The Related Suttas Collection 12.3

1. The Buddhas

Practice

At Sāvatthī.

“Bhikkhus, I will teach you the wrong practice and the right practice. Listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.”

“Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:

“And what’s the wrong practice? Ignorance is a condition for functioning patterns.

Functioning patterns are a condition for consciousness. … That is how this entire mass of suffering originates. This is called the wrong practice.

And what’s the right practice? When ignorance fades away and ceases with nothing left over, functioning patterns cease. When functioning patterns cease, consciousness ceases. … That is how this entire mass of suffering ceases. This is called the right practice.”