Skip to reading

Kaccānagotta · SN 12.15

Early Buddhist discourse · SN 12.15

A rounded grassy ridge curving between two misted valleys.
About this textContext & reading guide

The teaching to Kaccānagotta explains right view without adopting the extremes of existence and nonexistence.

Kaccānagotta · SN 12.15

At Sāvatthī.

Then Venerable Kaccānagotta went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him:

“Sir, they speak of this thing called ‘right view’. How is right view defined?”

“Kaccāna, this world mostly relies on the duality of existence and non-existence.

But for one who truly sees the origin of the world with right understanding, the concept of non-existence regarding the world does not occur. And for one who truly sees the cessation of the world with right understanding, the concept of existence regarding the world does not occur.

This world is for the most part shackled by getting involved, grasping, and insisting.

But if, when it comes to this getting involved & grasping, mental fixation, and insistence & underlying tendency, they are not attracted, do not grasp, and do not fixate on the thought, “my self”, they’ll have no doubt or uncertainty that what arises is just suffering arising, and what ceases is just suffering ceasing. Their knowledge of this is independent of others.

This is how right view is defined.

‘All exists’: this is one extreme.

‘All does not exist’: this is the second extreme.

Avoiding these two extremes, the Realized One teaches by the middle way:

‘Ignorance is a requirement for choices. Choices are a requirement for consciousness. … That is how this entire mass of suffering originates.

When ignorance fades away and ceases with no residue left behind, choices cease. When choices cease, consciousness ceases. … That is how this entire mass of suffering ceases.’”

Translations & sourcesEditions & translators
Read at SuttaCentral ↗

Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato

Source edition · Dhammatalks.org ↗

The Atlas reader presents Bhikkhu Sujato’s SuttaCentral translation. This source link preserves the edition previously cited by the Atlas; wording and numbering can differ.

Edition & attribution

Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · CC0 1.0

Read at SuttaCentral ↗

SuttaCentral · Bilara translations · Bhikkhu Sujato · CC0 1.0

Introductions, reflection questions and added section headings are editorial material, separate from the attributed translation.

The opening image is AI-generated nature artwork created for Buddhist Atlas. It is an evocative companion, not a depiction of the text’s historical setting.

Source link checked October 21, 2026. The linked publisher provides the text and its usage terms.

Connections
Guru Viking0

No connected episodes found for this text.

People & teachers4
Traditions & history2
Books1
  • In the Buddha’s Words

    Broader context: a thematic anthology of early Buddhist discourses; this link does not claim that the anthology contains this specific text.

    Source
Topics2

Make yourself comfortable

Text size