{"collection":"Samyutta Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_sn41.1/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_sn41.1","id":"suttacentral_sn41.1","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/sn41.1/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Samyutta Nikaya"],"text":"At one time several senior mendicants were staying near Macchik\u0101sa\u1e47\u1e0da in the Wild Mango Grove. Now at that time, after the meal, on return from almsround, several senior mendicants sat together in the pavilion and this discussion came up among them: \u201cReverends, the \u2018fetter\u2019 and the \u2018things that tighten the fetters\u2019: do these things differ in both meaning and phrasing? Or do they mean the same thing, and differ only in the phrasing?\u201d Some senior mendicants answered like this: \u201cReverends, the \u2018fetter\u2019 and the \u2018things that tighten the fetters\u2019: these things differ in both meaning and phrasing.\u201d But some senior mendicants answered like this: \u201cReverends, the \u2018fetter\u2019 and the \u2018things that tighten the fetters\u2019 mean the same thing; they differ only in the phrasing.\u201d Now at that time the householder Citta had arrived at Migapathaka on some business. He heard about what those senior mendicants were discussing. So he went up to them, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to them, \u201cSirs, I heard that you were discussing whether the \u2018fetter\u2019 and the \u2018things that tighten the fetters\u2019 differ in both meaning and phrasing, or whether they mean the same thing, and differ only in the phrasing.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s right, householder.\u201d \u201cSirs, the \u2018fetter\u2019 and the \u2018things that tighten the fetters\u2019: these things differ in both meaning and phrasing. Well then, sirs, I shall give you a simile. For by means of a simile some sensible people understand the meaning of what is said. Suppose there was a black ox and a white ox yoked by a single harness or yoke. Would it be right to say that the black ox is the yoke of the white ox, or the white ox is the yoke of the black ox?\u201d \u201cNo, householder. The black ox is not the yoke of the white ox, nor is the white ox the yoke of the black ox. The yoke there is the single harness or yoke that they\u2019re yoked by.\u201d \u201cIn the same way, the eye is not the fetter of sights, nor are sights the fetter of the eye. The fetter there is the desire and greed that arises from the pair of them. The ear \u2026 nose \u2026 tongue \u2026 body \u2026 mind is not the fetter of ideas, nor are ideas the fetter of the mind. The fetter there is the desire and greed that arises from the pair of them.\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re fortunate, householder, so very fortunate, to traverse the Buddha\u2019s deep teachings with the eye of wisdom.\u201d","title":"The Fetter","tradition":"Samyutta Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":418}