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- Anguttara Nikaya IV.62
- Anana Sutta
- Debtless
- For free distribution only, as a gift of Dhamma
Then Anathapindika the householder went to the Blessed One and, on
arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there the Blessed
One said to him: "There are these four kinds of bliss that can be attained in the
proper season, on the proper occasions, by a householder enjoying the pleasures of the
senses. Which four? The bliss of having, the bliss of [making use of] wealth, the bliss of
debtlessness, the bliss of blamelessness.
"And what is the bliss of having? There is the case where the son of a good family
has wealth earned through his efforts & enterprise, amassed through the strength of
his arm, and piled up through the sweat of his brow, righteous wealth righteously gained.
When he thinks, 'I have wealth earned through my efforts & enterprise, amassed through
the strength of my arm, and piled up through the sweat of my brow, righteous wealth
righteously gained,' he experiences bliss, he experiences joy. This is called the bliss of
having.
"And what is the bliss of [making use of] wealth? There is the case where the son
of a good family, using the wealth earned through his efforts & enterprise, amassed
through the strength of his arm, and piled up through the sweat of his brow, righteous
wealth righteously gained, partakes of his wealth and makes merit. When he thinks, 'Using
the wealth earned through my efforts & enterprise, amassed through the strength of my
arm, and piled up through the sweat of my brow, righteous wealth righteously gained, I
partake of wealth and make merit,' he experiences bliss, he experiences joy. This is
called the bliss of [making use of] wealth.
"And what is the bliss of debtlessness? There is the case where the son of a good
family owes no debt, great or small, to anyone at all. When he thinks, 'I owe no debt,
great or small, to anyone at all,' he experiences bliss, he experiences joy. This is
called the bliss of debtlessness.
"And what is the bliss of blamelessness? There is the case where a noble disciple
is endowed with blameless bodily kamma, blameless verbal kamma, blameless mental kamma.
When he thinks, 'I am endowed with blameless bodily kamma, blameless verbal kamma,
blameless mental kamma,' he experiences bliss, he experiences joy. This is called the
bliss of blamelessness.
"These are the four kinds of bliss that can be attained in the proper season, on
the proper occasions, by a householder enjoying the pleasures of the senses."
Knowing the bliss of debtlessness,
& recollecting the bliss of having,
enjoying the bliss of wealth, the mortal
then sees clearly with discernment.
Seeing clearly -- the wise one --
he knows both sides:
that these are not worth one sixteenth-sixteenth
of the bliss of blamelessness.