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Numbered Discourses · AN 3.103

  • Numbered Discourses 3.103Aṅguttara Nikāya 3.103
  • 11. Awakening11. Sambodhavagga

Before AwakeningPubbevasambodhasutta

“Mendicants, before my awakening—when I was still unawakened but intent on awakening—I thought:“Pubbeva me, bhikkhave, sambodhā anabhisambuddhassa bodhisattasseva sato etadahosi: ‘What’s the gratification in the world? What’s the drawback? What’s the escape?’‘ko nu kho loke assādo, ko ādīnavo, kiṁ nissaraṇan’ti?

Then it occurred to me:Tassa mayhaṁ, bhikkhave, etadahosi: ‘The pleasure and happiness that arise from the world: this is its gratification.‘yaṁ kho lokaṁ paṭicca uppajjati sukhaṁ somanassaṁ, ayaṁ loke assādo.

That the world is impermanent, suffering, and perishable: this is its drawback.Yaṁ loko anicco dukkho vipariṇāmadhammo, ayaṁ loke ādīnavo.

Removing and giving up desire and greed for the world: this is its escape.’Yo loke chandarāgavinayo chandarāgappahānaṁ, idaṁ loke nissaraṇan’ti.

As long as I didn’t truly understand the world’s gratification, drawback, and escape in this way for what they are, I didn’t announce my supreme perfect awakening in this world with its gods, Māras, and divinities, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its gods and humans.Yāvakīvañcāhaṁ, bhikkhave, evaṁ lokassa assādañca assādato ādīnavañca ādīnavato nissaraṇañca nissaraṇato yathābhūtaṁ nābbhaññāsiṁ, neva tāvāhaṁ, bhikkhave, sadevake loke samārake sabrahmake sassamaṇabrāhmaṇiyā pajāya sadevamanussāya ‘anuttaraṁ sammāsambodhiṁ abhisambuddho’ti paccaññāsiṁ.

But when I did truly understand the world’s gratification, drawback, and escape in this way for what they are, I announced my supreme perfect awakening in this world with its gods, Māras, and divinities, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its gods and humans.Yato ca khvāhaṁ, bhikkhave, evaṁ lokassa assādañca assādato ādīnavañca ādīnavato nissaraṇañca nissaraṇato yathābhūtaṁ abbhaññāsiṁ, athāhaṁ, bhikkhave, sadevake loke samārake sabrahmake sassamaṇabrāhmaṇiyā pajāya sadevamanussāya ‘anuttaraṁ sammāsambodhiṁ abhisambuddho’ti paccaññāsiṁ.

Knowledge and vision arose in me:Ñāṇañca pana me dassanaṁ udapādi: ‘My freedom is unshakable; this is my last rebirth; now there’ll be no more future lives.’”‘akuppā me vimutti, ayamantimā jāti, natthi dāni punabbhavo’”ti.

Similar passages elsewhere

Found by meaning, not by citation: the passages in other texts whose wording sits closest to a passage here.

  1. AN 3.104 Gratification (1st) 0.82near 0.1Numbered Discourses 3.104 11. Awakening Gratification (1st) “Mendicants, I went in search of the world’s gratification, and I found it. I’ve seen clearly with wisdom the full extent of gratification in the world. I went…
  2. SN 35.13 Before My Awakening (Interior) 0.69near 0.1Linked Discourses 35.13 2. Pairs Before My Awakening (Interior) At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, before my awakening—when I was still unawakened but intent on awakening—I thought: ‘What’s the gratification, the drawback, and th…
  3. SN 14.31 Before Awakening 0.66near 0.1Linked Discourses 14.31 4. Chapter Four Before Awakening At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, before my awakening—when I was still unawakened but intent on awakening—I thought: ‘What’s the gratification, the drawback, and the escap…
  4. SN 22.26 Gratification 0.63near 0.1Linked Discourses 22.26 3. The Burden Gratification At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, before my awakening—when I was still unawakened but intent on awakening—I thought: ‘What’s the gratification, the drawback, and the escape whe…
  5. AN 3.105 Gratification (2nd) 0.56near 0.1Numbered Discourses 3.105 11. Awakening Gratification (2nd) “Mendicants, if there were no gratification in the world, sentient beings wouldn’t be aroused by it. But because there is gratification in the world, sentient b…