The
Fire Sermon
(Adittá-pariyayá-sutta)
Thus I heard. On one occasion the Exalted One was
living at Gaya, at Gayasisa, together with a thousand bhikkus. There he
addressed the bhikkus.
“Bhikkus, all is burning. And what is the all that
is burning?
The eye is burning, visible forms are burning,
eye-consciousness is burning, eye-contact is burning; also whatever is felt as
pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with
eye-contact as its condition, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning
with the fire of greed, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say
it is burning with birth, ageing and death, with sorrow, with lamentation, with
pain, grief and despair.”
“The ear is burning, sounds are burning ….(repeat previous
section).
“The nose is burning, odours are burning …..
“The tongue is burning, flavours are burning …..
“The body is burning, tangibles are burning …..
“The mind is burning, mental objects are burning,
mind-consciousness is burning, mind-contact is burning; also whatever is felt
as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with
mind-contact as its condition, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning
with the fire of greed, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say
it is burning with birth, ageing and death, with sorrow, with lamentation, with
pain, grief and despair.”
“Bhikkus, when a noble follower who has heard (the
truth) sees thus, he becomes dispassionate towards the eye, towards visible
forms, towards eye-consciousness, towards eye-contact; and whatever is felt as
pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with
eye-contact as its condition, towards that too he becomes dispassionate.
“He becomes dispassionate towards the ear... towards
sounds...
“He becomes dispassionate towards the nose...
towards odours...
“He becomes dispassionate towards the tongue...
towards flavours...
“He becomes dispassionate towards the body...
towards tangibles...
“He becomes dispassionate towards the mind, towards
mental objects, towards mind-consciousness, towards mind-contact; and whatever
is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with
mind-contact as condition, towards that too he becomes dispassionate.”
“Becoming dispassionate, his greed fades away. With
the fading of greed his heart is liberated. When his heart is liberated, there
comes the knowledge, ‘It is liberated.’ He understands: ‘Birth is exhausted,
the holy life has been lived out, what can be done is done, of this there is no
more beyond.’”
That is what the Exalted One said. The bhikkus were
glad, and they approved his words. Now during his utterance, the hearts of
those thousand bhikkus were liberated from taints through clinging no more.