“The root of suffering is attachment.” The Buddha

root of suffering is attachment

This is a saying from the Pali canon, upadhi dukkhassa mūlanti, which means “Attachment is the root of suffering.” So this is a genuine canonical quote.

You’ll find it in this sutta, but translated by Thanissaro as “Acquisition is the root of stress.” His translations are rather idiosyncratic.

In this translation of the same sutta it’s “acquisition is the root of suffering.”

Bhikkhu Bodhi’s translation (not available online, but in The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, page 868) has “attachment is the root of suffering,” although he sometimes has “acquisition” in place of “attachment,” in various repetitions of the phrase.

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4 thoughts on ““The root of suffering is attachment.” The Buddha”

  1. I have been looking for this quote in the original Sanskrit. Do you know where I can find this? Thanks

      1. The version above is in Pali, but there would have been a Sanskrit version as well. The scriptures were written down in various parts of India at roughly the same time in different languages. Many of the Sanskrit originals have been lost, although many still exist in Chinese or Tibetan translations.

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