AN 3.103 - Pubbeva Sambodha Sutta (Before Awakening)
Translated by Bhikkhu Candana
Source: https://www.mindreleased.com/s/Book-3_Anguttara-Nikya-A-New-Translation.pdf#page=227
License: Candana — free distribution, unaltered contents
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Candana source labels: 102. Site text ID: AN 3.103.

AN III

Suttas 102-111

Sambodhi Vagga “The Section on Awakening”

102. Pubbeva Sambodha Sutta (Before Awakening) Bhikkhus, before my Awakening, while I was still a bodhisattva, intent on attaining Full Awakening, it occurred to me:

‘What is the quest for satisfaction in the world; what is the danger in it; and what could be the escape from it?’

Then, it occurred to me:

“The arising of pleasure and its enjoyment, as a result of something that is experienced in the world, is itself the seeking of satisfaction in this world. The fact that nothing lasts, and that there is impermanence, suffering, in the face of ever-present change in the world, that is the danger. The obliteration of that pursuit after something, along with the desire for more, and therefore, the complete giving up and abandonment of the passion and the lusting after things, is truly the escape from the world.”

Bhikkhus, until I knew as it really is: the satisfaction as the satisfaction; the danger as the danger; and the escape as the escape, I did not announce to the world, together with its Devas, Māras, Brahmās, and the community of recluses and brahmins, My rightful Awakening into the Matchless and Unsurpassed Perfect Enlightenment.

It was only after My rightful, Matchless, Unsurpassed and Perfect Awakening, when I knew through direct knowledge, by seeing it as it truly is, the very seeking after satisfaction as satisfaction; the danger in its pursuit as the danger; and the escape from it as the escape, that I did declare to the world and this entire existence, together with its Devas, Māras, Brahmās, and the community of recluses and brahmins, the fact of My Matchless and Unsurpassed Perfect Enlightenment.

Then, the unmistakable Knowledge and Vision arose in Me, and I understood, without the shadow of a doubt:

‘Unshakeable is my Liberation of Heart. This is My last birth. There will be no more rebirths for me anywhere, anymore.’
