sn.35.84 Saṁyutta Nikāya (Linked Discourses)

Liable to Wear Out

At Sāvatthī.
Then Venerable Ānanda went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him:
“Sir, they speak of this thing called ‘the world’.
How is the world defined?”
“Ānanda, that which is liable to wear out is called the world in the training of the Noble One.
And what is liable to wear out?
The eye is liable to wear out. Sights … eye consciousness … eye contact is liable to wear out. The painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises conditioned by eye contact is also liable to wear out.
The ear … nose … tongue … body …
The mind … thoughts … mind consciousness … mind contact is liable to wear out. The painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises conditioned by mind contact is also liable to wear out.
That which is liable to wear out is called the world in the training of the Noble One.”