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- Samyutta Nikaya XIII.2
- Pokkharani Sutta
- The Pond
- For free distribution only, as a gift of Dhamma
Staying at Savatthi. "Suppose, monks, that there were a pond fifty leagues wide,
fifty leagues long, & fifty leagues deep, filled to overflowing with water so that a
crow could drink from it, and a man would draw some water out of it with the tip of a
blade of grass. What do you think? Which would be greater: the water drawn out with the
tip of the blade of grass or the water in the pond?"
"The water in the pond would be far greater, lord. The water drawn out with the
tip of the blade of grass would be next to nothing. It wouldn't be a hundredth, a
thousandth, a one hundred-thousandth -- the water drawn out with the tip of the blade of
grass -- when compared with the water in the pond."
"In the same way, monks, for a noble disciple who is consummate in view, an
individual who has broken through [to stream-entry], the suffering & stress that is
totally ended & extinguished is far greater. That which remains in the state of having
at most seven remaining lifetimes is next to nothing: it's not a hundredth, a thousandth,
a one hundred-thousandth, when compared with the previous mass of suffering. That's how
great the benefit is of breaking through to the Dhamma, monks. That's how great the
benefit is of obtaining the Dhamma eye."