1. Ásívisa Sutta.-Preached at Sávatthi. Man has to tend four snakes of fierce heat and fearful venom - the four mahábhútas; be is constantly followed by five murderous foes - the five upádánakkhandhá; he is pursued by a murderous housebreaker with uplifted sword - passionate desire (nandirága); while trying to escape them, he wanders into an empty village, where everything is empty - the sixfold personal sense sphere (ajjhattikáyatana), and into it come village-plunderers - the six fold external sense-spheres (báhiráyatana.) Fleeing from there he comes to a broad sheet of water beset with danger on the hither side; the further side is secure from fear, but there is no boat and no bridge - the fivefold flood (ogha), the hither shore being sakkáya and the further shore nibbána. S.iv.172-b.
2. Ásívisa Sutta.-There are four kinds of snakes in the world: the venomous but not fierce, the fierce but not venomous, the one that is both and the one that is neither. Similarly there are four kinds of persons: the one quick to get angry but with short-lived anger, the one slow to get angry but with lasting anger, etc. (A.ii.110-11)
Ásívisa Vagga.-The nineteenth chapter of the Saláyatana Samyutta of the Samyutta Nikáya. J.iv.172-204.