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In the Suttas, the Fire Sermon is the third discourse delivered by the Buddha several months after his enlightenment, on top of the Gayasisa Hill, near Gaya, India. He delivered it to a thousand newly converted ascetics who formerly practiced a sacred fire ritual. Having led the thousand bhikkhus monks to Gaya’s Head, the Blessed One reflected, “What kind of Dhamma talk would be suitable for them?” He then realized, In the past they worshipped the fire morning and night. I will teach them that the twelve sense bases are burning and ablazing. In this way they will attain arahanship. In the discourse, the Buddha describes the sense bases and resultant mental phenomena as burning with passion, aversion, delusion and suffering. Seeing such, a noble disciple becomes disenchanted with, dispassionate toward and thus liberated sense bases, achieving arahantship. Bhikkhus, all is burning Sabbam bhikkhave Adittam. The ensuing text reveals all (sabba) refers to: * the six internal senses, the six external senses, consciousness, the contact, what is subsequently felt: pleasure, pain, or neither. By burning ( Aditya) is meant: The fire of passion, the fire of aversion, delusion, the manifestation of suffering: birth, aging, and death, sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, and despairs. ******* Adittapariyaya Sutra: The Fire Sermon Thus I have heard. On one occasion, the Blessed One was living in Gaya, at Gayasisa, together with a thousand bhikkhus. There he addressed the bhikkhus. Bhikkhus, all is burning. And what is all that is burning ? The eye is burning, forms are burning, eye- consciousness is burning, eye-contact is burning, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither- painful -nor- pleasant that raises with eye- contact for it’s indispensable condition, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs. The ear is burning, sounds are burning… The nose is burning, odors are burning… The tongue is burning, flavors are burning… The body is burning, tangibles are burning… The mind is burning, ideas are burning, mind- consciouness is burning, mind- contact is burning, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful- or- neither- painful - nor- pleasant that arises, with mind- contact for it’s indispensable condition, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with the fire of birth, aging and death, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs. Bhikkhus, when a noble follower who has heard ( the truth) sees thus, he finds estrangement in the eye, finds estrangement in forms, finds estrangement in eye- consciousness, finds estrangement in eye- contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither - painful - nor pleasant that arises with eye- contact for it’s indispensable condition, in that too he finds estrangement. He finds estrangement in the ear …in sounds… He finds estrangement in the nose … in odors… He finds estrangement in the tongue… in flavors… He finds estrangement in the body… in tangibles… He finds estrangement in the mind, finds estrangement in ideas, finds estrangement in mind- consciousness, finds estrangement in mind- contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither painful -nor- pleasant that arises with mind- contact for it’s indispensable condition, in that too, he finds estrangement. When he finds estrangement, passion fades out. With the fading of passion, he is liberated. When liberated, there is knowledge. He understands: Birth is exhausted, the holy life has been lived out, what can be done is done, of this there is no more beyond. That is what the Blessed One said: The bhikkhus we’re glad and they approved his words. Now during his utterance, the hearts of those thousand bhikkhus were liberated from taints through clinging no more.
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