In the Buddha's Words - Bhikkhu Bodhi [22]
(from DN 15: Mahānidāna Sutta; II 58)
(4) The Roots of Violence and Oppression
“Greed, hatred, and delusion of every kind are unwholesome.16 Whatever action a greedy, hating, and deluded person heaps up—by deeds, words, or thoughts—that too is unwholesome. Whatever suffering such a person, overpowered by greed, hatred, and delusion, his thoughts controlled by them, inflicts under false pretexts upon another—by killing, imprisonment, confiscation of property, false accusations, or expulsion—being prompted in this by the thought, ‘I have power and I want power,’ all this is unwholesome too.”
(from AN 3:69; I 201–2)
4. WITHOUT DISCOVERABLE BEGINNING
(1) Grass and Sticks
The Blessed One said this: “Monks, this saṃsāra is without discoverable beginning.17 A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. Suppose, monks, a man would cut up whatever grass, sticks, branches, and foliage there are in this Jambudīpa18 and collect them together into a single heap. Having done so, he would put them down, saying for each one: ‘This is my mother, this my mother’s mother.’ The sequence of that man’s mothers and grandmothers would not come to an end, yet the grass, sticks, branches, and foliage in this Jambudīpa would be used up and exhausted. For what reason? Because, monks, this saṃsāra is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. For such a long time, monks, you have experienced suffering, anguish, and disaster, and swelled the cemetery. It is enough to become disenchanted with all formations, enough to become dispassionate toward them, enough to be liberated from them.”
(SN 15:1; II 178)
(2) Balls of Clay
“Monks, this saṃsāra is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. Suppose, monks, a man would reduce this great earth to balls of clay the size of jujube kernels and put them down, saying [for each one]: ‘This is my father, this my father’s father.’ The sequence of that man’s fathers and grandfathers would not come to an end, yet this great earth would be used up and exhausted. For what reason? Because, monks, this saṃsāra is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. For such a long time, monks, you have experienced suffering, anguish, and disaster, and swelled the cemetery. It is enough to become disenchanted with all formations, enough to become dispassionate toward them, enough to be liberated from them.”
(SN 15:2; II 179)
(3) The Mountain
A certain monk approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Venerable sir, how long is an eon?”19
“An eon is long, monk. It is not easy to count it and say it is so many years, or so many hundreds of years, or so many thousands of years, or so many hundreds of thousands of years.”
“Then is it possible to give a simile, venerable sir?”
“It is possible, monk,” the Blessed One said. “Suppose, monk, there was a great stone mountain a yojana long, a yojana wide, and a yojana high, without holes or crevices, one solid mass of rock.20 At the end of every hundred years a man would stroke it once with a piece of fine cloth. That great stone mountain might by this effort be worn away and eliminated but the eon would still not have come to an end. So long is an eon, monk. And of eons of such length, we have wandered through so many eons, so many hundreds of eons, so many thousands of eons, so many hundreds of thousands of eons. For what reason? Because, monk, this saṃsāra is without discoverable beginning…. It is enough to be liberated from them.”
(SN 15:5; II 181–82)
(4) The River Ganges
At Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrel Sanctuary, a certain brahmin approached the Blessed