Saṃyuktāgama (285), Part Two

(2) Original text: 又作是念。取复何缘。何法有故取有。何法缘故取有。即正思惟。如实无间等起知。取法味着。顾念心缚。爱欲增长。彼爱有故取有。爱故缘取。取缘有。有缘生。生缘老病死忧悲恼苦。如是如是纯大苦聚集。

Explanation: The Buddha said: I again gave rise to a doubt-laden thought: on account of what does the grasping of the five-aggregate body arise? Because of the existence of what dharma does grasping exist? Conditioned on what dharma does grasping arise? After giving rise to such a thought, I immediately entered into right contemplation, and then there arose true, unbroken, uninterrupted wisdom, and I realized that the reason there is a mind of grasping is that there is craving for and clinging to the worldly dharmas of the five aggregates; the mind constantly dwells upon and cherishes these dharmas, and thus the mind is bound by them, and the craving and desire for the worldly dharmas of the five aggregates continually increase. Because there is craving, there is a mind of grasping; because of craving, grasping arises. Because of grasping, the existence of the three realms arises; because there is the existence of the three realms, living beings are born into it. After living beings are born, there is aging, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress, and measureless great suffering thus accumulates.

The meaning conveyed by this passage is that craving and desire are the direct root of the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death; therefore craving is suffering, not bliss—it is the cause of suffering, not the cause of bliss. Sentient beings are deluded and do not understand this principle; everywhere they crave, clinging and cherishing without letting go, and they have never entered deep meditative concentration to carefully contemplate: what in this world is worth craving and coveting? What is the result of such craving? Is there any bliss to be attained? What is the essence of craving? What is truly worth craving without letting go, worth grasping without cease?

If the causes and conditions are complete, in a solitary and quiet place, one should engage in quiet, meticulous contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) upon all dharmas and all mental activities, and then one will truly understand that in fact nothing in all dharmas is worth craving; all desires are unreal and are all suffering; the world fundamentally has nothing, and there is no world at all. Then the mind becomes empty; when the mind is empty, suffering is extinguished, bliss is attained, and one is liberated. The key is to have the courage to trace things back to their source, to investigate link by link, to deeply examine what mind and dharmas really are and what they contain; in the end one will discover that mind and dharmas are nothing at all and have nothing at all, and then the affairs of the world will be ended and resolved, and one will be liberated and at ease.