Saṁyutta Nikāya,
V: Mahā-Vagga
48. Indriya Saṁyutta
V. Jarā-vagga

48. Kindred Sayings on the Faculties
V. Old Age

Sutta 47

Tatiya Pubbārama Suttaṁ

East Park (c)

 

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THUS have I heard:

On a certain occasion the Exalted One was staying near Sāvatthī
in East Park,
at the terraced house of Migara's mother.

On that occasion the Exalted One addressed the monks, saying:

"Monks, by cultivating and making much
of what controlling faculties
does the monk in whom the āsavas are destroyed
declare gnosis,
to wit:

'I know full well
that destroyed is rebirth,
lived is the holy life,
done is the task,
there is no more of being here for me'?"

"For us, lord,
things have the Exalted one as their root,
their guide,
their resort.

It were well for us
if the Exalted One would reveal the meaning
of what he has just uttered."

"Well, monks, by cultivating and making much
of four¹ controlling faculties,
a man in whom the āsavas are destroyed
may thus declare gnosis:

'I know full well
that destroyed is rebirth,
lived is the holy life,
done is the task,
there is no more of being here for me.'"

And what are those four controlling faculties?

The controlling faculty of energy,
the controlling faculty of mindfulness,
the controlling faculty of concentration,
the controlling faculty of insight.

It is by cultivating and making much of these four controlling faculties,
a man in whom the āsavas are destroyed
may thus declare gnosis:

'I know full well
that destroyed is rebirth,
lived is the holy life,
done is the task,
there is no more of being here for me.'"

 

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¹ The section on three c.fs. seems omitted.