Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrel Sanctuary. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus thus:

“Bhikkhus, all is weighed down. And what, bhikkhus, is the all that is weighed down? The eye is weighed down, forms are weighed down, eye-consciousness is weighed down, eye-contact is weighed down, and whatever feeling arises with eye-contact as condition—whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant—that too is weighed down. Weighed down by what? Weighed down by birth, aging, and death; by sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair, I say.

“The ear is weighed down … The mind is weighed down … Weighed down by what? Weighed down by birth … by despair, I say.

“Seeing thus … He understands: ‘… there is no more for this state of being.’”