Mata Sutta

Translation by Bhikkhuni Uppalavanna

I heard thus. At one time the Blessed One was living in the monastery offered by Anàthapiõóika in Jeta's grove in Sàvatthi.

From there the Blessed One addressed the monks:

"Monks, without an end is the train of existence, a beginning cannot be pointed out of beings enveloped in ignorance and bound by craving, running from one existence to another.

"Monks, you could not find a being who was not your mother in the past, in this long train of existences.

"What is the reason? Monks, without an end is the train of existence, a beginning cannot be pointed out, of beings enveloped in ignorance and bound by craving, running from one existence to another.

"Monks, it is suitable that you should turn away from all determinations, fade and be released from them."