Adittapariyaya Sutta: The Fire Sermon - Buddha

 

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Gayā at Gayā Head with 1,000 monks. There he addressed the monks:

“Monks, the All is aflame. Which All is aflame? The eye is aflame. Forms are aflame. Eye-consciousness is aflame. Eye-contact is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on eye-contact—experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain—that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs.

“The ear is aflame. Sounds are aflame…

“The nose is aflame. Aromas are aflame…

“The tongue is aflame. Flavors are aflame…

“The body is aflame. Tactile sensations are aflame…

“The intellect is aflame. Ideas are aflame. Intellect-consciousness is aflame. Intellect-contact is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on intellect-contact—experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain—that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I say, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs.

“Seeing thus, the instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with the eye, disenchanted with forms, disenchanted with eye-consciousness, disenchanted with eye-contact. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on eye-contact, experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain: With that, too, he grows disenchanted.

“He grows disenchanted with the ear…

“He grows disenchanted with the nose…

“He grows disenchanted with the tongue…

“He grows disenchanted with the body…

“He grows disenchanted with the intellect, disenchanted with ideas, disenchanted with intellect-consciousness, disenchanted with intellect-contact. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on intellect-contact, experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain: With that, too, he grows disenchanted. Disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, he is released. With release, there is the knowledge, ‘Released.’ He discerns that ‘Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.’”

That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the monks delighted in the Blessed One’s words. And while this explanation was being given, the minds of the 1,000 monks, through lack of clinging/sustenance, were released from effluents.

Ref: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN35_28.html

NB: 

• T.S. Eliot, who was probably the greatest poet of the twentieth century, said that the Fire Serom was the Buddhist equivalent of the Christian Sermon on the Mount.
• Fire (aditta)"Bhikkhus, all is burning." Sabbaṃ bhikkhave ādittaṃ
• It should be noted that in the Samyutta Nikaya, there is another discourse which is also named Adittapariyaya Sutta (SN 35.235). In this discourse, the Buddha has stated that lacerating one’s sense organs with a burning red red-hot implement would be better than developing a craving for sense objects received through them, as it can lead to rebirth in hell or the animal world. 

1. It will be better for the eye to be lacerated with a red-hot burning iron pin than to grasp the sign through the features in a visual object
2. It will be better for the ear to be lacerated with a sharp burning iron stake than to grasp the sign through the features in a sound
3. It will be better for the nose to be lacerated with a sharp burning nail cutter, than to grasp the sign through the features in a smell
4. It will be better for the tongue to be lacerated with a burning, sharp razor, blazing, than to grasp the sign through the features in a taste
5. It will be better for the body to be lacerated with a burning, sharp spear, than to grasp the sign through the features in a tangible
6. It will be better to sleep than to have defiled thoughts 

The Buddha has stated that instead of the above, the learned noble disciple will reflect on the impermanent nature of the sense door, sense object, consciousness, contact and the feeling arising from contact. This reflection will lead to disenchantment, dispassion and liberation. ( https://drarisworld.wordpress.com/)

 

Other reads:

• Puttamamsa sutta on toxins in the food, contact, thought, and consciousness.

• In the Attadipa sutta (Discourse on being an island to oneself), the Buddha has instructed the monks to live with themselves as an island and a refuge, and also with Dhamma as an island and a refuge. Living that way, one can investigate the source of sorrow, lamentation, physical pain, mental pain, and despair. Then the Buddha has said that when an ordinary person considers the five aggregates of clinging: Form (rūpa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saññā), mental formations (sankhāra) and consciousness (viññāna), as self or considers self as possessing them, or considers self to be in them, or considers them to be in self, when they change by their very nature, it leads to the arising of sorrow, lamentation, physical pain, mental pain and despair. Then the Buddha has stated how when one truly understands the impermanent and changeable nature of the five aggregates, one will abandon any sorrow, lamentation, physical pain, mental pain, and despair, and will live happily in a state of temporary liberation.

• The nature of all aggregates is intrinsically empty of independent existence, and these aggregates do not constitute a "self" of any kind.

• In the Thana sutta, the Buddha has described a practical and realistic means of knowing certain traits of another person. The four traits that the Buddha has referred to are morality, purity, resilience, and wisdom. The Buddha has also warned that not everyone would be able to know such traits in another person. A person needs to be attentive and wise and be in contact with the other person for a long time to be able to know those traits properly. Then the Buddha has described different types of contact that needs to be there in order to know each trait. To know someone else’s morality, one has to live with that person; to know purity, one has to have dealings with that person; to know resilience, one has to observe how that person manages diversity; and to know wisdom, one needs to have discussions on different topics with that person. The Buddha has mentioned the same four factors briefly in another discourse named Sattajatila sutta of the Samyutta Nikaya (collection of the Buddha’s connected discourses).  .....To know ownself and its morality, purity, resilience, and wisdom, I should observe my own words and actions; are they consistent, pure, and spotless?   "‘For a long time, this person’s actions have been untorn, unbroken, spotless, and unsplattered. He has been consistent in his actions. He has consistently practised his precepts. He is virtuous, a virtuous person, not an unvirtuous person.”