{"collection":"Samyutta Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_sn56.41/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_sn56.41","id":"suttacentral_sn56.41","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/sn56.41/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Samyutta Nikaya"],"text":"At one time the Buddha was staying near R\u0101jagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels\u2019 feeding ground. There the Buddha addressed the mendicants: \u201cOnce upon a time, mendicants, a certain person left R\u0101jagaha, thinking \u2018I\u2019ll speculate about the world.\u2019 They went to the Sum\u0101gadh\u0101 lotus pond and sat down on the bank speculating about the world. Then that person saw an army of four divisions enter a lotus stalk. When he saw this he thought, \u2018I\u2019ve gone mad, really, I\u2019ve lost my mind! I\u2019m seeing things that don\u2019t exist in the world.\u2019 Then that person entered the city and informed a large crowd, \u2018I\u2019ve gone mad, really, I\u2019ve lost my mind! I\u2019m seeing things that don\u2019t exist in the world.\u2019 \u2018But how is it that you\u2019re mad? How have you lost your mind? And what have you seen that doesn\u2019t exist in the world?\u2019 \u2018Sirs, I left R\u0101jagaha, thinking \u201cI\u2019ll speculate about the world.\u201d I went to the Sum\u0101gadh\u0101 lotus pond and sat down on the bank speculating about the world. Then I saw an army of four divisions enter a lotus stalk. That\u2019s why I\u2019m mad, that\u2019s why I\u2019ve lost my mind. And that\u2019s what I\u2019ve seen that doesn\u2019t exist in the world.\u2019 \u2018Well, my man, you\u2019re definitely mad, you\u2019ve definitely lost your mind. And you\u2019re seeing things that don\u2019t exist in the world.\u2019 But what that person saw was in fact real, not unreal. Once upon a time, a battle was fought between the gods and the titans. In that battle the gods won and the titans lost. The defeated and terrified titans entered the citadel of the titans through the lotus stalk only to confuse the gods. So mendicants, don\u2019t speculate about the world. For example: the cosmos is eternal, or not eternal, or finite, or infinite; the soul and the body are one and the same, or the soul is one thing, the body another; after death, a realized one still exists, or no longer exists, or both still exists and no longer exists, or neither still exists nor no longer exists. Why is that? Because those thoughts aren\u2019t beneficial or relevant to the fundamentals of the spiritual life. They don\u2019t lead to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment. When you think something up, you should think: \u2018This is suffering\u2019 \u2026 \u2018This is the origin of suffering\u2019 \u2026 \u2018This is the cessation of suffering\u2019 \u2026 \u2018This is the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering\u2019. Why is that? Because those thoughts are beneficial and relevant to the fundamentals of the spiritual life. They lead to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment. That\u2019s why you should practice meditation \u2026\u201d","title":"Speculation About the World","tradition":"Samyutta Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":447}