Bhūtasutta
What Has Come to Be
The Buddha asks Sāriputta to explain a verse from “The Questions of Ajita” in the Parāyana (Snp 5.2). At first, Sāriputta hesitates, but proceeds when the Buddha indicates he is looking for an answer in terms of conditionality.
Translations
Kaḷārasutta
With Kaḷāra the Aristocrat
A mendicant named Kaḷāra the Khattiya informs Sāriputta that the mendicant Moḷiyaphagguna had disrobed. Overinterpreting Sāriputta’s reply, Kaḷāra reports to the Buddha that Sāriputta had claimed to have ended all defilements. The Buddha calls Sāriputta to clarify his statements, and Sāriputta explains in terms of dependent origination.
Translations
Ñāṇavatthusutta
Grounds for Knowledge
An analysis of 44 contexts for developing insight with regard to dependent origination. This includes an important distinction between knowledge arising from direct vision of the present, and that derived from inference as to the past and future.
Translations
Avijjāpaccayasutta
Ignorance is a Condition
A mendicant asks who possesses old age and death, and the other factors. The Buddha says the question is improper, as it assumes a self as agent. Rather, dependent origination is the teaching “by the middle”, explaining phenomena according to natural conditions.