Aṅguttara Nikāya
Catukka Nipāta
XXIV: Kamma Vagga

The Book of the Fours

Chapter XXIV: The Deed¹

Sutta 231

Paṭhama Kamma Suttaṃ

In Brief

 

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[238]

Thus have I heard:

On a certain occasion the Exalted One was staying near Sāvatthī.

Then the Exalted One addressed the monks, saying:

"Monks."

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

"Monks, these four deeds I have myself comprehended,
realized
and made known.

What four?

There is a dark deed
with a dark result;
a bright deed
with a bright result;
a deed that is both dark and bright,
with a dark and bright result;
and the deed that is neither dark nor bright,
with a result neither dark nor bright,
which being itself a deed
conduces to the waning of deeds.²

These four deeds I have myself comprehended,
realized
and made known."

 

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¹ Comy. calls this Magga-Vagga.

² Cf. Expos. i, 118; Netti, 159 (which calls the last named nibbedho); A. iii, 384. Cf. also K.S. i, p. 118 f.