Samyuktagama (Sanskrit fragments) 234.6

234.6

復作是言：「唯有尊者阿難，聰慧總持，而常給侍世尊左右，世尊讚歎多聞梵行，堪為我等於世尊略說法中廣說其義，今當往詣尊者阿難所，請求令說。」時，眾多比丘往詣尊者阿難所，共相問訊已，於一面坐。具以上事廣問阿難！爾時，阿難告諸比丘：「諦聽，善思，今當為說。若世間、世間名、世間覺、世間言辭、世間語說，此等皆入世間數。諸尊！謂眼是世間、世間名、世間覺、世間言辭、世間語說，是等悉入世間數。耳、鼻、舌、身、意亦復如是。多聞聖弟子於六入處集、滅、味、患、離如實知，是名聖弟子到世界邊、知世間、世間所重、度世間。」

Again, they said, “There’s only Venerable Ānanda. He’s wise, has a complete memory, and always attends to the Bhagavān, right and left. The Bhagavān praises him as a well-versed religious practitioner. He’s capable of explaining the meaning of the Bhagavān’s brief teaching for us. Let’s go to Venerable Ānanda and request that he explain it.”

That group of monks then went to Venerable Ānanda after having this discussion and sat to one side. They then asked Ānanda about the above subject.

It was then that Ānanda told the monks, “Listen closely, and consider it well. I will explain it for you. If the world, the world’s names, the world’s feelings, the world’s expressions, and the world’s languages are all entered, the world proliferates. Venerables, that’s to say that when the eye enters the world, the world’s names, the world’s feelings, the world’s expressions, and the world’s languages, the world proliferates. The ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are likewise.

“The well-versed noble disciple truly knows the formation, cessation, enjoyment, trouble, and escape from the six sense fields. This is called the noble disciple who travels to the end of the world, knows the world, is respected by the world, and traverses the world.”