The Blessed One was once staying among the Kurus at their market-town of Kammaasadamma. [And the Venerable Aananda said:] "Wonderful, Lord, marvelous, Lord, is the profundity of this law of Dependent Origination, and how profound it appears! And yet to me it appears perfectly plain."

"Do not say that, Aananda, do not say that! This law of Dependent Origination is indeed profound and appears profound. It is through not knowing, not understanding, not penetrating this truth[1] that this generation has become entangled like a knotted string, covered with blight, like grass and reeds, and cannot pass over the downfall, the woeful way, the sorrowful state, the cycle of birth-and-death."[2]

Notes

1.: Dhamma.
2.: Sa.msaara.

Copyright © 1985 Buddhist Publication Society. The text of this page (“Nidaana.m Sutta: Aananda's Mistake”, by Maurice O'Connell Walshe) is licensed under a Buddhist Publication Society free-distribution licence. From Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013. You may copy, reformat, reprint, republish, and redistribute this work in any medium whatsoever, provided that: (1) you only make such copies, etc. available free of charge and, in the case of reprinting, only in quantities of no more than 50 copies; (2) you clearly indicate that any derivatives of this work (including translations) are derived from this source document; and (3) you include the full text of this license in any copies or derivatives of this work. Otherwise, all rights reserved. This presentation is a derivative of that source document: it has been restyled and its links rewritten. The translation itself is unaltered.