"Abandon one quality, monks, and I guarantee you non-return. Which one quality? Abandon greed as the one quality, and I guarantee you non-return." This is the meaning of what the Blessed One said. So with regard to this it was said: *
The greed with whichThis, too, was the meaning of what was said by the Blessed One, so I have heard.*
beings go to a bad bourn, coveting:
From rightly discerning that greed,
those who see clearly
let go.
Letting go, they never come to this world
ever again.
[*These two statements are repeated in each discourse. To avoid monotony, they are given here only in the first and last discourses.]
"Abandon one quality, monks, and I guarantee you non-return. Which one quality? Abandon aversion as the one quality, and I guarantee you non-return."
The aversion with which
beings go to a bad bourn, upset:
From rightly discerning that aversion,
those who see clearly
let go.
Letting go, they never come to this world
ever again.
"Abandon one quality, monks, and I guarantee you non-return. Which one quality? Abandon delusion as the one quality, and I guarantee you non-return."
The delusion with which
beings go to a bad bourn, confused:
From rightly discerning that delusion,
those who see clearly
let go.
Letting go, they never come to this world
ever again.
"Abandon one quality, monks, and I guarantee you non-return. Which one quality? Abandon anger as the one quality, and I guarantee you non-return."
The anger with which
beings go to a bad bourn, enraged:
From rightly discerning that anger,
those who see clearly
let go.
Letting go, they never come to this world
ever again.
"Abandon one quality, monks, and I guarantee you non-return. Which one quality? Abandon contempt as the one quality, and I guarantee you non-return."
The contempt with which
beings go to a bad bourn, disdainful:
From rightly discerning that contempt,
those who see clearly
let go.
Letting go, they never come to this world
ever again.
"Abandon one quality, monks, and I guarantee you non-return. Which one quality? Abandon conceit as the one quality, and I guarantee you non-return."
The conceit with which
beings go to a bad bourn, proud:
From rightly discerning that conceit,
those who see clearly
let go.
Letting go, they never come to this world
ever again.
"Monks, one who has not fully known and fully understood the All, who has not detached his mind from it and let go of it, is incapable of putting an end to stress. But one who has fully known and fully understood the All, who has detached his mind from it and let go of it, is capable of putting an end to stress."
He who knows the All
from all around,
who is not aroused
by anything at all.
having totally comprehended
the All,
has overcome
all stress.
Note: The All = the six senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and ideation) and their respective objects. This covers the entirety of experience that can be described. For a full discussion of this point, see The Mind Like Fire Unbound, pp. 30-32.
"Monks, one who has not fully known and fully understood conceit, who has not detached his mind from it and let go of it, is incapable of putting an end to stress. But one who has fully known and fully understood conceit, who has detached his mind from it and let go of it, is capable of putting an end to stress."
People are
possessed by conceit
tied up with conceit
delighted with becoming.
Not comprehending conceit
they come to becoming again.
But those who, letting go of conceit,
are, in its destruction, released,
conquering the bond of conceit,
overcome all bonds.
"Monks, I don't envision even one other obstruction -- obstructed by which people go wandering and transmigrating on for a long, long time -- like the obstruction of ignorance. Obstructed with the obstruction of ignorance, monks, people go wandering and transmigrating on for a long, long time."
Not a single thing
so obstructs people
that they transmigrate on, day & night,
as when they are strung-up on delusion.
But those who, letting go of delusion
shatter the mass of darkness
wander no further.
Their cause isn't found.
"Monks, I don't envision even one other fetter -- fettered by which beings conjoined go wandering and transmigrating on for a long, long time -- like the fetter of craving. Fettered with the fetter of craving, beings conjoined go wandering and transmigrating on for a long, long time."
A man with craving as his companion
wanders on a long, long time.
Neither in this state nor another
can he get beyond the wandering on.
Knowing this drawback --
that craving brings stress into play --
free from craving, devoid of clinging,
the mindful monk is unbound.
"With regard to internal factors, I don't envision any other single factor so helpful as appropriate attention for a monk who is a learner, who has not attained the goal but remains intent on the unsurpassed rest from the yoke. A monk who attends appropriately abandons what is unskillful and develops what is skillful.
The quality of appropriate attention
in a learning monk:
Nothing else is so helpful
for attaining the supreme goal.
A monk, striving appropriately,
attains the ending of stress.
"With regard to external factors, I don't envision any other single factor like friendship with admirable people in being so helpful for a monk who is a learner, who has not attained the goal but remains intent on the unsurpassed rest from the yoke. A monk who is a friend with admirable people abandons what is unskillful and develops what is skillful."
A monk who is a friend
to admirable people,
-- one reverential, respectful,
doing what his friends advise --
alert, mindful,
attains step by step
the ending of all fetters.
"One thing, when arising in the world, arises for the welfare of the masses, for the happiness of the masses, for the welfare and happiness of many beings, both heavenly and human. Which one thing? Concord in the Sangha. When the Sangha is in concord, there are no arguments with one another, no abuse of one another, no ganging up on one another, no abandoning of one another. Then those with little confidence [in the teaching] become confident, while those already confident become even more so."
Blissful is concord in the Sangha.
One who assists in concord --
delighting in concord,
judicious --
is not barred
from security from bondage.
Having brought concord to the Sangha,
one rejoices for an aeon
in heaven.
"This one quality, if developed and pursued, keeps both benefits in hand: benefit in this life, and benefits in lives to come. Which one quality? Heedfulness with regard to skillful qualities. This is the one quality that, if developed and pursued, keeps both benefits in hand: benefit in the here and now, and benefits in lives to come."
The wise praise heedfulness
in doing deeds of merit,
for one who is heedful, wise,
achieves both benefits:
benefit in the here and now,
& benefits in lives to come.
From breaking through to one's benefit,
one is called prudent,
wise.
"If a single person were to wander and transmigrate on for an aeon, he would leave behind a chain of bones, a pile of bones, a heap of bones, as large as this Mount Vepulla, if there were someone to collect them and the collection were not destroyed."
The accumulation of a single person's
bones for an aeon
would be a heap on a par
with the mountain,
so said the Great Seer.
(He declared this to be
the great Mount Vepulla
to the north of Vulture's Peak
in the mountain-ring
of the Magadhans.)
But when that person sees
with right discernment
the four Noble Truths --
stress,
the cause of stress,
the transcending of stress,
& the Noble Eightfold Path,
the way to the stilling of stress --
having wandered on
seven times at most, then,
from the ending of all fetters
he makes an end of suffering & stress.
"For the person who transgresses in one thing, I tell you, there is no evil deed that is not to be done. Which one thing? This: telling a deliberate lie."
The person who lies,
who transgress in this one thing,
transcending concern for the world beyond:
there's no evil
he might not do.
"If beings knew, as I know, the results of giving and sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would the stain of selfishness overcome their minds. Even if it were their last bite, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having shared, if there were someone to receive their gift. But because beings do not know, as I know, the results of giving and sharing, they eat without having given. The stain of selfishness overcomes their minds."
If beings knew
what was said by the great sage,
that the result of sharing
is of such great fruit,
subduing selfishness
with brightened awareness,
they would give in season
to the noble ones,
where a gift bears great fruit.Having given much food
as an offering
to those worthy of offerings,
then when they fall from here,
the human state,
the donors go to heaven.
And having gone there to heaven,
they rejoice in yearned-for pleasures.
They, the unselfish, partake in
the result of sharing.
"All the grounds for making merit leading to spontaneously arising (in heaven) do not equal one-sixteenth of the release of awareness through good will. Good will -- surpassing them -- shines, blazes, and dazzles.
Just as the radiance of all the stars does not equal one-sixteenth of the radiance of the moon, as the moon -- surpassing them -- shines, blazes, and dazzles, even so, all the grounds for making merit leading to spontaneously arising in heaven do not equal one-sixteenth of the release of awareness through good will. Good will -- surpassing them -- shines, blazes, and dazzles.
Just as in the last month of the rains, in autumn, when the sky is clear and cloudless, the sun, on ascending the sky, overpowers the space immmersed in darkness, shines, blazes, and dazzles, even so, all the grounds for making merit leading to spontaneously arising in heaven do not equal one-sixteenth of the release of awareness through good will. Good will -- surpassing them -- shines, blazes, and dazzles.
Just as in the pre-dawn darkness the morning star shines, blazes, and dazzles, even so, all the grounds for making merit leading to spontaneously arising in heaven do not equal one-sixteenth of the release of awareness through good will. Good will -- surpassing them -- shines, blazes, and dazzles."
When one develops, mindfully,
unlimited good will,
fetters are worn through,
on seeing the ending of acquisitions.
If with uncorrupted mind
one feels good will for
even
one
being,
one becomes skilled from that.
But a Noble One produces
a mind of sympathy
for all beings,
an abundance of merit.Kingly seers, who conquered the earth
swarming with beings,
went about making sacrifices:
the horse sacrifice, human sacrifice,
water rites, soma rites,
& the "Unobstructed,"
but these don't equal one-sixteenth
of a well-developed mind of good will,
just as the constellations
don't equal one-sixteenth
of the radiance of the moon.One who neither kills
nor gets others to kill,
neither conquers,
nor gets others to conquer,
with good will for all beings,
has no enmity with anyone at all.