/sustenance. From the cessation of clinging/sustenance
comes the cessation of becoming. From the cessation of becoming comes the
cessation of birth. From the cessation of birth, then aging, illness &
death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair all cease. Such
is the cessation of this entire mass of suffering & stress.
"Just as if a great mass of fire of ten...twenty...thirty or forty cartloads
of timber were burning, into which a man simply would not time &
again throw dried grass, dried cow dung, or dried timber, so that the great
mass of fire -- its original sustenance being consumed, and no other being
offered -- would, without nutriment, go out. In the same way, in one who
keeps focusing on the drawbacks of clingable phenomena, craving ceases.
From the cessation of craving comes the cessation of clinging/sustenance.
From the cessation of clinging/sustenance comes the cessation of becoming.
From the cessation of becoming comes the cessation of birth. From the cessation
of birth, then aging, illness & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress,
& despair all cease. Such is the cessation of this entire mass of suffering
& stress."