Not Knowing
the Nature & Cause of Form causes Speculation to arise:
At Savatthi the wanderer Vacchagotta approached the Blessed One & greeted him.
Having concluded their compliments, he sat down and asked the Blessed Buddha:
Master Gotama, what is the cause, condition & reason why these various
speculative
views arise in the world:
This Universe is eternal, or This Universe is not eternal. &;
This Universe is finite, or This Universe is infinite. &;
Vitality & the body are the same, or biological life is one thing, the body is
another. &;
The Tathagata exists after death, or The Tathagata does not exist after death.
Or;
The Tathagata both exists & does not exist after death. Or;
The Tathagata neither exists, nor does not exist after death ?
The Blessed Buddha replied:
It is, Vaccha, because of neither knowing form, nor the cause of emergence of
form,
nor the cause of the ceasing of form, nor the Way to cease form, that those
various
speculative views, such as: "This Universe is eternal etc...etc..." arise in
the world...!!!
This ignorance, this not seeing, this not understanding, Vaccha, is the cause,
& reason,
why those various speculative views arise in this world...!!!
Source:
The Grouped Sayings by the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya. Book III 257-8
The Vacchagotta section 33. Thread on Not Knowing: Aññānā Sutta (1)
http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html
