[31] Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Gayā, on Gayāsīsa, together with a thousand bhikkhus. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus:
"Bhikkhus, all is burning. And what, bhikkhus, is the all that is burning? The eye, bhikkhus, is burning, forms are burning, eye-consciousness is burning, eye-contact is burning, and whatever feeling (vedanā) arises with eye-contact as condition—whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant—that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust (rāga), with the fire of hatred, with the fire of delusion; burning with birth, aging, and death; with sorrows, lamentations, pains, griefs, and despairs it is burning, I say. …
The tongue is burning, tastes are burning, tongue-consciousness is burning, tongue-contact is burning, and whatever feeling arises with tongue-contact as condition—whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant—that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hatred, with the fire of delusion; burning with birth, aging, and death; with sorrows, lamentations, pains, griefs, and despairs it is burning, I say. …
The mind is burning, dhammas are burning, mind-consciousness is burning, mind-contact is burning, and whatever feeling arises with mind-contact as condition—whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant—that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hatred, with the fire of delusion; burning with birth, aging, and death; with sorrows, lamentations, pains, griefs, and despairs it is burning, I say.
Seeing thus, bhikkhus, the instructed noble disciple becomes disenchanted with the eye, becomes disenchanted with forms, becomes disenchanted with eye-consciousness, becomes disenchanted with eye-contact, and with whatever feeling arises with eye-contact as condition—whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant—with that too he becomes disenchanted. … And with whatever feeling arises with mind-contact as condition—whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant—with that too he becomes disenchanted. Being disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate; through dispassion he is liberated. When liberated, there is the knowledge (ñāṇa): 'Liberated.' He understands: 'Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming to any state of being.'"
This is what the Blessed One said. Elated, those bhikkhus delighted in the Blessed One's statement. And while this exposition was being spoken, the minds (citta) of those thousand bhikkhus were liberated from the taints (āsava) through non-clinging.
The Sixth.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.