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Saṁyutta Nikāya — The Linked Discourses

Vol 1:
Verses
SN1-11
Vol 2:
Causation
SN12-21
Vol 3:
Aggregates
SN22-34
Vol 4:
Sense Bases
SN35-44
Vol 5:
Great Book
SN45-56

35. Saḷāyatanasaṁyutta: On the Six Sense Fields

XVIII. The Ocean — SN35.228: The Ocean (1st)

1“Mendicants, an uneducated ordinary person speaks of the ocean. But that’s not the ocean in the training of the noble one. That’s just a large body of water, a large sea of water.

For a person, the eye is an ocean, and its currents are made of sights.


2Someone who can withstand those currents is said to have crossed over the ocean of the eye, with its waves and whirlpools, its sharks, and monsters. Crossed over, the brahmin stands on the far shore. For a person, the ear … nose … tongue … body … mind is an ocean, and its currents are made of thoughts. Someone who can withstand those currents is said to have crossed over the ocean of the mind, with its waves and whirlpools, its sharks, and monsters. Crossed over, the brahmin stands on the far shore.”

That is what the Buddha said. Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say:


3“A knowledge master who’s crossed the ocean so hard to cross,
with its sharks and monsters, its waves, whirlpools, and dangers;
they’ve completed the spiritual journey, and gone to the end of the world,
they’re called ‘one who has gone beyond’.”

1"‘Samuddo, samuddo’ti, bhikkhave, assutavā puthujjano bhāsati. Neso, bhikkhave, ariyassa vinaye samuddo. Mahā eso, bhikkhave, udakarāsi mahāudakaṇṇavo.

Cakkhu, bhikkhave, purisassa samuddo; tassa rūpamayo vego.


2Yo taṁ rūpamayaṁ vegaṁ sahati, ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, atari cakkhusamuddaṁ saūmiṁ sāvaṭṭaṁ sagāhaṁ sarakkhasaṁ; tiṇṇo pāraṅgato thale tiṭṭhati brāhmaṇo … pe … jivhā, bhikkhave, purisassa samuddo; tassa rasamayo vego. Yo taṁ rasamayaṁ vegaṁ sahati, ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, atari jivhāsamuddaṁ saūmiṁ sāvaṭṭaṁ sagāhaṁ sarakkhasaṁ; tiṇṇo pāraṅgato thale tiṭṭhati brāhmaṇo … pe … mano, bhikkhave, purisassa samuddo; tassa dhammamayo vego. Yo taṁ dhammamayaṁ vegaṁ sahati, ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, atari manosamuddaṁ saūmiṁ sāvaṭṭaṁ sagāhaṁ sarakkhasaṁ; tiṇṇo pāraṅgato thale tiṭṭhati brāhmaṇo"ti.

Idamavoca … pe … satthā: 


3"Yo imaṁ samuddaṁ sagāhaṁ sarakkhasaṁ,
Saūmiṁ sāvaṭṭaṁ sabhayaṁ duttaraṁ accatari;
Sa vedagū vusitabrahmacariyo,
Lokantagū pāragatoti vuccatī"ti.

Paṭhamaṁ.