A Duality (1st)Paṭhamadvayasutta

“Mendicants, I will teach you a duality.“Dvayaṁ vo, bhikkhave, desessāmi. Listen …Taṁ suṇātha.

And what is a duality?Kiñca, bhikkhave, dvayaṁ? It’s just the eye and sights, the ear and sounds, the nose and smells, the tongue and tastes, the body and touches, and the mind and ideas.Cakkhuñceva rūpā ca, sotañceva saddā ca, ghānañceva gandhā ca, jivhā ceva rasā ca, kāyo ceva phoṭṭhabbā ca, mano ceva dhammā ca— This is called a duality.idaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, dvayaṁ.

Mendicants, suppose someone was to say:Yo, bhikkhave, evaṁ vadeyya: ‘I’ll deny this duality and describe another duality.’ They’d have no grounds for that claim,‘ahametaṁ dvayaṁ paccakkhāya aññaṁ dvayaṁ paññapessāmī’ti, tassa vācāvatthukamevassa. they’d be stumped by questions, and, in addition, they’d get frustrated.Puṭṭho ca na sampāyeyya. Why is that?Taṁ kissa hetu? Because they’re out of their element.”Yathā taṁ, bhikkhave, avisayasmin”ti.