Thus I have heard: One time, the Buddha was staying at Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park in Jeta’s Grove of Śrāvastī.
It was then that the Bhagavān addressed the monks, “Something that doesn’t belong to you ought to be completely abandoned. Once that has been abandoned, you’ll be happy for a long night. Monks, what are the things that don’t belong to you that ought to be quickly abandoned? In this way, form … feeling … conception … volition … awareness doesn’t belong to you and ought to be completely abandoned. Once that has stopped, you’ll be happy for a long night.
“They’re like the trees here in Jeta’s Grove. Should someone chop off their branches, gather them up, and take them away, you wouldn’t grieve over it. Why is that? Because those trees aren’t oneself, nor do they belong to oneself. Thus, monks, whatever doesn’t belong to you ought to be completely abandoned. Once that has been abandoned, you’ll be happy for a long night. What is it that doesn’t belong to you? Form doesn’t belong to you and ought to be completely abandoned. Once that has been abandoned, you’ll be happy for a long night. In this way, feeling … conception … volition … awareness doesn’t belong to you and ought to be quickly abandoned. Once that has been abandoned, you’ll be happy for a long night.
“Monks, is form permanent or impermanent?”
The monks said to the Buddha, “Impermanent, Bhagavān.”
“Monks, when something is impermanent, is that painful?”
They answered, “It’s painful, Bhagavān.”
The Buddha told the monks, “If something is impermanent and painful, it’s subject to change. Would a well-versed noble disciple see in that something that’s self, different than self, or that either is present in the other?”
They answered, “No, Bhagavān.”
“In this way, is feeling … conception … volition … awareness permanent or impermanent?”
They answered, “Impermanent, Bhagavān.”
“Monks, if something is impermanent, is that painful?”
They answered, “It’s painful, Bhagavān.”
The Buddha told the monks, “If something is impermanent and painful, it’s subject to change. Would a well-versed noble disciple see in that something that’s self, different than self, or that either is present in the other?”
They answered, “No, Bhagavān.”
“Therefore, monks, whatever forms there are, whether they are past, future, or present, internal or external, crude or fine, beautiful or ugly, or distant or near, they are all not self, not different than self, and neither is present in the other. In this way, whatever feelings … conceptions … volitions … instances of awareness there are, whether they are past, future, or present, internal or external, crude or fine, beautiful or ugly, or distant or near, they are all not self, not different than self, and neither is present in the other. A noble disciple observes these five acquired aggregates as not self or belonging to self. When they observe them in this way, they will have no attachments to anything in any world. Having no attachments, they will attain their own nirvāṇa: ‘My births have been ended, the religious life has been established, and the task has been accomplished. I myself know that I wont be subject to a later existence.’”
After the Buddha spoke this sūtra, the monks who heard what the Buddha taught rejoiced and approved.