Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
In the last watch of the same night described in Ud 1.1 and Ud 1.2, the Buddha reviews dependent origination both forward and in reverse in a single sitting, and marks the completion of that review not with a statement about doubt but with an image of overcoming Māra, as naturally as sunrise dispels darkness.
The third watch, both directions together
The setting is, once again, identical: the same seven days just finished, the same tree, the same riverbank. What changes is the timing — “in the last watch” — and the scope: rather than reviewing one direction of the twelve-link chain, the Buddha now applies his mind to dependent origination “going both with and against the grain.” The text delivers on this description in full, giving the entire forward chain and then the entire reverse chain, back to back, in a single discourse.
Why repeat the same twelve links a third time
Reading the three discourses in sequence, the repetition starts to look less like redundancy and more like a deliberate structure: first the arising, isolated and complete; then the ceasing, isolated and complete; then both together, as if the third review is where the first two are finally held in a single view rather than two separate ones. It mirrors, in miniature, how understanding often actually develops — piece by piece, and then, at some point, all at once.
A different closing image: scattering Māra’s army
Ud 1.1 and Ud 1.2 both end on the theme of doubt dispelled. This discourse’s verse breaks that pattern. After the familiar opening — “when things become clear to the keen, meditating brahmin” — it moves somewhere new: “he remains, scattering Māra’s army, as the sun lights up the sky.” Māra, the canon’s personification of temptation, distraction, and death, is not defeated here through struggle; the image is of an army scattered simply by the fact of the brahmin’s remaining clear, the way darkness needs no effort to disperse once the sun has risen. Full comprehension of dependent origination, seen from both directions at once, is pictured here not just as intellectual resolution but as something closer to an unforced victory.
A trio at the very start of the collection
That the Udāna’s editors placed these three discourses first, in this order, is itself worth noticing. Before any of the collection’s more famous, more dramatic scenes — a taunting spirit, a woman set at a broken family’s edge, an ascetic saved and killed within minutes — the collection opens with quiet, technical, repeated review. It suggests the editors wanted a reader’s first encounter with the “heartfelt saying” to be grounded, above all, in causal clarity, before the drama of the chapters that follow.
Key terms
The text
The setting
§1So I have heard. At one time, when he was first awakened, the Buddha was staying in Uruvelā at the root of the tree of awakening on the bank of the Nerañjarā River. There the Buddha sat cross-legged for seven days without moving, experiencing the bliss of freedom. When seven days had passed, the Buddha emerged from that state of immersion. In the last watch, he carefully applied the mind to dependent origination, going both with and against the grain:
Both directions, in one sitting
§2“When this exists, this comes to be; due to the arising of this, this arises. When this doesn’t exist, this doesn’t come to be; due to the cessation of this, this ceases. That is:
Ignorance is a requirement for choices.
Choices are a requirement for consciousness.
Consciousness is a requirement for name and form.
Name and form are requirements for the six sense fields.
The six sense fields are requirements for contact.
Contact is a requirement for feeling.
Feeling is a requirement for craving.
Craving is a requirement for grasping.
Grasping is a requirement for continued existence.
Continued existence is a requirement for rebirth.
Rebirth is a requirement for old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress to come to be.
That is how this entire mass of suffering originates.
§3When ignorance fades away and ceases no residue left behind, choices cease.
When choices cease, consciousness ceases.
When consciousness ceases, name and form cease.
When name and form cease, the six sense fields cease.
When the six sense fields cease, contact ceases.
When contact ceases, feeling ceases.
When feeling ceases, craving ceases.
When craving ceases, grasping ceases.
When grasping ceases, continued existence ceases.
When continued existence ceases, rebirth ceases.
When rebirth ceases, old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress cease.
That is how this entire mass of suffering ceases.”
The heartfelt saying
§4Then, understanding this matter, on that occasion the Buddha expressed this heartfelt sentiment:
§5“When things become clear
to the keen, meditating brahmin,
he remains, scattering Māra’s army,
as the sun lights up the sky.”
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.