The Related Suttas Collection 22.28

3. The Burden

Gratification (3rd)

At Sāvatthī.

“Bhikkhus, if there were no gratification in form, sentient beings wouldn’t be aroused by it. But since there is gratification in form, sentient beings are aroused by it. If form had no drawback, sentient beings wouldn’t grow disillusioned with it. But since form has a drawback, sentient beings do grow disillusioned with it. If there were no escape from form, sentient beings wouldn’t escape from it. But since there is an escape from form, sentient beings do escape from it.

If there were no gratification in feeling … perception … functioning patterns … consciousness, sentient beings wouldn’t be aroused by it. But since there is gratification in consciousness, sentient beings are aroused by it. If consciousness had no drawback, sentient beings wouldn’t grow disillusioned with it. But since consciousness has a drawback, sentient beings do grow disillusioned with it. If there were no escape from consciousness, sentient beings wouldn’t escape from it. But since there is an escape from consciousness, sentient beings do escape from it.

As long as sentient beings don’t truly understand these five grasping aggregates’ gratification, drawback, and escape for what they are, they haven’t escaped from this world—with its gods, Māras, and Brahmās, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its gods and humans—and they don’t live detached, liberated, with a mind free of limits.

But when sentient beings truly understand these five grasping aggregates’ gratification, drawback, and escape for what they are, they’ve escaped from this world—with its gods, Māras, and Brahmās, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its gods and humans—and they live detached, liberated, with a mind free of limits.”