Deep Commentary

This verse was taught by the Buddha at Bamboo Grove Monastery, in connection with the story of Uggasena. According to the story, a troupe of acrobats came to perform for seven days in Rajagaha. The king and many spectators came to watch. The performers were praised and received many gifts, including money and gold. In the troupe there was a young woman who was both beautiful and highly skilled. The son of a wealthy treasurer saw her and became completely infatuated. When he returned home, he said, “If I can marry her, I will live; if not, I would rather die.” From then on, he missed her so intensely that he could neither eat nor sleep. His parents tried everything to advise him, but he stubbornly insisted that he would kill himself unless he could marry her. Seeing his son suffering so deeply from love, the father finally gave in and offered money to the leader of the acrobat troupe, who was the girl’s father, asking him to let his daughter meet his beloved son. The troupe leader refused at first and set one condition: the young man had to join the troupe before he would give his daughter in marriage. Because the young man wanted to live with the woman he loved, he accepted and joined the acrobat troupe. After the marriage, he traveled with the troupe and performed in many places. Before long, his wife gave birth to a son. While playing with the child, she often used indirect and cutting words to mock her husband. He understood her meaning and felt wounded in his pride. He told her that if she continued to speak in such a scornful way, he would leave her. Trusting in her own talent as a performer, his wife showed little concern for him. Seeing her pride and contempt, he resolved to learn acrobatics himself. He trained with his father-in-law, and after a short time he became an excellent performer, warmly admired by the audience. One day the troupe returned to perform in Rajagaha. Uggasena climbed to the top of a pole about thirty meters high and balanced there in the air. On that day, the Buddha perceived that Uggasena was ready to be guided, so he spoke four lines of verse. Upon hearing them, Uggasena attained arahantship. The next day, the Buddha and the monks entered Rajagaha for alms and came near the performance area. When the crowd saw the Buddha, everyone turned their attention to him, and no one paid attention to Uggasena’s performance anymore. Uggasena felt sorrowful and deeply disappointed. He thought to himself, “I trained for a whole year to reach this skill, yet as soon as people see the Buddha, no one cares about my performance.” Knowing his thoughts, the Buddha instructed the Elder Moggallana, “Go and tell the treasurer’s son that I wish to see his skill.” Hearing this, Uggasena became very happy and performed for the Buddha and the crowd. The Buddha then said, “Uggasena, the wise must know how to loosen the bondage of the five aggregates in the past, present, and future. Only in this way can one be free from birth, aging, sickness, and death.” After hearing the Buddha’s teaching, many people gained the pure vision of the Dharma. This verse teaches that if we wish to be free from birth, aging, sickness, and death—the four great sufferings of human life—we must quickly contemplate and let go of attachment to the five aggregates. We suffer because we take the five aggregates too seriously and cling to them as self. The five aggregates—form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness—combine to form what we call body and mind. Thus our life is a conditioned coming together. When the necessary conditions are present, life continues; when one essential condition is absent, the body falls apart. In simple terms, these five factors may be understood as matter and mind. Matter belongs to the four elements: earth, water, fire, and air. Mind consists of feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. When each factor is examined separately, nothing can be found that is truly “me” or “mine.” This is the teaching of non-self: there is no permanent, independent self. What we call “I,” “me,” or “myself” is only a conventional name, empty of fixed substance. This is what the Heart Sutra means when it says that the five aggregates are empty. Whoever continually contemplates and realizes this clearly, the Buddha says, will cross beyond all suffering. Otherwise, suffering continues without end because one mistakenly takes the false self to be real. Birth, aging, sickness, and death all arise because of this body. The body is changing, impermanent, and subject to decay. Arising, abiding, changing, and passing away are the basic pattern governing all conditioned things. As long as we still love and cling to the physical body and the five aggregates, we continue wandering in the painful realms of existence. As long as we take body, mind, and all phenomena to be truly real, we continue to take birth through past, present, and future. This mistaken belief in reality is wrong view; it creates karma and keeps life drifting in the ocean of birth and death. Inevitably, we must then experience the disappointments and sufferings of this conditioned body and mind. The story above offers several memorable lessons. First, karmic relationships are difficult to avoid. When Uggasena first saw the young woman in the troupe, love struck his heart powerfully. He became lovesick, unable to eat or sleep, and was determined to marry her. His desire was fulfilled, but it was also shaped by karmic connections from the past. Second, encouragement can take unexpected forms. After they lived together and had a child, his wife wanted him to have a future and a profession. Through sharp and uncomfortable words, she struck his pride and stirred him to act. As a result, he learned the craft and became accomplished. Third, spiritual conditions are hard to predict. Knowing that Uggasena’s inner readiness had matured, the Buddha appeared, spoke the verse, and Uggasena attained arahantship. Truly, each person’s spiritual conditions are difficult to measure; only a Buddha fully understands them. This reminds us not to look down on anyone, for no one knows the depth of another person’s wholesome roots. Every being carries the seed of awakening. Fourth, we must break open the house of the five aggregates. To be liberated from the suffering of birth and death, the Buddha teaches us to release our bondage to the five aggregates. They are the house that has confined us through many lives. If we wish for liberation, we must break through this house.