MN 1 Majjhima Nikaya Series Number 1 with Delson Armstrong-Sunday Series

Feb 8, 2026 MN 1: Mūlapariyāya Sutta

This is the first discourse in the Majjhima Nikāya, the "Middle-length Discourses" of the Pāli Canon. It is a foundational and challenging sutta that directly confronts the tendency to posit a metaphysical origin or ultimate source for all existence—rejecting monistic views such as those found in Samkhya philosophy.

The sutta systematically examines and dismisses various speculative theories about the root of all things, including the idea of a primordial self, a cosmic principle, or an eternal substance. Instead, it emphasizes that there is no single, unchanging source from which all phenomena arise. This is central to Buddhist non-theistic and non-essentialist thought.