SN 1.44 is one of those delightful suttas that offers a riddle with no solution. Ven Bodhi translates it:
The seer has crossed over the abyss
With its one root, two whirlpools,
Three stains, five extensions,
An ocean with twelve eddies.
And gives the following note:
Spk explains the riddle thus: The ocean (samudda) or abyss (pātāla) is craving, called an ocean because it is unfillable and an abyss because it gives no foothold. Its one root (ekamūla) is ignorance; the two whirlpools (dvirāvaṭṭa) are the views of eternalism and annihilationism. [Spk-pṭ: Craving for existence revolves by way of the eternalist view; craving for extermination by way of the annihilationist view.] The three stains (timala) are lust, hatred, and delusion; the five extensions (pañcapatthara), the five cords of sensual pleasure; and the twelve eddies (dvādasāvaṭṭa), the six internal and external sense bases. Ñāṇananda proposes an alternative interpretation of some of these terms: with reference to 36:4, he takes the abyss to be painful feeling, and with reference to 35:228, the ocean to be the six sense faculties. The two whirlpools are pleasant and painful feeling; the one root, contact. For details see SN-Anth 2:63-66.
Given the open-ended nature of the text, it would be foolish to propose that there is only one solution. Yet I suspect that all these sources have overlooked a singular feature, and when that is incorporated, it affects not just the translation but the interpretation.
Count the items: 1 + 2 + 3 + 5 = 11. Then the next line says “twelve”. Surely not a coincidence? In Pali dvādasa serves for both “twelve” and “twelfth”, so we can translate:
One the root, two the loops,
three the stains, five the spreads,
and the ocean, the twelfth whirlpool:
such is the abyss crossed over by the seer.
Now, if the items are meant to add up to twelve, the significance of the term āvaṭṭa (cycle, round, whirlpool) comes to the fore. Dependent origination has twelve items, and it describes the round (vaṭṭa) of transmigration.
Most of the items lend themselves to such an interpretation:
- The “one root” is ignorance;
- the “two loops” are name-and-form with consciousness (dn15:22.6);
- the “three stains” are ignorance, craving, and grasping;
- the “five spreads” are perhaps the five consequents starting with consciousness;
- This is not very persuasive, admittedly. Perhaps there is a better?
- and the “ocean” is transmigration itself.
It seems to me this is a more satisfying reading, as it fits all the teachings in a coherent whole, without having to assign meaning arbitrarily.
