The "Connected Discourses on the Inconceivable Beginning" contains discourses exploring the beginningless nature of saṁsāra, the cycle of birth and death. These teachings challenge the idea of a first point in time, suggesting that saṁsāra has no discernible origin. By examining the endless cycle of rebirth and the causes of suffering, these discourses offer insights into the nature of existence and the conditions for liberation.
Anamataggasaṁyutta - Connected Discourses on the Inconceivable Beginning
Paṭhama vagga - The First Chapter
The first chapter of the Connected Discourses on the Inconceivable Beginning, containing discourses 1–10.
The Buddha shares that cyclic existence has an inconceivable beginning using an analogy of grass and sticks.
PTS 2.178The Buddha shares that cyclic existence has an inconceivable beginning using an analogy of clay balls made from the earth.
PTS 2.179The Buddha explains the vastness of an aeon using a simile of wiping a mountain with a piece of fine cloth.
PTS 2.181The Buddha explains the vastness of an aeon using a simile of removing mustard seeds from an iron city.
PTS 2.182The Buddha explains how many aeons have passed and gone by with a simile of four disciples with a hundred-year lifespan each recollecting a hundred thousand aeons each day and still not being able to count them all.
PTS 2.182The Buddha explains to a brahmin that the cycle of existence has an inconceivable beginning, and that it is not easy to calculate the number of aeons that have passed by and gone.
PTS 2.183Just as a stick thrown into the air sometimes lands on its base, sometimes in the middle and sometimes on its tip, beings, obstructed by ignorance and fettered by craving, continue to run and wander in this cycle of existence.
PTS 2.184Dutiya vagga - The Second Chapter
The second chapter of the Connected Discourses on the Inconceivable Beginning, containing discourses 11–20.
The Buddha explains that when you see someone faring badly, you should conclude that you too have experienced the same over the long span of time of cyclic existence.
PTS 2.186The Buddha explains that when you see someone faring well, you should conclude that you too have experienced the same over the long span of time of cyclic existence.
PTS 2.186The Buddha shares that it is not easy to find a being who has not been your mother at some point over the long span of time of cyclic existence.
PTS 2.189The Buddha explains that it is not easy to find a being who has not been your father at some point over the long span of time of cyclic existence.
PTS 2.189The Buddha shares that it is not easy to find a being who has not been your brother at some point over the long span of time of cyclic existence.
PTS 2.189The Buddha shares that it is not easy to find a being who has not been your sister at some point over the long span of time of cyclic existence.
PTS 2.189The Buddha shares that it is not easy to find a being who has not been your son at some point over the long span of time of cyclic existence.
PTS 2.190–2.193The Buddha shares that it is not easy to find a being who has not been your daughter at some point over the long span of time of cyclic existence.
PTS 2.190–2.193