Thus have I heard - At one time, the Blessed One was dwelling in Sāvatthi, at Jeta's Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika's Park. There, the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus: "Bhikkhus."

"Venerable sir," those bhikkhus replied to the Blessed One. The Blessed One said this:

"Bhikkhus, there are these four kind of nourishment for the endurance of beings that are existing and for the support of those seeking birth. What four? Edible food, whether coarse or fine; second, contact; third, mental volition; and fourth, consciousness. These are the four kind of nourishment for the endurance of beings that are existing and for the support of those seeking birth.

Bhikkhus, these four kind of nourishment have what as their source, what as their arising, what as their characteristic, and from what do they come into being? These four kind of nourishment have craving as their source, craving as their arising, craving as their characteristic, and they come into being from craving.

And bhikkhus, this craving has what as its source, what as its arising, what as its characteristic, and from what does it come into being? This craving has sensation as its source, sensation as its arising, sensation as its characteristic, and it comes into being from sensation.

And bhikkhus, this sensation has what as its source, what as its arising, what as its characteristic, and from what does it come into being? This sensation has contact as its source, contact as its arising, contact as its characteristic, and it comes into being from contact.

And bhikkhus, this contact has what as its source, what as its arising, what as its characteristic, and from what does it come into being? This contact has the six sense bases as its source, the six sense bases as its arising, the six sense bases as its characteristic, and it comes into being from the six sense bases.

And bhikkhus, these six sense bases have what as their source, what as their arising, what as their characteristic, and from what do they come into being? These six sense bases have name and form as their source, name and form as their arising, name and form as their characteristic, and they come into being from name and form.

And bhikkhus, this name and form has what as its source, what as its arising, what as its characteristic, and from what does it come into being? This name and form has consciousness as its source, consciousness as its arising, consciousness as its characteristic, and it comes into being from consciousness.

And bhikkhus, this consciousness has what as its source, what as its arising, what as its characteristic, and from what does it come into being? This consciousness has volitional formations as its source, volitional formations as its arising, volitional formations as its characteristic, and it comes into being from volitional formations.

And bhikkhus, these volitional formations have what as their source, what as their arising, what as their characteristic, and from what do they come into being? These volitional formations have ignorance as their source, ignorance as their arising, ignorance as their characteristic, and they come into being from ignorance.

And so, dependent on ignorance, bhikkhus, volitional formations [arise]; dependent on volitional formations, consciousness arises; dependent on consciousness, name and form arises; dependent on name and form, the six sense bases arise; dependent on the six sense bases, contact arises; dependent on contact, sensation arises; dependent on sensation, craving arises; dependent on craving, clinging arises; dependent on clinging, existence arises; dependent on existence, birth arises; dependent on birth, aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair arise. Thus is the arising of this whole mass of suffering.

With the complete fading away and ending of ignorance comes ending of volitional formations; with the ending of volitional formations, ending of consciousness; with the ending of consciousness, ending of name and form; with the ending of name and form, ending of the six sense bases; with the ending of the six sense bases, ending of contact; with the ending of contact, ending of sensation; with the ending of sensation, ending of craving; with the ending of craving, ending of clinging; with the ending of clinging, ending of existence; with the ending of existence, ending of birth; with the ending of birth, aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair cease. Thus is the ending of this whole mass of suffering."