大寶積經

XIII. THE THIRTEENTH ASSEMBLY: THE BUDDHA’S DISCOURSE ON ENTERING THE WOMB

Thus have I heard. At one time, the Buddha was dwelling in the kingdom of Śrāvastī, in Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park. Early one morning, the Venerable Ānanda arose from meditation and, together with five hundred bhikṣus, went to the Buddha. They joined their palms reverently, bowed at the Buddha’s feet, and then stood to one side.

The Blessed One said to Ānanda: “The Buddha has an essential Dharma that is good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end. Its meaning is subtle and wondrous, pure and unmixed, and it fully reveals the marks of the pure holy life. This is the sūtra teaching concerning entry into the mother’s womb. You should listen carefully and reflect well upon it. I shall now distinguish and explain it for you.”

The Venerable Ānanda said to the Buddha: “Blessed One, we gladly wish to hear it.”

The Blessed One said to Ānanda: “When a sentient being is about to enter a womb, if all causes and conditions are complete, it receives a body. If the conditions are incomplete, it does not receive a body.

“What is meant by incomplete conditions? The father and mother may give rise to passionate desire, and an intermediate-state being may be present seeking a place of rebirth, yet the white and red substances of the parents may unite either too early or too late and not at the same time, or the body may be afflicted with illnesses. In such circumstances, entry into the womb does not occur.

“The mother’s womb may be afflicted by wind disorders, or its vital energies and blood may be obstructed; it may be blocked by fat or by growths of flesh; there may be a disorder of excessive saltiness, a barley-belly disorder, or a constriction of the lower back. It may resemble the mouth of a camel, a curved piece of wood from a cart shaft, the axle of a wheel, the hub of a wheel, or a leaf. It may be bent in a circle like a curved bamboo shoot; the inside of the womb may resemble the awns of a barley grain; seminal blood may continually seep forth without ceasing; there may be a watery discharge; or the passage of the womb may be too constricted.

It may be pointed above or pointed below, bent, shallow, perforated, too high, too low, too short and small, or afflicted by various other disorders. In such circumstances, entry into the womb does not occur.

“Or the parents may be noble and endowed with great merit while the intermediate-state being is lowly; or the intermediate-state being may be noble and endowed with great merit while the parents are lowly; or both may possess merit but have no mutually corresponding karma. In such circumstances, entry into the womb also does not occur.

“When that intermediate-state being is about to take conception, it first gives rise to two inverted perceptions. When the parents unite, if the intermediate-state being is male, it gives rise to desire for the mother and anger toward the father, and when the father emits semen, it regards it as its own. If the intermediate-state being is female, it gives rise to anger toward the mother and desire for the father, and when the mother emits her fluid, it regards it as its own. If the intermediate-state being does not give rise to such desire and anger, it does not take birth.

“Ānanda, how does conception take place? The father and mother give rise to passionate desire, the mother’s cycle is favorable, the intermediate-state being is present, none of the aforementioned illnesses or defects is present, and the karmic conditions are complete. When these conditions are fulfilled, conception takes place.

“When the intermediate-state being is about to enter the womb, it is also of two kinds: one without merit and one possessing great merit.

“For an intermediate-state being without merit, perceptions and observations arise in its mind, and upon seeing its surroundings it thinks: ‘Now I encounter cold winds, dark rain, noisy crowds, and many terrifying beings coming to persecute me.’ Becoming frightened, it thinks: ‘I must now flee into a grass hut or a leaf shelter, hide at the foot of a wall, or run into the mountains, marshes, dense forests, caves, or caverns.’ It also gives rise to many other kinds of visions. According to whatever place it imagines and sees, it then enters its mother’s womb.

“Ānanda, when that intermediate-state being first enters its mother’s womb, it is called a kalala. Relying upon the impure substances of its father and mother and upon its own past karma, it receives a body. That karma and each of the parental conditions do not produce the body independently; the body is received through the power of their conjunction. It is like putting curds into a vessel and using a cord and other implements to produce butter. Butter is not separately present in any one of those things, but is produced through the power of their conjunction.

“The body of the kalala is likewise conceived through the combined power of causes and conditions.

“Furthermore, Ānanda, it is like insects that arise separately in dependence upon green grass, cow dung, dates, and curds. No insect exists within any one of those things, yet insects arise through the power of causes and conditions. When those insects arise, each takes on the color of that upon which it depends, whether green, yellow, red, or white.

“Therefore, you should understand that although this body is born from the impure substances of the parents, the body cannot be found within any of the individual conditions; nor is conception possible apart from the combined power of those conditions. When that body arises, its nature does not differ from the four great elements of its parents. The earth element provides solidity, the water element provides moisture, the fire element provides heat, and the wind element provides movement.

If the body of the kalala possessed only the earth element and lacked the water element, it would be like flour or dry ashes grasped by a person’s hand and could never cohere. If it possessed only the water element and lacked the earth element, it would be like oil or water, naturally fluid and moist, and would disperse and flow away. If it possessed only the earth and water elements but lacked the fire element, it would be like a piece of fresh meat placed in the shade during summer, untouched by sunlight, which would rot and disintegrate.

If it possessed only earth, water, and fire but lacked the wind element, it would not grow. It would be like a skilled sugar artisan and his apprentice making various hollow confections: without the force of air blown into them, they could not be formed. These four great elements support one another and thereby become established.

“Therefore, you should understand that the body of the kalala is the same. It is produced through the four great elements of the parents and the wind of karma. It is not present within any single condition, but through the power of their conjunction a body is received.

“Furthermore, Ānanda, suppose a seed were fresh and pure, carefully stored so that insects had not eaten it, and it was neither rotten, scorched, dried out, nor perforated. Someone selected good, moist soil and planted that seed there. Could he then wish that in a single day the sprout, trunk, branches, leaves, flowers, and abundant fruit would all become complete?”

“Blessed One, that would not be possible.”

“Ānanda, so it is with the body of the kalala. It grows sequentially from causes and conditions; all its faculties cannot become complete at the same time. Therefore, you should understand that although the body comes from the parents, it cannot be found within any of the individual conditions. Birth occurs through the power of their conjunction.

“Furthermore, Ānanda, it is like a clear-sighted person holding a sun-crystal in the midday sunlight and suspending dry cow dung at the proper distance above it, thereby causing fire to arise.

“In the same way, the body originates from the parents. The body of the kalala possesses the five skandhas: form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. These are called name-and-form. From the very instant a body is received, one must undergo many kinds of suffering. The Buddha does not praise even this, much less the long course of wandering through the realms of rebirth.

“Just as even a little excrement is foul and stinking, how much more so a great amount.

“Who would delight in this kalala body of the five skandhas?

“Furthermore, Ānanda, this body remains in the mother’s womb for thirty-eight periods of seven days before it is born.

“During the first seven days in the mother’s womb, it is called a kalala. Its first bodily form appears like a drop of fresh cream. For seven days, heat cooks and develops it, and the four great elements gradually take shape.

“During the second seven days in the mother’s womb, a karmic wind called Pervasive Fullness is experienced. This wind is extremely subtle and gently blows against the mother’s left and right sides, causing the form of the kalala body gradually to appear. It resembles thick curds or congealed butter. Cooked by heat, it changes into the arbuda body, and the four great elements gradually take shape.

“During the third seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Treasury-Mouth is experienced. Through the power of this wind, it gradually coagulates. The arbuda changes into a peśī, shaped like a small, short pestle used for pounding medicine. Within the womb, heat cooks it, and its four great elements gradually increase.

“During the fourth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Gathering and Holding is experienced. Through the power of this wind, the peśī changes into a ghana, shaped like a warm stone. Cooked by heat, its four great elements gradually increase.

“During the fifth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Sustaining and Holding is experienced. Through the power of this wind, the ghana changes into a praśākha. Its buds break forth, revealing the two shoulders, two thighs, and head and trunk. This resembles the season when branches and shoots emerge from trees. Through the causal power of the wind, these protruding buds appear in the same way.

“During the sixth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Phạn is experienced. Through the power of this wind, four features appear: the two knees and the two elbows.

“During the seventh seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Winding and Turning is experienced. Through the power of this wind, four features appear: the two feet and the two hands. These four features are soft like masses of foam.

“During the eighth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Reversing and Turning is experienced. Through the power of this wind, twenty features appear: the twenty fingers and toes. Just as branches and shoots gradually grow when rain falls, so through the power of the karmic wind the faculties appear.

“During the ninth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Dispersing is experienced. Through the power of this wind, nine features appear: the two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, the mouth, and the openings for defecation and urination. These are called the nine features.

“During the tenth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Firm and Hard is experienced. Through the power of this wind, the body becomes firm. Another karmic wind called Universal Gate blows upon the body in the womb, causing it to swell everywhere like a guava fruit.

“During the eleventh seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Vajra is experienced. Through the power of this wind, which moves upward and downward within the womb, all the openings in the body become unobstructed. Through the power of this wind, the pregnant woman may also become sad or happy, and her temperament while walking, standing, sitting, or lying down may change. As her hands and feet move, the openings in the fetal body gradually develop. Black blood flows from its mouth, and impure fluid flows from its nostrils. The wind then circles back and ceases.

“During the twelfth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Curved-Mouth is experienced. Through the power of this wind, the large and small intestines arise between the two sides of the fetal body. They resemble lotus fibers or lotus slime placed upon the ground and coil eighteen times within the body. Another karmic wind called Piercing and Emanating causes three hundred and twenty joints and one hundred and one vital points to arise in the fetal body.

“During the thirteenth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Hunger and Thirst is experienced. Through the power of this wind, the fetal body becomes hollow and emaciated and gives rise to perceptions of hunger and thirst. The nourishing food and drink consumed by the mother permeate and sustain the fetal body through the navel and the vital points.

“The Blessed One then spoke this verse:

“During the fourteenth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Thread-Mouth is experienced. Through the power of this wind, nine hundred sinews arise, interweaving across the front, back, and two sides of the body.

“During the fifteenth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Lotus is experienced. Through the power of this wind, twenty vessels arise, and the nourishment from food and drink flows into them and enriches the body. What are these twenty?

The front, back, left, and right sides of the body each have five vessels. Each of these vessels separately has forty smaller branches, and each of those smaller vessels separately has one hundred still finer branches. On the front of the body are twenty thousand small branch vessels called Śaṅkha.

On the back of the body are twenty thousand small branch vessels called Strength. On the left side of the body are twenty thousand small branch vessels called Stability. On the right side of the body are twenty thousand small branch vessels called Complete Condition.

Thus eighty thousand large and small vessels arise in that body. They also have many colors: blue, yellow, red, white, the color of butter, the color of curds, and the color of oil. Each of these eighty thousand vessels has its own root.

From every root arise one, two, or as many as seven openings, each connected with a pore, like the openings in a lotus root.

“During the sixteenth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Amṛta is experienced. Through the power of this wind, the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, chest, four sides, the three internal organs, and the nine openings all unfold. The breath passes in and out, upward and downward, without obstruction. When food and drink nourish the body, some of it is retained, while some is digested and flows downward. It is like a skilled potter and his apprentice kneading clay, arranging cords above and below, and turning it to fashion vessels. So too, through the power of the wind and of wholesome and unwholesome karma, the eyes, ears, and other organs gradually become complete.

“During the seventeenth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Yak-Face is experienced. Through the power of this wind, the two eyes become clear and pure, and the faculties of the ears and nose are completed. It is like the surface of a mirror covered with dust and then polished clean with powdered brick, oil, and ashes. In the same way, the karmic wind blows upon the faculties of the eyes, ears, and so forth, causing them to become clear and pure.

“During the eighteenth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Great Firmness is experienced. Through the power of this wind, the faculties gradually become complete and even clearer. It is like the sun and moon obscured by clouds and mist: when a strong wind suddenly arises and disperses them, the sun and moon at once shine brilliantly. In the same way, the karmic wind blows upon the faculties and makes them clearer and purer.

“During the nineteenth seven days in the mother’s womb, through the power of the preceding karmic winds, the four faculties of the eye, ear, nose, and tongue are completed. At the first moment of entering the womb, the three faculties of the body, life, and mind were already present. Thus, by this time all the faculties are complete.

“During the twentieth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Firmly Established is experienced. Through the power of this wind, the various bones arise within the body. Twenty bones arise in each foot; four in each heel; two in each ankle; two in each knee; two in each thigh; three in the waist and lower back; eighteen in the spine; twenty-four in the ribs; thirteen in the chest; twenty in each hand; four in each arm; two in each shoulder; two in the jaw; four in the skull; and thirty-two at the roots of the teeth.

It is like a sculptor and his apprentice first using hard wood and then marking it with an inked cord to form an image. Before clay has been applied, it is called the framework of the image. The bones arise through the power of the karmic wind in the same way.

During these seven days, apart from the small bones, two hundred major bones arise.

“During the twenty-first seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Arising is experienced. Through the power of this wind, flesh arises upon the body. This is like a plasterer and his apprentice applying plaster to walls. In the same way, through the power of the karmic wind, flesh arises upon the body.

“During the twenty-second seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Floating Current is experienced. Through the power of this wind, blood arises.

“During the twenty-third seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Pure Sustenance is experienced. Through the power of this wind, skin arises upon the body.

“During the twenty-fourth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Cloud-Sustaining is experienced. Through the power of this wind, the skin is regulated, made smooth and even, and becomes bright and lustrous.

“During the twenty-fifth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Accomplishing and Sustaining is experienced. Through the power of this wind, the blood and flesh increase.

“During the twenty-sixth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Producing and Completing is experienced. Through the power of this wind, body hair, head hair, and nails arise, each connected with the vessels.

“During the twenty-seventh seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Crooked Measure is experienced. Through the power of this wind, the bodily appearance gradually takes form. If in a previous life one committed evil karma, was miserly and did not practice generosity, or disobeyed the instruction of parents and teachers, then because of that evil karma one’s bodily appearance is ugly.

If one regarded being tall, large, plump, fair, and soft as beautiful, one may instead receive a short, thin, dark, and coarse body. One may receive a body whose parts are incomplete, or one may be blind, deaf, mute, or lacking in faculties. One’s voice may be unpleasant to hear, and one’s body may be as ugly as that of a hungry ghost.

Because of evil karma, one receives such a disagreeable body. Even one’s parents and relatives take no delight in seeing it, much less others. If in a previous life one performed the ten wholesome karmas, delighted in generosity, was free from greed, miserliness, flattery, and deceit, and obeyed the instruction of parents and teachers, then one receives a body free from ugly features and disabilities.

It is upright and beautiful, endowed with excellent marks; its voice is pleasing to hear, and everyone who sees it feels affection. Through wholesome karma, one receives such a supremely excellent body.

“If the body in the mother’s womb is male, it squats on the right side of the mother’s abdomen, with both hands covering its face and its face turned toward the mother’s spine, remaining there. If it is female, it squats on the left side of the mother’s abdomen, with both hands covering its face and its back turned toward the mother’s spine, remaining there. The fetal body lies below the organ containing undigested food and above the organ containing digested food.

It is cooked by heat and lies confined as though inside a leather bag. Whether the mother eats much or little, delicious or unpleasant food, dry or moist food, or food that is bitter, pungent, salty, sour, hot, or cold; whether she engages in sexual activity, walks quickly, leaps about, lies down for a long time, or sits for a long time—the fetal body undergoes suffering in every case. While in the mother’s womb it endures many oppressive sufferings.

If this is so even among human beings, how much more so among beings in the hells, whose suffering can scarcely be illustrated. What wise person would continue to delight in a body within the ocean of birth and death?

“During the twenty-eighth seven days in the mother’s womb, eight inverted perceptions arise: first, the perception of sitting in a carriage or riding a horse; second, the perception of being in a tower; third, the perception of being upon a bed or couch; fourth, the perception of a flowing spring; fifth, the perception of a pond or lake; sixth, the perception of a river or canal; seventh, the perception of a garden; and eighth, the perception of a vast park.

“During the twenty-ninth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Flower Adornment is experienced. Through the power of this wind, the fetal body becomes bright and lustrous and its features distinct. Because the karmas created in the past differ from one another, beings possess various colors according to their individual forms: white, black, neither white nor black, bluish, dry and withered, or moist and lustrous.

“During the thirtieth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Iron-Mouth is experienced. Through the power of this wind, the head hair, body hair, and nails all grow. Various light and dark complexions also appear. These features arise according to karmic conditions.

“From the thirty-first through the thirty-fifth seven-day periods in the mother’s womb, the bodily form grows and gradually acquires the complete human appearance.

“During the thirty-sixth seven days in the mother’s womb, a mind of revulsion and detachment arises, and the child no longer delights in remaining there.

“During the thirty-seventh seven days in the mother’s womb, five inverted perceptions arise: first, the perception of impurity; second, the perception of foulness; third, the perception of a prison; fourth, the perception of darkness; and fifth, the perception of disgust. The child in the womb gives rise to these thoughts of revulsion and detachment.

“During the thirty-eighth seven days in the mother’s womb, another karmic wind called Conjoining Conditions is experienced. Through the power of this wind, the body turns. There is also a wind called Hastening Downward, which causes the head to point downward and the two arms to extend, preparing the child to be born.

If in a previous life that child accumulated karma leading to degeneration, its body may lie crosswise, with its hands and feet extended, unable to turn. Because of this evil karma, it dies within the mother’s womb. At that time, the mother undergoes great pain and may also die.

If in a previous life that child cultivated wholesome karma and created causes for longevity, then when the time of birth approaches, mother and child remain safe and are free from the aforementioned afflictions and dangers.

“After the thirty-eighth seven-day period has passed, the child must undergo many pains as it is about to be born, and only then can birth take place. Therefore, you should understand that receiving such a body is truly great suffering.

“At the first moment of birth, whether male or female, the newborn falls forth and may be caught in someone’s hands or in cloth, or may fall upon a bed or mat, inside a house, upon the ground, or in a remote place. It may be born at midday, in winter, or in summer. When cold wind or hot air touches it, the newborn body suffers great pain. It is like a living ox that has been flayed and then touches a wall, or like one lying upon bare ground and being bitten by insects and ants. It is also like a person who, after being bitten and stung by mosquitoes and horseflies, is beaten as well. The pain experienced when warm or hot bathing water touches the body of a newborn is just the same.

“After the child is born, it gradually grows. The mother nourishes it with milk produced from the blood within her body, as the Buddha has explained extensively in other sūtras.

“Therefore, you should understand that this body is entirely formed from impurities and suffering. What wise person would delight in such a body within birth and death?

“Furthermore, Ānanda, during the first seven days after birth, eighty thousand families of worms arise together with the body, moving throughout it and devouring it.

“There are two families of worms named Sĩ Phát that dwell in the hair and eat the hair. Two families dwell in the eyes and eat the eyes. Four families named Án Thừa, Hữu Ngạc, Phát Bệnh, and Viên Mãn dwell in the head and eat the head.

One family named Hắc Đạo Diệp dwells in the ears and eats the ears. One family named Tàng Khẩu dwells in the nose and eats the nose. Two families named Diêu Trịch and Biến Trịch dwell in the lips and eat the lips.

One family named Châm Khẩu dwells in the tongue and eats the tongue. One family named Lợi Khẩu dwells at the root of the tongue and eats the root of the tongue. One family named Thủ Viên dwells in the gums and eats the gums.

Two families named Thủ Võng and Bán Khuất dwell in the palms and eat the palms. Two families named Viễn Tý and Cận Tý dwell in the arms and eat the arms. Two families named Thiết and Cận Thiết dwell in the throat and eat the throat.

Two families named Kim Cương and Đại Kim Cương dwell in the heart and eat the heart. Two families named Luy and Luy Khẩu dwell in the flesh and eat the flesh. Two families named Cụ Sắc and Cụ Xưng dwell in the blood and suck the blood.

Two families named Dũng Kiện and Hương Khẩu dwell in the sinews and eat the sinews. Two families named Bất Cao and Hạ Khẩu dwell in the spine and eat the spine. One family named Chỉ Sắc dwells in the fat and eats the fat.

One family named Hoàng Sắc dwells in the bile and eats the bile. One family named Chân Châu dwells in the lungs and eats the lungs. One family named Địch dwells in the spleen and eats the spleen.

There are one hundred families named Nguyệt, one hundred named Nguyệt Khẩu, one hundred named Huy Diệu, one hundred named Huy Diện, and one hundred named Quảng Đại. These five hundred families dwell on the left side and eat the left side. Another five hundred families bearing the same five names dwell on the right side and eat the right side.

Four families named Thiểu Xuyên, Đại Xuyên, Cốt Xuyên, and Cốt Diện dwell in the bones and eat the bones. Four families named Đại Bạch, Tiểu Bạch, Hấp Lực, and Hổ Đạo dwell in the vessels and eat the vessels. Four families named Ý Lạc, Sư Tử Lực, Thố Phúc, and Đam Dục dwell in the organ containing undigested food and eat that organ.

Two families named Dũng Mãnh and Dũng Mãnh Chủ dwell in the organ containing digested food and eat that organ. Four families named Diêm Khẩu, Võng Khẩu, Uẩn Khẩu, and Điểu Khẩu dwell in the urinary tract and eat the urinary tract. Four families named Ưng Tác, Đại Tác, Toái Mạt, and Ức Sô dwell in the intestinal tract and eat the intestinal tract.

Two families named Hắc Diện and Khả Úy Diện dwell in the thighs and eat the thighs. Two families named Tật Lại and Tiểu Lại dwell in the knees and eat the knees. One family named Ngu Căn dwells in the ankles and eats the ankles.

One family named Hắc Đầu dwells in the feet and eats the feet.

“Ānanda, in brief, eighty thousand families of worms dwell in dependence upon this body, eating and sucking it day and night. They can weaken its vital energy, make its countenance haggard, and cause all kinds of painful illnesses to gather within it. They can also make the mind anxious, sorrowful, and tormented. Even a skilled physician may be bewildered and not know what medicine can cure it. What wise person would delight in such a body within birth and death?

“Furthermore, Ānanda, from birth until maturity, food and clothing nourish and establish this body. Its lifespan may reach one hundred years, or it may be shorter. Within one hundred years there are three hundred seasons: spring is the hot season, summer is the rainy season, and winter is the cold season.

Each season has four months, and each year has twelve months. In one hundred years there are twelve hundred months. Dividing these into bright and dark fortnights gives two thousand four hundred fortnights.

There are thirty-six thousand days and nights. Eating twice each day gives seventy-two thousand meals. Occasions when one does not eat are also included in this number: when one is ill, intoxicated, fasting, angry, deeply asleep, occupied in play or other activities, or drinking one’s mother’s milk.

These are called occasions of not eating. Even if this body lives for one hundred years, it must eventually die. What wise person would delight in such a body within the ocean of birth and death?

“Furthermore, Ānanda, receiving this body entails two kinds of suffering. The first is the suffering caused by the gathering of many illnesses and is called internal suffering. The second is affliction caused by humans and nonhuman beings and is called external suffering.

“What is meant by the many illnesses that gather within the body? Illnesses arise in all its parts, including the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, teeth, and neck. There are wind disorders, fever, nasal discharge, madness, emaciation, upward-rising breath and suffocation, painful and obstructed urination, leprosy, malignant tumors, hemorrhoids and fistulas, abdominal pain and intestinal constriction, virulent sores with blood and pus, chills and fevers, and all kinds of other illnesses that gather within the body.

There are also one hundred and one disorders of bile, one hundred and one disorders of wind, one hundred and one disorders of phlegm, and one hundred and one disorders produced by wind, bile, and phlegm arising in combination. These four hundred and four illnesses oppress the body and are called internal suffering.

“There is also external suffering that harms the body. One may be imprisoned, beaten, placed in stocks and chains, have one’s ears or nose cut off, have one’s hands or feet severed, be beheaded, or have one’s flesh sliced away. If devas and benevolent spirits do not protect one, nonhuman beings, ghosts, and demons may cause harm.

One may be bitten or stung by mosquitoes, horseflies, bees, ants, poisonous insects, and vermin. Heat, cold, hunger, thirst, wind, rain, and other sufferings may oppress the body. If even a human body is subject to so much suffering, how much more so the bodies of those in the lower realms, whose suffering is impossible to describe fully.

Such retribution must be undergone because of unwholesome karma created in the past. To ward off attack by weapons, one builds fortifications, walls, and moats to protect the body. To keep out wind, rain, and poisonous creatures, one constructs houses.

Because of the four hundred and four illnesses and the various internal and external sufferings, one seeks food and drink, clothing, beds and bedding, medicines, fields, gardens, rooms, gold, silver, houses, vehicles, servants, and utensils for one’s support. If these do not satisfy one’s wishes, suffering and distress arise. Even when one has more than enough, greed and miserliness arise from guarding it, and when it is scattered or lost, one again experiences intense grief and suffering.

“Ānanda, in every posture of this body of the five skandhas—walking, standing, sitting, or lying down—there is never a time without suffering. If one walks continually without a moment’s rest, it is suffering. Continually standing, sitting, or lying down are likewise all suffering.

“If, after walking for a long time, one briefly stops to rest, a perception of pleasure arises, though in truth this is not pleasure. Or after standing for a long time one briefly sits, or after sitting for a long time one briefly lies down, and falsely gives rise to a perception of pleasure, though in reality there is no pleasure. Therefore, the body of the five skandhas is said to be entirely suffering.

“If anyone seeks either personal benefit, the benefit of others, or the benefit of both self and others, that person should become disenchanted with and fearful of such sufferings, leave the household life, and undertake training. Such a person will certainly not have labored in vain with respect to the liberating Dharma of nirvana.

“If someone offers clothing, food, beds, bedding, medicine, and other necessities to such a renunciant, that person will obtain the great fruition of mighty merit.

“Ānanda, is form permanent or impermanent?”

“Blessed One, form is impermanent.”

“Ānanda, if it is impermanent, is it suffering or not suffering?”

“Blessed One, impermanent form is itself suffering.”

“Ānanda, what is impermanent and suffering is subject to decay and destruction. When a learned disciple of the Buddha hears this, does that disciple regard such a material body as self or as belonging to self?”

“Blessed One, no. Within form there is neither self nor anything belonging to self.”

“Furthermore, Ānanda, are feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness permanent or impermanent?”

“Blessed One, those four skandhas are all impermanent.”

“Ānanda, if they are impermanent, are they suffering or not suffering?”

“Blessed One, those four skandhas are all said to be suffering.”

“Ānanda, what is impermanent and suffering is subject to decay and destruction. When a learned disciple of the Buddha hears this, does that disciple regard those four skandhas as self or as belonging to self?”

“Blessed One, no. Those four skandhas truly contain neither self nor anything belonging to self.”

“Furthermore, Ānanda, this self is not found in the past, present, or future; internally or externally; in what is coarse or subtle; superior or inferior; near or far. All other dharmas likewise contain neither self nor anything belonging to self. With wisdom that accords with reality, one contemplates all dharmas as devoid of self. If a learned disciple of the Buddha contemplates in this way, that disciple gives rise to disenchantment and detachment and attains liberation, ultimate nirvana. By training in this way, that disciple realizes the Dharma body: birth has been exhausted, the holy life has been established, what had to be done has been done, and no further body will be received.”

When the Buddha had spoken this sūtra, the Venerable Ānanda became free from dust and defilement and attained the pure Dharma eye. The five hundred bhikṣus, no longer grasping at conditioned dharmas, exhausted the outflows and attained liberation of mind. Having heard the Buddha’s teaching, the entire assembly rejoiced greatly, accepted it in faith, and respectfully practiced it.