Linked Discourses 35
6. Ignorance
62. The Depletion of All Fuel (2nd)
“Mendicants, I will teach you the principle for depleting all fuel. Listen … And what is the principle for depleting all fuel?
What do you think, mendicants? Is the eye permanent or impermanent?”
“But if it’s impermanent, is it suffering or happiness?”
“But if it’s impermanent, suffering, and liable to fall apart, is it fit to be regarded thus: ‘This is mine, I am this, this is my self’?”
The pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling that arises conditioned by eye contact: is that permanent or impermanent?”
“Ear … nose … tongue … body … mind … thoughts … mind consciousness … mind contact … The pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling that arises conditioned by mind contact: is that permanent or impermanent?”
“But if it’s impermanent, is it suffering or happiness?”
“But if it’s impermanent, suffering, and liable to fall apart, is it fit to be regarded thus: ‘This is mine, I am this, this is my self’?”
“Seeing this, a learned noble disciple becomes disillusioned with the eye, sights, eye consciousness, and eye contact. And they become disillusioned with the painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises conditioned by eye contact. They become disillusioned with the ear … nose … tongue … body … They become disillusioned with the mind, thoughts, mind consciousness, and mind contact. And they become disillusioned with the painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises conditioned by mind contact. Being disillusioned they become dispassionate. Being dispassionate they’re freed. When freed, they know ‘it is freed’. They understand: ‘Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed, what had to be done has been done, there is no return to any state of existence.’ This is the principle for depleting all fuel.”