Saṃyuktāgama, Fascicle 1 (Sūtra 13)

Original text:如是我闻。一时。佛住舍卫国祇树给孤独园。尔时。世尊告诸比丘。若众生于色不味者。则不染于色。以众生于色味故。则有染着。如是众生于受．想．行．识不味者。彼众生则不染于识。以众生味受．想．行．识故。彼众生染着于识。

诸比丘。若色于众生不为患者。彼诸众生不应厌色。以色为众生患故。彼诸众生则厌于色。如是受．想．行．识不为患者。彼诸众生不应厌识。以受．想．行．识为众生患故。彼诸众生则厌于识。

诸比丘。若色于众生无出离者。彼诸众生不应出离于色。以色于众生有出离故。彼诸众生出离于色。如是受．想．行．识于众生无出离者。彼诸众生不应出离于识。以受．想．行．识于众生有出离故。彼诸众生出离于识。

诸比丘。若我于此五受阴不如实知味是味．患是患．离是离者。我于诸天．若魔．若梵．沙门．婆罗门．天．人众中。不脱．不出．不离。永住颠倒。亦不能自证得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。诸比丘。我以如实知此五受阴味是味．患是患．离是离故。我于诸天．若魔．若梵．沙门．婆罗门．天．人众中。自证得脱．得出．得离．得解脱结缚。永不住颠倒。亦能自证得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。时。诸比丘闻佛所说。欢喜奉行。

Explanation: The World-Honored One said to the bhikṣus: If sentient beings do not savor the aggregate of form, neither loving nor delighting in it, they will not be tainted by attachment to the aggregate of form. Because sentient beings delight in, love, and savor the aggregate of form, they become tainted by and attached to it, savoring it. If sentient beings do not savor the four aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness, neither loving nor delighting in them, they will not be tainted by attachment to those four aggregates. Because sentient beings love, delight in, and savor the four aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness, they become tainted by and attached to those four aggregates, savoring them, and thus bondage arises and they cannot attain liberation.

Bhikṣus, if the aggregate of form could not become for sentient beings the peril of birth-and-death and the affliction of suffering, then sentient beings should not become weary of the aggregate of form or distance themselves from it. Because the aggregate of form is the cause of sentient beings' peril of birth-and-death and affliction of suffering, sentient beings must become weary of the aggregate of form and distance themselves from it. If the four aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness could not become for sentient beings the peril of birth-and-death and the affliction of suffering, then sentient beings should not become weary of them or distance themselves from them. Because the four aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness are precisely the peril of birth-and-death and the affliction of suffering for sentient beings, sentient beings must become weary of them and distance themselves from them.

Bhikṣus, if the aggregate of form were something from which sentient beings could not escape, and sentient beings could not attain liberation from the aggregate of form, then sentient beings should not seek to escape from the aggregate of form. Because the aggregate of form is something from which one can escape, and sentient beings can attain liberation from the aggregate of form, sentient beings must escape from the aggregate of form and be liberated from it. Likewise, if the four aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness were something from which sentient beings could not escape, and sentient beings could not attain liberation from them, then sentient beings should not seek to escape from them or seek liberation from them. Because the four aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness are something from which sentient beings can escape and be liberated, sentient beings must escape from them and be liberated from them.

Bhikṣus, if I (the World-Honored One) had not truly understood the peril of savoring, the affliction of suffering, and the essential way of escape and distancing with regard to these five aggregates of grasping, then among the devas, Māra, Brahmā, śramaṇas, brāhmaṇas, and the assemblies of devas and humans, I could not have been liberated and escaped, could not have left the cycle of birth-and-death in the six realms, would forever dwell in delusion, and moreover could not have realized anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi on my own. Bhikṣus, because I truly realized the savoring, the peril, and the escape of these five aggregates of grasping, therefore, among the devas, Māra, Brahmā, śramaṇas, brāhmaṇas, and the assemblies of devas and humans, I realized liberation on my own, escaped the cycle of rebirth, departed from the affliction of the suffering of birth-and-death, was liberated from all the fetters and bonds of ignorance, and realized anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

The above is the Buddha's teaching on the savoring, peril, and escape of the five-aggregate body. The focal point of practice here lies in how to truly introspect upon one's own love for and savoring of the five aggregates of grasping, how to truly contemplate through practice the peril of birth-and-death of the five aggregates, and how to truly cultivate practice so as to distance oneself from the five aggregates and escape the cycle of birth-and-death. This requires a very strong power of introspection (pratyavekṣā-bala) and a mind awakened to birth-and-death, as well as the ability to strictly govern one's own mind, not indulging oneself, subduing craving and afflictions, and giving rise to the mind of renunciation and the mind of cultivating the path for liberation.