Saṁyutta Nikāya,
V: Mahā-Vagga
46. Bojjhanga Saṁyutta
II. Gilāna-Vaggo

V: The Great Chapter
46: Kindred Sayings on the Limbs of Wisdom
II. The Sick Man

Sutta 17

Pāraṅgāmi or Apara Suttaṁ

Crossing Over or No More

 

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THUS have I heard:

Once the Exalted One addressed the monks,
saying:

"Monks."

"Yes, lord," replied those monks to the Exalted One.

The Exalted One said:

"These seven limbs of wisdom, monks,
if cultivated and made much of,
conduce to no more going to the hither
or the further shore.¹

What seven?

The limb of wisdom that is mindfulness,
the limb of wisdom that is Norm investigation,
the limb of wisdom that is energy,
the limb of wisdom that is zest,
the limb of wisdom that is tranquillity,
the limb of wisdom that is concentration,
the limb of wisdom that is equanimity."

"These seven limbs of wisdom, monks,
if cultivated and made much of,
conduce to no more going to the hither
or the further shore.

Thus spoke the Exalted One.

So saying, the Happy One added this further as Teacher:

[69] Few are they of mortal men
Who have reached the further shore:
But the crowd of other folk
On this side fare up and down.
They who follow in the teaching
Of the Norm expounded well,
They shall reach the shore and pass
The realm of Death so hard to cross.

Giving up the state of darkness
Let the wise pursue the light:
Giving up home for the homeless,
In solitude where joys are rare,
Let him long for bliss unbounded.
Leaving lusts and owning naught
Let the wise man cleanse himself
From the passions of the heart.

They whose mind is rightly cultured
In the wisdom's (seven) limbs, -
Glad to have surrendered clinging,
Glad to be from bondage loosed,
Canker-cured, they, all-resplendent,
E'en in this world are at peace.

 

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¹ Supra, text 24 (Nibbāna).