Samyuttanikaya 22.8.5.79_7

22.8.5.79_7

Kiñca, bhikkhave, vedanaṃ vadethātiādīsu purimasadisaṃ vuttanayeneva veditabbaṃ. Yaṃ pana purimena asadisaṃ, tassāyaṃ vibhāvanā – sukhampi vedayatīti sukhaṃ ārammaṇaṃ vedeti anubhavati. Parato padadvayepi eseva nayo. Kathaṃ panetaṃ ārammaṇaṃ sukhaṃ dukkhaṃ adukkhamasukhaṃ nāma jātanti? Sukhādīnaṃ paccayato. Svāyamattho ‘‘yasmā ca kho, mahāli, rūpaṃ sukhaṃ sukhānupatitaṃ sukhāvakkanta’’nti imasmiṃ mahālisutte (saṃ. ni. 3.60) āgatoyeva. Vedayatīti ettha ca vedanāva vedayati, na añño satto vā puggalo vā. Vedanā hi vedayitalakkhaṇā, tasmā vatthārammaṇaṃ paṭicca vedanāva vedayatīti. Evamidha bhagavā vedanāyapi paccattalakkhaṇameva bhājetvā dassesi.

In 'And why, monks, do you call it feeling?' and so forth, it should be understood in the manner already spoken of for the previous [section]. What is not like the previous, this is the clarification: 'it feels pleasure too' (sukhampi vedayati) means it feels, experiences a pleasant object. The method is the same for both subsequent terms as well. But how has this object come to be called pleasure, pain, or neither-pain-nor-pleasure? Through being the condition for pleasure and so forth. And this meaning has already appeared in the Mahālisutta (SN 3.60): 'And because, Mahāli, form is pleasant, tied to pleasure, descended into pleasure...' And here in 'it feels', it is feeling alone that feels, not another being or person. For feeling has the characteristic of being experienced; therefore, dependent on the physical base and the object, feeling alone feels. Thus here the Blessed One analyzed and showed the particular characteristic of feeling as well.