太子瑞應本起經 2.19

2.19

"The Buddha said: ‘Well said, well said, Brahmā! You wish to broadly bestow peace, rescue all worlds, cherish and benefit, comfort and deliver, delighting in causing them to attain liberation. I consider that the world is attached to craving and fond of desires, falling into the suffering of birth and death, and few are able to realize on their own that it originally arises from the twelve links of dependent origination: ignorance conditions mental formations, mental formations condition consciousness, consciousness conditions name-and-form, name-and-form conditions the six sense bases, the six sense bases condition contact, contact conditions feeling, feeling conditions craving, craving conditions grasping, grasping conditions becoming, becoming conditions birth, and birth conditions old age, death, worry, sorrow, suffering, distress, and mental affliction. A great calamity is this existence: the spirit follows craving, repeatedly undergoing birth and death. One who wishes to attain the Way must cut off craving, eliminate passion and desire, be unconditioned and non-arising. Thus ignorance ceases; ignorance ceasing, mental formations cease; mental formations ceasing, consciousness ceases; consciousness ceasing, name-and-form ceases; name-and-form ceasing, the six sense bases cease; the six sense bases ceasing, contact ceases; contact ceasing, feeling ceases; feeling ceasing, craving ceases; craving ceasing, grasping ceases; grasping ceasing, becoming ceases; becoming ceasing, birth ceases; birth ceasing, old age, death, worry, sorrow, suffering, distress, mental affliction, and all great calamities come to an end. This is called attaining the Way. Only a Buddha awakens to this; it is subtle, wondrous, and difficult to comprehend. This purity is free from foolish ideations, and cannot be known with the minds of ordinary worldlings. Under heaven there are ninety-six kinds of arts and doctrines, each serving its own object: some serve heaven and earth, the sun, moon, and five planets; some serve water, fire, ghosts, spirits, and dragon gods. They all delight in life and seek security, crave desires and relish flavors, and are fond of sounds and forms; hence they cannot take delight in the Buddha's Way, do not hear the Buddha's scriptures, and do not know the essential Dharma. Ordinary people's minds are contrary: calculating the body and the myriad things, they think they can be permanently maintained. If I were to preach to them that what the eye sees and all the myriad things are impermanent, that having a body is entirely suffering, that the body is not the self, empty, and devoid of anything, and that relatives and family members are all not one's own—straightforward words sound like their opposite, so who could believe them? It would only be a weary toil for me. It is better to enter Nirvāṇa; for this reason, I intended not to speak.’