SN 35:188 · The Ocean (2) (Samudda Sutta)
“‘The ocean, the ocean,’ says the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person. But that’s not the ocean in the discipline of the noble ones. It’s a great mass of water, a great body of water.
“There are forms cognizable via the eye—agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, enticing, linked with sensual desire. These are called the ocean in the discipline of the noble ones. Here this cosmos—with its devas, Māras, & Brahmās, this generation with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & commonfolk—is, for the most part, submerged, like a tangled skein, a knotted ball of string, like matted rushes & reeds, and doesn’t go beyond the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realm, the wandering-on.
“There are sounds cognizable via the ear… aromas cognizable via the nose… flavors cognizable via the tongue… tactile sensations cognizable via the body…
“There are ideas cognizable via the intellect—agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, enticing, linked with sensual desire. These are called the ocean in the discipline of the noble ones. Here this cosmos—with its devas, Māras, & Brahmās, this generation with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & commonfolk—is, for the most part, submerged, like a tangled skein, a knotted ball of string, like matted rushes & reeds, and doesn’t go beyond the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realm, the wandering-on.
Whoever has become dispassionate
to passion, aversion, & ignorance,
crosses over this ocean,
with its danger of sharks, demons, waves,
so very hard to cross.
He’s one who has
overcome ties,
forsaken death,
abandoned suffering & stress,
is acquisition-free
with no further becoming.
Having gone to his end, he
has no measure,
has bewildered, I tell you,
Death’s king.
See also: MN 67; MN 72; SN 22:36; SN 22:86; SN 44:1; Iti 109; Sn 5:6
Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. © 2014 / rev. 2017 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu — released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 licence, for free distribution only. Source: dhammatalks.org (Metta Forest Monastery).
