Eye & ear & nose,
tongue & body & mind:
when a monk leaves these doors unguarded
-- knowing no moderation in food,
not restraining his senses --
he experiences stress:
stress in body, stress
in mind.
Burning in body
burning in mind,
whether by day or by night,
he lives
in suffering & stress.
Eye & ear & nose,
tongue & body & mind:
when a monk has these doors well guarded
-- knowing moderation in food,
restraining his senses --
he experiences ease:
ease in body, ease
in mind.
Not burning in body,
not burning in mind,
whether by day or by night,
he lives
in ease.
Having engaged[See also: AN IV.184; AN X.176]
in bodily misconduct,
verbal misconduct,
misconduct of mind,
or whatever else is flawed,
not having done what is skillful,
having done much that is not,
at the break-up of the body,
the undiscerning one reappears in
hell.
Having abandoned[See also: AN IV.184; AN X.176]
bodily misconduct,
verbal misconduct,
misconduct of mind,
& whatever else is flawed,
not having done what's not skillful,
having done much that is,
at the break-up of the body,
the discerning one reappears
in heaven.
Evil habits &[See the discussion of wrong views, wrong speech, wrong action, and wrong livelihood in MN 117.]
evil views:
a person, undiscerning,
endowed with these two things,
at the break-up of the body
reappears in hell.
Auspicious habits &
auspicious views:
a person, discerning,
endowed with these two things,
at the break-up of the body
reappears in heaven.
With no ardor, no
concern,
lazy, with low persistence,
full of sloth & drowsiness,
shameless, without respect:
he's incapable,
a monk like this,
of touching superlative
self-awakening.
But whoever is mindful, masterful,
absorbed in jhana,
ardent, concerned, & heedful,
cutting the fetter of birth & aging,
touches right here
a self-awakening un-
surpassed.
For the sake of restraint,
for the sake of abandoning,
he, the Blessed One, taught
a holy life
not handed down,
leading to
-- plunging in --
Unbinding.
This path is pursued
by those great in purpose,
great seers.
Those who follow it,
as taught by the One Awakened,
heeding the Teacher's message,
will put an end
to suffering & stress.
For the sake of direct knowledge & full
comprehension,
he, the Blessed One, taught
a holy life
not handed down,
leading to
-- plunging in --
Unbinding.
This path is pursued
by those great in purpose,
great seers.
Those who follow it,
as taught by the One Awakened,
heeding the Teacher's message,
will put an end
to suffering & stress.
Feeling urgency
toward what should inspire it,
the wise,
masterful,
ardent monk
should investigate
with discernment.One who lives thus ardently,
not restlessly, at peace,
committed to awareness-tranquillity
would attain the ending
of suffering & stress.
"The Tathagata enjoys non-ill will, delights in non-ill will. To him -- enjoying non-ill will, delighting in non-ill will -- this thought often occurs: 'By this activity I harm no one at all, whether weak or firm.'
"The Tathagata enjoys seclusion, delights in seclusion. To him -- enjoying seclusion, delighting in seclusion -- this thought often occurs: 'Whatever is unskillful is abandoned.'
"Thus, monks, you too should live enjoying non-ill will, delighting in non-ill will. To you -- enjoying non-ill will, delighting in non-ill will -- this thought will often occur: 'By this activity we harm no one at all, whether weak or firm.'
"You too should live enjoying seclusion, delighting in seclusion. To you -- enjoying seclusion, delighting in seclusion -- this thought will often occur: 'What is unskillful? What is not yet abandoned? What are we abandoning?'"
To the Tathagata,
awakened,
who endured what is hard to endure,
two thoughts occur:
safety the first thought mentioned;
seclusion the second declared.The dispeller of darkness, free
of fermentation,
the great seer
who has gone beyond,
reached attainment,
gained mastery,
crossed over the poisons;
who's released in the ending of craving:
that sage
bears his last body,
has shaken off Mara, I tell you,
has gone beyond aging.As one standing on a rocky crag
would see the people all around below,
so the wise,
with the all-around eye,
having scaled the tower
made of Dhamma,
having crossed over sorrow,
gaze on those overwhelmed with sorrow,
conquered by aging & death.
See the two statements,
given in sequence,
by the Tathagata,
awakened, sympathetic
to all beings.
The first: See evil.
Be dispassionate there
toward evil.
Then, with a mind dispassionate,
you will put an end
to suffering & stress.
Any bad destinations
in this world, in the next,
are rooted in ignorance -- all --
accumulations
of desire & greed.And when a person of evil desires
lacks conscience & respect,
evil comes from that,
and by that he goes
to deprivation.So cleansing away
ignorance, desire, & greed,
a monk giving rise to clear knowing
would abandon all bad destinations.
"Those beings are not deprived who are not deprived of noble discernment. They live in ease in the present life -- untroubled, undistressed, & not feverish -- and at the break-up of the body, after death, a good destination can be expected.
Look at the world[See MN 140]
-- including its heavenly beings:
deprived of discernment,
making an abode in name-&-form,
it conceives that 'This is the truth.'The best discernment in the world
is what leads
to penetration,
for it rightly discerns
the total ending
of birth & becoming.Human & heavenly beings
hold them dear:
those who are self-awakened,
mindful,
bearing their last bodies
with joyful discernment.
Those in whom
concern & conscience
are not always found
have strayed
from the bright root,
are headed
to birth & death.
But those in whom
concern & conscience
are rightly established always,
who are mature in the holy life:
they are calm,
their further becoming
ended.
The born, become, produced,[See Ud VIII.1-4]
made, fabricated, impermanent,
composed of aging & death,
a nest of illnesses, perishing,
come from nourishment
and the guide [that is craving] --
is unfit for delight.The escape from that
is
calm, permanent,
beyond inference,
unborn, unproduced,
the sorrowless, stainless state,
the cessation of stressful qualities,
the stilling of fabrications,
bliss.
And what is the Unbinding property with fuel remaining? There is the case where a monk is an Arahant whose fermentations have ended, who has reached fulfillment, finished the task, laid down the burden, attained the true goal, destroyed the fetter of becoming, and is released through right gnosis. His five sense faculties still remain and, owing to their being intact, he is cognizant of the pleasant & the unpleasant, and is sensitive to pleasure & pain. His ending of passion, aversion, & delusion is termed the Unbinding property with fuel remaining.
And what is the Unbinding property with no fuel remaining? There is the case where a monk is an Arahant whose fermentations have ended, who has reached fulfillment, finished the task, laid down the burden, attained the true goal, destroyed the fetter of becoming, and is released through right gnosis. All that is sensed by him, being unrelished, will grow cold right here. This is termed the Unbinding property with no fuel remaining."
These two proclaimed by the one with vision,
Unbinding properties the one independent,
the one who is Such:one property, here in this life
with fuel remaining
from the destruction of craving,
the guide to becoming,and that with no fuel remaining,
after this life,
in which all becoming
ceases entirely.Those who know
this state uncompounded,
their minds released
through the destruction of craving,
the guide to becoming,they, attaining the Teaching's core,
delighting in ending,
have abandoned all becoming:
they, the Such.
Those with calm minds --
masterful,
mindful,
absorbed in jhana --
clearly see things rightly,
not intent on sensual pleasures.
Delighting in heedfulness,
calm,
seeing danger in heedlessness, they
-- incapable of falling away --
are right on the verge of Unbinding.
Complete in the training,[*Note: On the three trainings, see AN III.90-91.]
not subject to falling away,
one with discernment
uppermost,
seeing the stopping, the ending of birth:that sage
bears his last body,
has shaken off Mara, I tell you,
has gone beyond aging.So, always
delighting in jhana,
centered,
ardent,
seeing the stopping, the ending of birth,
conquering Mara, along with his host,
monks,
be gone-beyond aging & death.
"A monk should be wakeful: mindful, alert, centered, sensitive, clear, & calm. And there he should, at the appropriate times, see clearly into skillful mental qualities. For a monk who is wakeful -- mindful, alert, centered, sensitive, clear, & calm, seeing clearly, at the appropriate times, into skillful mental qualities -- one of two fruits can be expected: either gnosis right in the present life, or -- if there be any remnant of clinging-sustenance -- non-return."
Those who are wakeful, listen!
Those who are sleeping, wake up!
Wakefulness is better than sleep.
For those who are wakeful,
there's no danger, no fear.Whoever is wakeful,
mindful, alert,
centered, sensitive,
calm, & clear,
rightly exploring the Dhamma
at appropriate times,
will -- at oneness --
shatter the darkness.So be devoted to wakefulness.
The ardent monk
-- masterful, acquiring jhana,
cutting the fetter of birth & aging --
touches right here
a self-awakening un-
surpassed.
He goes to hell,
the one who asserts
what didn't take place,
as does the one
who, having done,
says, 'I didn't.'
Both -- low-acting people --
there become equal:
after death, in the world beyond.An ochre robe tied 'round their necks,
many with evil qualities
-- unrestrained, evil --
rearise, because of their evil acts,
in hell.Better to eat an iron ball
-- glowing, aflame --
than that, unprincipled &
unrestrained,
you should eat the alms of the country.
"And how do some adhere? Human & divine beings enjoy becoming, delight in becoming, are satisfied with becoming. When the Dhamma is being taught for the sake of the cessation of becoming, their minds do not take to it, are not calmed by it, do not settle on it or become resolved on it. This is how some adhere.
"And how do some slip right past? Some, feeling horrified, humiliated, & disgusted with that very becoming, relish non-becoming: 'When this self, at the break-up of the body, after death, perishes & is destroyed, and does not exist after death, that is peaceful, that is exquisite, that is sufficiency!' This is how some slip right past.
"And how do those with vision see? There is the case where a monk sees what has come into being as come into being. Seeing what has come into being as come into being, he practices for disenchantment with what has come into being, dispassion toward what has come into being, cessation of what has come into being. This is how those with vision see."
Those, having seen
what's come to be
as what's come to be,
and what's gone beyond
what's come to be,
are released in line
with what's come to be,
through the exhaustion of craving
for
becoming.
If they've comprehended
what's come to be,
and are free from the craving
for becoming & non-,
with the non-becoming
of what's come to be,
monks come
to no further becoming.