22.94 Flowers

SN 22.94 Flowers

Translated from the Pali by John D. Ireland

“I do not dispute with the world, Bhikkhus. The world disputes with me. A proclaimer of Dhamma does not dispute with anyone in the world. What is not believed by the wise in the world, of that I say ’It is not so.’ What is believed by the wise in the world, of that I say ’It is so.’

“And what is it, Bhikkhus, that is not believed by the wise in the world and of which I say ’It is not so’? That the body … feeling … perception … mental activities … consciousness is permanent, stable, eternal, not liable to change, is not believed by the wise in the world and I also say it is not so.

“And what is it, Bhikkhus, that is believed by the wise in the world and of which I say ’It is so’? That the body … feeling … perception … mental activities … consciousness is impermanent, unsatisfactory, liable to change, is believed by the wise in the world and I also say it is so.

“There is, Bhikkhus, in the world a world-condition which the Tathagata has fully awakened to, has fully realized. Having fully awakened to it and fully realized it he declares it, teaches it, makes it known, establishes it, discloses it, analyzes it, makes it clear. And what, Bhikkhus, in the world is the world-condition which the Tathagata has fully awakened to, has fully realized? The body, Bhikkhus, … feeling … perception … mental activities … consciousness, Bhikkhus, in the world is that world-condition the Tathagata has fully awakened to, has fully realized …

“And whosoever, Bhikkhus, when it is being declared, taught, made known, established, disclosed, analyzed, made clear by the Tathagata thus, does not understand, does not see, him, a foolish worldly person, blind, without vision, not understanding, not seeing, I can do nothing for.

“Just as a water-lily or a blue lotus or a white lotus, born in water, growing in water, having arisen above the water stands unwetted by the water, similarly, Bhikkhus, the Tathagata, brought up in the world and conquering the world, lives unsullied by the world.”