Saṃyuktāgama (299)

Original text:如是我闻。一时佛住拘留搜调牛聚落。时有异比丘来诣佛所。稽首礼足。退坐一面。白佛言。世尊。谓缘起法。为世尊作。为余人作耶。佛告比丘。缘起法者。非我所作。亦非余人作。然彼如来。出世及未出世。法界常住。彼如来自觉此法。成等正觉。为诸众生分别演说。开发显示。所谓此有故彼有。此起故彼起。谓缘无明行。乃至纯大苦聚集。无明灭故行灭。乃至纯大苦聚灭。佛说此经已。时彼比丘闻佛所说。欢喜奉行。

Explanation: A bhikṣu who came from another tribe went to see the World-Honored One, bowed his head with palms joined in reverence to the Buddha, then withdrew and sat to one side, and said to the World-Honored One: World-Honored One, was the law of dependent origination invented and created by You, the World-Honored One, or was it created by someone else? The Buddha told this bhikṣu: The law of dependent origination was not created by me, nor was it created by anyone else. Whether a Tathāgata appears in the world or does not appear in the world, the dharmadhātu permanently abides. Tathāgatas all awaken to this law themselves, accomplish perfect and complete enlightenment, and for the assembly of beings expound it in various ways, revealing and displaying the law of dependent origination—that is, what is called "when this exists, that exists; when this arises, that arises," namely, ignorance conditions volitional formations (avidyā-pratyayāḥ saṃskārāḥ), up to the gathering of the great mass of suffering. And when ignorance ceases, volitional formations cease; when volitional formations cease, the six consciousnesses cease; when the six consciousnesses cease, name-and-form ceases; when name-and-form ceases, the six sense bases cease; when the six sense bases cease, contact ceases; when contact ceases, feeling ceases; when feeling ceases, craving ceases; when craving ceases, grasping ceases; when grasping ceases, becoming ceases; when becoming ceases, birth ceases; when birth ceases, aging, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress (śoka-parideva-duḥkha-daurmanasyopāyāsa) cease, and the great mass of suffering ceases.