Dutiyacetanā Sutta
In Sāvatthi.
1. Intending and Inclining #
“Wanderers,
when there is intention,
when there is planning
and when there is inclining;
there is a support for the sustenance of consciousness.[i]
When there is an object,
consciousness becomes established.
When fimly established, consciousness grows
and it moves down and enters mind and body.[ii]
Mind and body bring about the six senses;
The six senses bring about contact;
Contact brings about sensory experience;
Sensory experience brings about wanting;
Wanting brings about attachment;
Attachment bring about the sense of beingness;
The sense of beingness brings about birth;
Birth brings about aging and death;
and sadness, grief, trouble, depression and anxiety
all come into being.
Then, this whole mass of trouble comes into being.
2. Not Intending but Still Inclining #
Wanderers,
when there is no intention,
when there is no planning
but if there is still inclining;
there is a support for the sustenance of consciousness.
When there is an object,
consciousness becomes established.
When fimly established that growing consciousness
moves down and enters mind and body.
Mind and body bring about the six senses;
The six senses bring about contact;
Contact brings about sensory experience;
Sensory experience brings about wanting;
Wanting brings about attachment;
Attachment bring about the sense of beingness;
The sense of beingness brings about birth;
Birth brings about aging and death;
and sadness, grief, trouble, depression and anxiety
all come into being.
Then, this whole mass of trouble comes into being.
3. Not Intending And Not Inclining #
Wanderers,
when there is no intention,
when there is no planning
and there is no inclining;
there is no support for the sustenance of consciousness.
When there is no object,
consciousness does not become established.
When it is not fimly established
consciousness does not grow,
and it does not move down and enter mind and body.[iii]
When there’s no mind-and-body,
the six senses come to and end;
When there are no six senses,
contact comes to and end;
When there’s no contact,
sensory experience comes to and end;
When there’s no sensory experience,
wanting comes to and end;
When there’s no wanting,
attachment comes to and end;
When there’s no attachment,
the sense of beingness comes to and end;
When there’s no sense of beingness,
birth comes to and end;
When there’s no birth,
aging and death comes to and end;
and sadness, grief, trouble, depression and anxiety
all come to and end.
Then, this whole mass of trouble comes to an end.
[i] See footnotes at SN 12.38 for more information
[ii] Tasmiṁ patiṭṭhite viññāṇe virūḷhe nāmarūpassa avakkanti hoti. avakkanti 1 fem. entrance (of); appearance (of); occurrence (of); descent (of); lit. going down; avakkanti 2 fem. going down; descent (of). ava prefix. down; lower; off; away. This is the word which the Buddha uses to describe how consciousness “descends into” or “enter” nāma-rūpa. An interesting adaptation of dependent origination here, where the Buddha explains more accurately what he means by Viññāṇapaccaya Nāma-rūpa; Consciousness produces or brings about mind and body. I am choosing to use both words “move down” and “enter” which represent two possible angles of translation which I find helpful to understand the phenomena. We could also venture to suggest that consciousness “materializes” at this point, by producing more of “itself”, as an active process (saṅkhārapaccaya viññāṇa), which makes it grow (virūḷhe), and becomes coarser, more defined and moves back into form. This movement can also be experienced in meditation practice and does not need to be adhered to from a standpoint of blind faith. When a meditator’s mind is skilled in the higher mind, more specifically the formless levels of meditations, the mind will move back down into form, once the meditator goes back to their daily activities. This is one practical way of understanding this process.
[iii] Tadappatiṭṭhite viññāṇe avirūḷhe nāmarūpassa avakkanti na hoti.
