1.
The First Discourse on Before the Enlightenment
13.
At Sāvatthī.
"Before the enlightenment, monks, while still unenlightened, being just a Bodhisatta, this occurred to me -
'What indeed is the gratification in the eye, what is the danger, what is the escape?
What of the ear? etc.
What of the nose?
What of the tongue?
What of the body?
What is the gratification in the mind, what is the danger, what is the escape?'
This occurred to me, monks -
'Whatever happiness and pleasure arises dependent on the eye, this is the gratification in the eye.
That the eye is impermanent, suffering, subject to change, this is the danger in the eye.
Whatever is the removal of desire and lust, the abandoning of desire and lust regarding the eye, this is the escape from the eye.
Whatever the ear, etc.
Whatever the nose, etc.
Whatever happiness and pleasure arises dependent on the tongue, this is the gratification in the tongue.
That the tongue is impermanent, suffering, subject to change, this is the danger in the tongue.
Whatever is the removal of desire and lust, the abandoning of desire and lust regarding the tongue, this is the escape from the tongue.
Whatever the body, etc.
Whatever happiness and pleasure arises dependent on the mind, this is the gratification in the mind.
That the mind is impermanent, suffering, subject to change, this is the danger in the mind.
Whatever is the removal of desire and lust, the abandoning of desire and lust regarding the mind, this is the escape from the mind.'
"As long as I, monks, did not directly know as it really is the gratification of these six internal sense bases as gratification, the danger as danger, and the escape as escape, I did not acknowledge, monks, in the world with its gods, with its Māras, with its Brahmās, among the generation with its ascetics and brahmins, with its gods and humans, that I had fully awakened to the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment. But when I, monks, directly knew as it really is the gratification of these six internal sense bases as gratification, the danger as danger, and the escape as escape, then I acknowledged, monks, in the world with its gods, with its Māras, with its Brahmās, among the generation with its ascetics and brahmins, with its gods and humans, that I had fully awakened to the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment. And knowledge and vision arose in me - 'Unshakable is my liberation, this is the last birth, there is now no more rebirth.' The first.