2) Sutta Selections
- MN 44 The Three Trainings and the Eightfold Path
”The Three Aggregates are included in the Noble Eightfold Path … right speech, right action, and right livelihood are included in the virtue (sīla) aggregate. Right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration are included in the concentration (samādhi) aggregate. Right perspective and right attitude are included in the wisdom (paññā) aggregate.”
- Sīla
- MN 61 “Advice to Rāhula at Ambalaṭṭhika”
”What do you think, Rāhula? What is the purpose of a mirror?”
“It’s for checking your reflection, sir.”
“In the same way, deeds of body, speech, and mind should be done only after repeated checking.”…
“So Rāhula, you should train yourself like this: ‘I will purify my physical, verbal, and mental actions after repeatedly checking.’”
- DN 31 “Advice to Sigālaka”
“A noble disciple:
A) gives up four corrupt deeds,
B) doesn’t do bad deeds on four grounds,
C) and avoids six drains on wealth. When they’ve left these fourteen bad things behind they
D) have the six quarters covered. They’re practicing to win in both worlds, and they succeed in this world and the next. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.”
- MN 41 “The Brahmins of Sālā”
“Householders, there are three kinds of bodily conduct in accordance with the Dhamma, righteous conduct. There are four kinds of verbal conduct in accordance with the Dhamma, righteous conduct. There are three kinds of mental conduct in accordance with the Dhamma, righteous conduct.
A) Three kinds of bodily conduct in accordance with the Dhamma:
1) Here someone, abandoning the killing of living beings, abstains from killing living beings; with rod and weapon laid aside, gentle and kindly, he abides compassionate to all living beings.
2) Abandoning the taking of what is not given, he abstains from taking what is not given; he does not take by way of theft the wealth and property of others in the village or in the forest.
3) Abandoning misconduct in sensual pleasures, he abstains from misconduct in sensual pleasures; he does not have intercourse with women who are protected by their mother, father, mother and father, brother, sister, or relatives, who have a husband, who are protected by law, or with those who are garlanded in token of betrothal.
B) Four kinds of verbal conduct in accordance with the Dhamma:
1) Here someone, abandoning false speech, abstains from false speech; when summoned to a court, or to a meeting, or to his relatives’ presence, or to his guild, or to the royal family’s presence, and questioned as a witness thus: ‘So, good man, tell what you know,’ not knowing, he says, ‘I do not know,’ or knowing, he says, ‘I know’; not seeing, he says, ‘I do not see,’ or seeing, he says, ‘I see’; he does not in full awareness speak falsehood for his own ends, or for another’s ends, or for some trifling worldly end.
2) Abandoning malicious speech, he abstains from malicious speech; he does not repeat elsewhere what he has heard here in order to divide those people from these, nor does he repeat to these people what he has heard elsewhere in order to divide these people from those; thus he is one who reunites those who are divided, a promoter of friendships, who enjoys concord, rejoices in concord, delights in concord, a speaker of words that promote concord.
3) Abandoning harsh speech, he abstains from harsh speech; he speaks such words as are gentle, pleasing to the ear, and loveable, as go to the heart, are courteous, desired by many, and agreeable to many.
4) Abandoning gossip, he abstains from gossip; he speaks at the right time, speaks what is fact, speaks on what is good, speaks on the Dhamma and the Discipline; at the right time he speaks such words as are worth recording, reasonable, moderate, and beneficial. That is how there are four kinds of verbal conduct in accordance with the Dhamma, righteous conduct.
C) Three kinds of mental conduct in accordance with the Dhamma:
1) Here someone is not covetous; he does not covet the wealth and property of others thus: ‘Oh, may what belongs to another be mine!’
2) His mind is without ill will and he has intentions free from hate thus: ‘May these beings be free from enmity, affliction and anxiety! May they live happily!’
3) He has right view, undistorted vision, thus: ‘There is what is given and what is offered and what is sacrificed; there is fruit and result of good and bad actions; there is this world and the other world; there is mother and father; there are beings who are reborn spontaneously; there are good and virtuous recluses and brahmins in the world who have themselves realised by direct knowledge and declare this world and the other world.’”
- Samādhi
- MN 39 Abandoning Hindrances Leeds to Concentration
“When these five hindrances (1. sensual desire, 2. ill-will, 3. sloth and torpor, 4. restlessness and worry, 5) doubt) are abandoned in himself, he regards it as unindebtedness, good health, release from prison, freedom, a place of security. Seeing that they have been abandoned within him, he becomes glad. Glad, he becomes enraptured. Enraptured, his body grows tranquil. His body tranquil, he is sensitive to pleasure. Feeling pleasure, his mind becomes concentrated.”
- SN 45.8 Right Concentration
““And what, bhikkhus, is right concentration?
1) Here, bhikkhus, secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a bhikkhu enters and dwells in the first jhāna, which is accompanied by thought and examination, with rapture and happiness born of seclusion.
2) With the subsiding of thought and examination, he enters and dwells in the second jhāna, which has internal confidence and unification of mind, is without thought and examination, and has rapture and happiness born of concentration.
3) With the fading away as well of rapture, he dwells equanimous and, mindful and clearly comprehending, he experiences happiness with the body; he enters and dwells in the third jhāna of which the noble ones declare: ‘He is equanimous, mindful, one who dwells happily.’
4) With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous passing away of joy and displeasure, he enters and dwells in the fourth jhāna, which is neither painful nor pleasant and includes the purification of mindfulness by equanimity. This is called right concentration.”
- MN 39 Jhāna Similes
“1) The first jhāna: Quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful mental qualities, he enters and remains in the first jhāna: rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation. He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal. Just as if a skilled bathman or bathman’s apprentice would pour bath powder into a brass basin and knead it together, sprinkling it again and again with water, so that his ball of bath powder — saturated, moisture-laden, permeated within and without — would nevertheless not drip.
2) The second jhāna: Furthermore, with the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, he enters and remains in the second jhāna: rapture and pleasure born of composure, unification of awareness free from directed thought and evaluation — internal assurance. He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born of composure. Just like a lake with spring-water welling up from within, having no inflow from the east, west, north, or south, and with the skies supplying abundant showers time and again, so that the cool fount of water welling up from within the lake would permeate and pervade, suffuse and fill it with cool waters, there being no part of the lake unpervaded by the cool waters.
3) The third jhāna: And furthermore, with the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful, & alert, and senses pleasure with the body. He enters & remains in the jhāna jhana, of which the Noble Ones declare, ‘Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.’ He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the pleasure divested of rapture. Just as in a lotus pond, some of the lotuses, born and growing in the water, stay immersed in the water and flourish without standing up out of the water, so that they are permeated and pervaded, suffused and filled with cool water from their roots to their tips, and nothing of those lotuses would be unpervaded with cool water.
4) The fourth jhāna: And furthermore, with the abandoning of pleasure and stress — as with the earlier disappearance of elation and distress — he enters and remains in the fourth jhāna: purity of equanimity and mindfulness, neither-pleasure nor stress. He sits, permeating the body with a pure, bright awareness. Just as if a man were sitting covered from head to foot with a white cloth so that there would be no part of his body to which the white cloth did not extend.”
- Paññā
- AN 8.2 Causes for Wisdom
”There are these eight causes and conditions that lead to obtaining the wisdom fundamental to the spiritual life when it has not been obtained and to its increase, maturation, and fulfillment by development after it has been obtained. What eight?
1) Here, a bhikkhu lives in dependence on the Teacher or on a certain fellow monk in the position of a teacher, toward whom he has set up a keen sense of moral shame and moral dread, affection and reverence …
2) He approaches them [the Teacher] from time to time and inquires: ‘How is this, Bhante? What is the meaning of this?’ Those venerable ones then disclose to him what has not been disclosed, clear up what is obscure, and dispel his perplexity about numerous perplexing points …
3) Having heard that Dhamma, he resorts to two kinds of withdrawal: withdrawal in body and withdrawal in mind …
4) He is virtuous; he dwells restrained by the Pātimokkha, possessed of good conduct and resort, seeing danger in minute faults. Having undertaken the training rules, he trains in them …
5) He has learned much, remembers what he has learned, and accumulates what he has learned. Those teachings that are good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, with the right meaning and phrasing, which proclaim the perfectly complete and pure spiritual life—such teachings as these he has learned much of, retained in mind, recited verbally, mentally investigated, and penetrated well by view …
6) He has aroused energy for abandoning unwholesome qualities and acquiring wholesome qualities; he is strong, firm in exertion, not casting off the duty of cultivating wholesome qualities …
7) In the midst of the Saṅgha, he does not engage in rambling and pointless talk. Either he himself speaks on the Dhamma, or he requests someone else to do so, or he adopts noble silence …
8) He dwells contemplating arising and vanishing in the five aggregates subject to clinging: ‘Such is form, such its origin, such its passing away; such is feeling … such is perception … such are volitional activities … such is consciousness, such its origin, such its passing away.’”
- MN 39 Wisdom Seeing Clearly
“When the mind is concentrated in this way – completely pure, completely clean, flawless, without defilement, malleable, workable, stable, and imperturbable – one directs the mind to the knowledge of the elimination of mental taints. One understands suffering as it is; one understands the cause of suffering as it is; one understands the cessation of suffering as it is; one understands the practice which leads to the end of suffering as it is … One who knows and sees in this way liberates the mind from the taint of sensuality, the taint of existence, and the taint of ignorance. When it is liberated, there is the knowledge that it is liberated. One understands, ‘Birth is eliminated, the spiritual life has been completed, what was to be done has been done, there will not be another life here.’ It is like a lake in a mountain range – transparent, clear, and undisturbed. Standing on the shore, a person with eyes could see oysters, shells, stones, pebbles, and fish moving about and holding still. That person would think, ‘This is a transparent, clear, and undisturbed lake. Here there are oysters, shells, stones, pebbles, and fish moving about and holding still.’ Monks, in the same way, a monk understands suffering as it is… ‘Birth is eliminated, the spiritual life has been completed, what was to be done has been done, there will not be another life here.’”
Review (Click text for answer)
”The Three Aggregates are included in the Noble Eightfold Path … right speech, right action, and right livelihood are included in the virtue (sīla) aggregate. Right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration are included in the concentration (samādhi) aggregate. Right perspective and right attitude are included in the wisdom (paññā) aggregate.” Just as a mirror is used “for checking your reflection … In the same way, deeds of body, speech, and mind should be done only after repeated checking (before, during, and after doing it) … So Rāhula, you should train yourself like this: ‘I will purify my physical, verbal, and mental actions after repeatedly checking.’” “1) Killing living creatures,
2) stealing,
3) sexual misconduct, and
4) lying: these are corrupt deeds.These are the four corrupt deeds they’ve given up.” “When a noble disciple is not prejudiced by:
1) favoritism,
2) hostility,
3) stupidity, and
4) cowardice, they don’t do bad deeds on these four grounds.” “Habitually engaging in the following things is a drain on wealth:
1) drinking alcohol;
2) roaming the streets at night;
3) frequenting festivals;
4) gambling;
5) bad friends;
6) laziness.” “1) parents as the east,
2) teachers as the south,
3) partner and children as the west,
4) friends and colleagues as the north,
5) bondservants and workers as beneath, and
6) ascetics and brahmins as above” “1) Here someone, abandoning the killing of living beings, abstains from killing living beings; with rod and weapon laid aside, gentle and kindly, he abides compassionate to all living beings.
2) Abandoning the taking of what is not given, he abstains from taking what is not given; he does not take by way of theft the wealth and property of others in the village or in the forest.
3) Abandoning misconduct in sensual pleasures, he abstains from misconduct in sensual pleasures; he does not have intercourse with women who are protected by their mother, father, mother and father, brother, sister, or relatives, who have a husband, who are protected by law, or with those who are garlanded in token of betrothal.” “1) Here someone, abandoning false speech, abstains from false speech; when summoned to a court, or to a meeting, or to his relatives’ presence, or to his guild, or to the royal family’s presence, and questioned as a witness thus: ‘So, good man, tell what you know,’ not knowing, he says, ‘I do not know,’ or knowing, he says, ‘I know’; not seeing, he says, ‘I do not see,’ or seeing, he says, ‘I see’; he does not in full awareness speak falsehood for his own ends, or for another’s ends, or for some trifling worldly end.
2) Abandoning malicious speech, he abstains from malicious speech; he does not repeat elsewhere what he has heard here in order to divide those people from these, nor does he repeat to these people what he has heard elsewhere in order to divide these people from those; thus he is one who reunites those who are divided, a promoter of friendships, who enjoys concord, rejoices in concord, delights in concord, a speaker of words that promote concord.
3) Abandoning harsh speech, he abstains from harsh speech; he speaks such words as are gentle, pleasing to the ear, and loveable, as go to the heart, are courteous, desired by many, and agreeable to many.
4) Abandoning gossip, he abstains from gossip; he speaks at the right time, speaks what is fact, speaks on what is good, speaks on the Dhamma and the Discipline; at the right time he speaks such words as are worth recording, reasonable, moderate, and beneficial. That is how there are four kinds of verbal conduct in accordance with the Dhamma, righteous conduct.” “1) Here someone is not covetous; he does not covet the wealth and property of others thus: ‘Oh, may what belongs to another be mine!’
2) His mind is without ill will and he has intentions free from hate thus: ‘May these beings be free from enmity, affliction and anxiety! May they live happily!’
3) He has right view, undistorted vision, thus: ‘There is what is given and what is offered and what is sacrificed; there is fruit and result of good and bad actions; there is this world and the other world; there is mother and father; there are beings who are reborn spontaneously; there are good and virtuous recluses and brahmins in the world who have themselves realised by direct knowledge and declare this world and the other world.’” “When these five hindrances (1. sensual desire, 2. ill-will, 3. sloth and torpor, 4. restlessness and worry, 5) doubt) are abandoned in himself, he regards it as:
1) unindebtedness,
2) good health,
3) release from prison,
4) freedom,
5) a place of security.” ”Seeing that [the five hindrances] have been abandoned within him,
1) he becomes glad.
2) Glad, he becomes enraptured.
3) Enraptured, his body grows tranquil.
4) His body tranquil, he is sensitive to pleasure.
5) Feeling pleasure, his mind becomes concentrated.”” “Here, bhikkhus, secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a bhikkhu enters and dwells in the first jhāna, which is accompanied by thought and examination, with rapture and happiness born of seclusion. He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal. Just as if a skilled bathman or bathman’s apprentice would pour bath powder into a brass basin and knead it together, sprinkling it again and again with water, so that his ball of bath powder — saturated, moisture-laden, permeated within and without — would nevertheless not drip.” “With the subsiding of thought and examination, he enters and dwells in the second jhāna, which has internal confidence and unification of mind, is without thought and examination, and has rapture and happiness born of concentration. He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born of composure. Just like a lake with spring-water welling up from within, having no inflow from the east, west, north, or south, and with the skies supplying abundant showers time and again, so that the cool fount of water welling up from within the lake would permeate and pervade, suffuse and fill it with cool waters, there being no part of the lake unpervaded by the cool waters.” “With the fading away as well of rapture, he dwells equanimous and, mindful and clearly comprehending, he experiences happiness with the body; he enters and dwells in the third jhāna of which the noble ones declare: ‘He is equanimous, mindful, one who dwells happily.’ He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the pleasure divested of rapture. Just as in a lotus pond, some of the lotuses, born and growing in the water, stay immersed in the water and flourish without standing up out of the water, so that they are permeated and pervaded, suffused and filled with cool water from their roots to their tips, and nothing of those lotuses would be unpervaded with cool water.” “With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous passing away of joy and displeasure, he enters and dwells in the fourth jhāna, which is neither painful nor pleasant and includes the purification of mindfulness by equanimity. He sits, permeating the body with a pure, bright awareness. Just as if a man were sitting covered from head to foot with a white cloth so that there would be no part of his body to which the white cloth did not extend.” “There are these eight causes and conditions that lead to obtaining the wisdom fundamental to the spiritual life when it has not been obtained and to its increase, maturation, and fulfillment by development after it has been obtained. What eight?
1) Here, a bhikkhu lives in dependence on the Teacher or on a certain fellow monk in the position of a teacher, toward whom he has set up a keen sense of moral shame and moral dread, affection and reverence …
2) He approaches them [the Teacher] from time to time and inquires: ‘How is this, Bhante? What is the meaning of this?’ Those venerable ones then disclose to him what has not been disclosed, clear up what is obscure, and dispel his perplexity about numerous perplexing points …
3) Having heard that Dhamma, he resorts to two kinds of withdrawal: withdrawal in body and withdrawal in mind …
4) He is virtuous; he dwells restrained by the Pātimokkha, possessed of good conduct and resort, seeing danger in minute faults. Having undertaken the training rules, he trains in them …
5) He has learned much, remembers what he has learned, and accumulates what he has learned. Those teachings that are good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, with the right meaning and phrasing, which proclaim the perfectly complete and pure spiritual life—such teachings as these he has learned much of, retained in mind, recited verbally, mentally investigated, and penetrated well by view …
6) He has aroused energy for abandoning unwholesome qualities and acquiring wholesome qualities; he is strong, firm in exertion, not casting off the duty of cultivating wholesome qualities …
7) In the midst of the Saṅgha, he does not engage in rambling and pointless talk. Either he himself speaks on the Dhamma, or he requests someone else to do so, or he adopts noble silence …
8) He dwells contemplating arising and vanishing in the five aggregates subject to clinging: ‘Such is form, such its origin, such its passing away; such is feeling … such is perception … such are volitional activities … such is consciousness, such its origin, such its passing away.’”” “One who knows and sees in this way [the four Noble Truths], liberates the mind from:
1) the taint of sensuality,
2) the taint of existence, and
3) the taint of ignorance.” ”It is like a lake in a mountain range – transparent, clear, and undisturbed. Standing on the shore, a person with eyes could see oysters, shells, stones, pebbles, and fish moving about and holding still. That person would think, ‘This is a transparent, clear, and undisturbed lake. Here there are oysters, shells, stones, pebbles, and fish moving about and holding still.’”
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