SN 36.21: Sīvaka Sutta – To Sīvaka
Translated by Bhante Suddhāso
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On one occasion the Fortunate One was living at Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, at the Squirrel’s Feeding Area. Then the wanderer Moḷiyasīvaka approached the Fortunate One and exchanged pleasantries with him. When the appropriate pleasantries were finished, Moḷiyasīvaka sat to one side and said to the Fortunate One, “Sir Gotama, there are some contemplatives and priests who teach this, who believe this: ‘Everything a person experiences – whether pleasant, painful, or neutral – is entirely pre-determined.’ What does Sir Gotama say about this?”
“Sīvaka, some feelings arise from excess bile. Sīvaka, it can be personally known that some feelings arise from bile; and the world also agrees that it is true that some feelings arise from excess bile. In this case, Sīvaka, those contemplatives and priests who teach and believe that ‘Everything a person experiences – whether pleasant, painful, or neutral – is entirely pre-determined’ neglect what they have personally known as well as what the world agrees is true. Therefore, I say that it is wrong of those contemplatives and brahmins.
“Sīvaka, some feelings arise from excess phlegm… excess wind… a combination [of the above]… change of season… improper sustenance… overexertion… the result of karma. In this case, Sīvaka, those contemplatives and priests who teach and believe that ‘Everything a person experiences – whether pleasant, painful, or neutral – is entirely pre-determined’ neglect what they have personally known as well as what the world agrees is true. Therefore, I say that it is wrong of those contemplatives and brahmins.”
When this was said, the wanderer Moḷiyasīvaka said to the Fortunate One, “Excellent, Sir Gotama! Excellent, Sir Gotama! Sir Gotama, just as one might set upright what had been overturned, or reveal what had been hidden, or explain the path to one who is confused, or bring an oil-lamp into the dark so those with eyes can see, in the same way the Dhamma has been revealed in many ways by Sir Gotama. I go to Sir Gotama for refuge, and to the Dhamma, and to the monastic Saṅgha. May Sir Gotama remember me as a lay devotee who has taken life-long refuge from this day forth.”
“Bile, phlegm, wind, a combination, the seasons,
Impropriety, and overexertion – with the result of karma as the eighth.”