A Stick

Daṇḍasutta

A Stick

Daṇḍasutta

EN
“Mendicants, suppose a stick was tossed up in the air. Sometimes it’d fall on its bottom and sometimes the top. It’s the same for sentient beings roaming and transmigrating, shrouded by ignorance and fettered by craving. Sometimes they go from this world to the other world, and sometimes they come from the other world to this world. Why is that?
PL
“Seyyathāpi, bhikkhave, daṇḍo uparivehāsaṁ khitto sakimpi mūlena nipatati, sakimpi aggena nipatati; evameva kho, bhikkhave, avijjānīvaraṇā sattā taṇhāsaṁyojanā sandhāvantā saṁsarantā sakimpi asmā lokā paraṁ lokaṁ gacchanti, sakimpi parasmā lokā imaṁ lokaṁ āgacchanti. Taṁ kissa hetu?
EN
It’s because they haven’t seen the four noble truths. What four? The noble truths of suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path. That’s why you should practice meditation …”
PL
Adiṭṭhattā, bhikkhave, catunnaṁ ariyasaccānaṁ. Katamesaṁ catunnaṁ? Dukkhassa ariyasaccassa …pe… dukkhanirodhagāminiyā paṭipadāya ariyasaccassa. Tasmātiha, bhikkhave, ‘idaṁ dukkhan’ti yogo karaṇīyo …pe… ‘ayaṁ dukkhanirodhagāminī paṭipadā’ti yogo karaṇīyo”ti.
PL
Tatiyaṁ.

Pāli root text and English translation by Bhikkhu Sujato from SuttaCentral (https://suttacentral.net), CC0.

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