Aṅguttara Nikāya
Pañcaka-Nipāta
XIX. Arañña Vaggo
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
The Book of the Fives
Chapter XIX: The Forest
Sutta 181
Āraññaka Suttaɱ
Forest-Gone[1]
Translated by E. M. Hare
Copyright The Pali Text Society
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[1] Thus have I heard:
Once the Exalted One addressed the monks, saying:
"Monks."
'Yes, lord,' they replied;
and the Exalted One said:
"Monks, these five are forest-gone.
What five?
One is forest-gone
out of folly and blindness;
-◦-
one out of evil desires and longings;
-◦-
one foolish and mind-tossed;[2]
-◦-
one at the thought:
"It is praised by Buddhas and their disciples";
-◦-
and one is forest-gone
just because his wants are little,
just for contentment,
just to mark[3] (his own faults),
just for seclusion,
just because it is the very thing.[4]
§
Verily, monks, of these five
who have gone to the forest,
he who has gone
just because his wants are little,
for contentment,
to mark (his own faults),
for seclusion,
just because it is the very thing —
he of the five
is topmost,
best,
foremost,
highest,
elect.
■
Monks, just[5] as from the cow comes milk,
from milk cream,
from cream butter,
from butter ghee,
from ghee the skim of ghee
there reckoned topmost;
even so, monks,
of these five forest-gone,
he who has gone
just because his wants are little,
for contentment,
to mark (his own faults),
for seclusion
and just because it is the very thing —
he of the five
is topmost,
best,
foremost,
highest,
elect.'
[1] Āraññaka, lit. forest-man.
[3] Sallekha, from √likh; F. Dial. i, 10: 'purgation of evil'; Dial iii, 109: resigned';; but it is as in the Psalms (cxxx, 3): 'If thou shouldeet mark iniquities, who can stand?'
[4] Idam aṭṭhitaɱ, to S.e., and Comy. which explains: imāya kalyāṇāya paṭipattiyā attho etassa.
[5] This simile recurs at S. iii, 264; A. ii, 95; v, 182; Cf. J. vi, 206.
