Saṃyukta-āgama (No. 292), Part Three

(3) Original text: 复次。比丘思量观察正尽苦。究竟苦边。则思量彼爱何因何集。何生何触。知彼爱受因受集。受生受触。彼受永灭无余。则爱灭。彼所乘爱灭道迹如实知。修习彼向次法。是名比丘向正尽苦。究竟苦边。所谓受灭。

Explanation: Furthermore, for a bhikkhu to deliberate and contemplate the complete cessation of suffering and reach the ultimate end of suffering, he must deliberate on what cause craving arises from, what dharma it accumulates from, what dharma it is born from, and what dharma it arises from through contact. After deliberating and contemplating, he knows that craving arises due to the condition of feeling, arises from the accumulation of feeling, that the birth of feeling leads to the birth of craving, and that the contact of feeling leads to the birth of craving. If feeling is forever extinguished without remainder, then craving will be extinguished. Bhikkhus should truly understand the path of craving's cessation that they practice, and cultivate the progressive dharmas leading toward it and the auxiliary path dharmas. In this way, bhikkhus can proceed toward the complete cessation of suffering and reach the ultimate end of suffering—namely, the cessation of feeling.

Before feeling there is contact; without contact, feeling cannot arise; without feeling, there can be no craving; without craving, there can be no grasping. Sentient beings experience contact without interruption every day; if the six faculties do not contact the six sense objects, they feel they cannot bear it. Why do they feel they cannot bear it? Because of ignorance—the root is ignorance. Only a genuine practitioner whose manas has been subdued, who has stopped grasping and has realized emptiness, can bear tranquility.