The Great Causes DiscourseMahṅ Nidṅna Sutta (DN 15) · 莲华归心开放中文佛学资料库

- suttas - - evening talks - short morning talks - lectures - guided meditations - talk collections - other themes - chants - - - - à¹à¸à¸¢ - Franā§ais - Espaā±ol - - Portuguāªs - Ð ÑÑÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹ - - - Ð£ÐºÑÐ°ÑÐ½ÑÑÐºÐ° Submit Search - Home - Suttas - DN - DN 15 The Great Causes Discourse ## Browse Suttas Go to Dīgha Nikṅya index DN index Show outline show outline ## Outline - (Top) - Introduction - Aging-&-Death - Birth - Becoming - Clinging - Craving - Dependent on Craving - Feeling - Contact - Name-&-Form - Consciousness - Delineations of a Self - Non-Delineations of a Self - Assumptions of a Self - The Monk Released - Seven Stations of Consciousness - Eight Emancipations const prefersTocHidden = window.sessionStorage.getItem('user-prefers-toc-hidden') ?? window.localStorage.getItem('user-prefers-toc-hidden') ?? false; if (prefersTocHidden) { const tocToggleButton = document.getElementById("tocToggle"); const bookToc = document.getElementById("bookToc"); bookToc.classList.remove("show"); tocToggleButton.setAttribute("aria-expanded", false); tocToggleButton.querySelectorAll("[data-show-text]").forEach(el => { el.setAttribute("data-hide-text", el.innerText); el.innerText = el.getAttribute("data-show-text"); }); } ## The Great Causes Discourse Mahṅ Nidṅna SuttaÂ Â (DNÂ 15) ## Introduction This is one of the most profound discourses in the Pali Canon. It gives an extended treatment of the teachings of dependent co-arising (paṭicca samuppṅda) and not-self (anattṅ) in an outlined context of how these teachings function in practice. The first part of the discourse takes the factors of dependent co-arising in sequence from effect to cause, tracing them down to the mutual dependency of name-&-form (mental and physical activity) on the one hand, and consciousness on the other. In connection with this point, it is worth noting that the word "great" in the title of the discourse may have a double meaning: modifying the word "discourse"—itâs a long discourse—and modifying "causes," referring to the fact that name-&-form and consciousness as causal factors can account for everything describable in the cosmos. After tracing the basic sequence of factors in the causal pattern, the discourse then reviews their inter-relationships, showing how they can explain stress and suffering both on the individual and on the social level. The second part of the discourse, taking up the teaching of not-self, shows how dependent co-arising gives focus to this teaching in practice. It begins with a section on Delineations of a Self, classifying the various ways in which a sense of "self" might be defined in terms of form. The scheme of analysis introduced in this section—classifying views of the self according to the variables of form and formless; finite and infinite; already existing, naturally developing in the future, and alterable through human effort—covers all the theories of the self proposed in the classical Upaniṃ£ads, as well as all theories of self or soul proposed in more recent times. The inclusion of an infinite self in this list gives the lie to the belief that the Buddhaâs teachings on not-self were denying nothing more than a sense of "separate" or "limited" self. The discourse points out that even a limitless, infinite, all-embracing sense of self is based on an underlying tendency in the mind that has to be abandoned. The following section, on Non-delineations of a Self, shows that it is possible for the mind to function without reading a "self" into experience. The remaining sections focus on ways in which this can be done by treating the sense of self as it relates to different aspects of name-&-form. The first of these sections—Assumptions of a Self—focuses on the sense of self as it relates to feeling, one of the "name" factors in name-&-form. The next section—Seven Stations of Consciousness—focuses on form, formlessness, and perception, which is another one of the "name" factors that allows a place for consciousness to land and grow on the "macro" level in the cycle of death and rebirth. The last section—Eight Emancipations—focuses on form, formlessness, and perception on the "micro" level in the practice of meditative absorption (jhṅna). In each of these cases, once the sense of attachment and identification with name-&-form can be broken, the mutual dependency between consciousness and name-&-form is broken as well. This brings about total freedom from the limits of "the extent to which there are means of designation, expression, and delineationâ¦ the extent to which the dimension of discernment extends, the extent to which the cycle revolves for the manifesting (discernibility) of this world—i.e., name-&-form together with consciousness." This is the release at which the Buddhaâs teachings are aimed. *Â *Â * I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was living among the Kurus. Now, the Kurus have a town named Kammṅsadhamma. There Ven. ṅnanda approached the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to