Aṅguttara-Nikāya
III. Tika Nipāta
XII. Āpāyika Vagga

III. The Book of the Threes

XII. The Downfall

Sutta 113

Appameyya Suttaṃ

Immeasurable¹

 

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[244]

Thus have I heard:

Once the Exalted One was dwelling near Sāvatthī.

There the Exalted One addressed the monks, saying:

"Monks."

"Yes, lord," they replied,
and the Exalted One said:

"Monks, these three sorts of persons
are hard to be found in the world.

What three?

He who is easily measured,
he who is hardly measured,
he who is immeasurable.

 

§

 

[245] And of what sort, monks, is
he who is easily measured?

Herein a certain person is frivolous,
empty-headed,
a busybody,
of harsh speech,
loose in talk,
lacking concentration,
unsteady,
not composed,
of flighty mind,
with senses uncontrolled.²

This one is called
'easily measured.'

■

And of what sort, monks, is
the person who is hardly measured?

In this case a certain person is not frivolous,
not empty-headed,
no busybody,
not of harsh speech,
not loose in talk,
but concentrated,
steady,
composed,
of one-pointed mind,
with senses well controlled.

This one is called
'hardly measured.'

■

And of what sort, monks,
the person who is immeasurable?

In this case we have a monk
in whom the āsavas are destroyed.

This one is called 'immeasurable.'

These are the three sorts of person
found to exist in the world."

 

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¹ At Pugg. 35.

² Cf. K.S. v, 241.