Saṃyukta Āgama Sutta 293, Part 1

(1) Original Text: Thus have I heard. At one time, the Buddha was dwelling in the Bamboo Grove of Kalandaka near Rājagṛha. At that time, the World-Honored One addressed a visiting monk: "I have crossed beyond doubt, abandoned indecision, and plucked out the thorn of wrong views. I do not regress, and because my mind is unattached, there is nowhere where a self exists. I teach the Dharma for those monks; I teach them the principle of dependent origination in accordance with reality, which corresponds to the supramundane emptiness realized by the noble ones. That is to say: Because this exists, that exists; because this arises, that arises. Namely: Conditioned by ignorance, formations arise; conditioned by formations, consciousness arises; conditioned by consciousness, name-and-form arises; conditioned by name-and-form, the six sense bases arise; conditioned by the six sense bases, contact arises; conditioned by contact, feeling arises; conditioned by feeling, craving arises; conditioned by craving, clinging arises; conditioned by clinging, becoming arises; conditioned by becoming, birth arises; conditioned by birth, aging, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair arise. Thus arises this entire mass of suffering. And so, through the cessation of this, the entire mass of suffering ceases."

Explanation: The World-Honored One told a monk who had come from elsewhere: "I have utterly ended all doubts, abandoned indecision regarding the path to liberation, and plucked out the thorn of wrong views. Because I no longer regress on the path to enlightenment and my mind is unattached, I see no place where a self exists. I teach the Dharma for those monks; I teach them the principle of dependent origination in accordance with reality, which aligns with the supramundane emptiness realized by the noble ones. The principle of dependent origination means that because this thing exists, that thing comes to be; because this thing is present, that thing is produced."

This is what is called the twelve links of dependent origination: Due to ignorance, mental formations arise; due to mental formations, consciousness arises; due to consciousness, name-and-form (mind and body) arises; due to name-and-form, the six sense bases arise; due to the six sense bases, contact arises; due to contact, feeling arises; due to feeling, craving arises; due to craving, clinging arises; due to clinging, becoming (existence) arises; due to becoming, birth arises; with birth, aging, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair arise. Thus, the entire mass of great suffering accumulates. Then, through practice, the entire mass of great suffering ceases.

The phrase "crossed beyond doubt" means the Buddha has completely eradicated ignorance; all doubts are gone, and his mind knows all phenomena with absolute certainty, understanding the principles of all worldly phenomena and their true nature. Sentient beings, however, have not yet crossed beyond doubt; they have too many doubts and too much ignorance, causing them to be overly fixated on appearances. All this stems from ignorance. The scope of ignorance is vast; what sentient beings do not know is countless, as numerous as the dust particles of the ten directions if counted.

Ignorance is of three kinds: single-thought ignorance, beginningless ignorance, and sand-grain-like ignorance. Even after awakening, there are still countless things unknown on the path to Buddhahood, as numerous as dust and sand. Even tenth-ground Bodhisattvas still have remnants of single-thought ignorance unbroken; only when it is utterly destroyed can one become a Buddha. Abiding in ignorance is abiding in darkness. The most fundamental wrong view is the view of self (ātma-dṛṣṭi), because with the notion of 'I', all afflictions arise; all wrong views come because of the self. Once the view of self is severed, the other wrong views will be severed one by one. The World-Honored One plucks out the thorn of wrong views for us; all incorrect views are completely eradicated, and thus ignorance is entirely exhausted. Where there is ignorance, there are wrong views; even after awakening, wrong views still exist. Only upon attaining Buddhahood are there no wrong views.