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- Samyutta Nikaya XXXVI.3
- Pahana Sutta
- Giving Up
- Translated from the Pali by Nyanaponika Thera
- For free distribution only,
by arrangement with the Buddhist Publication Society
- From Contemplation of Feeling: The Discourse-grouping on the Feelings (WH 303),
translated from the Pali by Nyanaponika Thera (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1983).
"In the case of pleasant feelings, O monks, the underlying tendency[1] to lust should be given up; in the case of painful feelings, the
underlying tendency to resistance (aversion) should be given up; in the case of
neither-painful-nor-pleasant feelings, the underlying tendency to ignorance should be
given up.
"If a monk has given up the tendency to lust in regard to pleasant feeling, the
tendency to resistance in regard to painful feelings, and the tendency to ignorance in
regard to neither-painful-nor-pleasant feelings, then he is called one who is free of
(unwholesome) tendencies, one who has the right outlook. He has cut off craving, severed
the fetters (to future existence), and through the full penetration of conceit,[2] he has made an end of suffering."
If one feels joy, but knows not feeling's nature,
bent towards greed, he will not find deliverance.
If one feels pain, but knows not feeling's nature,
bent toward hate, he will not find deliverance.
And even neutral feeling which as peaceful
the Lord of Wisdom has proclaimed,
if, in attachment, he should cling to it,
he will not be free from the round of ill.
And having done so, in this very life
will be free from cankers, free from taints.
Mature in knowledge, firm in Dhamma's ways,
when once his life-span ends, his body breaks,
all measure and concept he has transcended.
Notes
1. Anusaya. [Go back]
2. "Conceit" refers in particular to self-conceit (asmi-mano),
i.e., personality belief, on both the intellectual and the emotional levels. [Go
back]