Aṇguttara Nikāya
Pañcaka Nipāta
13. Gilāna Vaggo

Sutta 121

Gilāna Suttaṃ

To a Sick Man

Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Proofed against and modified in accordance with the revised edition at dhammatalks.org
Provenance, terms and conditons

 

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[1] I have heard that on one occasion
the Blessed One was staying near Vesālī,
in the Great Forest,
at the Gabled Pavilion.

Then, in the late afternoon,
he left his seclusion
and went to the sick ward,
where he saw a monk who was weak and sickly.

Seeing him,
he sat down on a prepared seat.

As he was sitting there,
he addressed the monks:

"When these five things
don't leave a monk who is weak and sickly,
it can be expected of him
that, before long
— with the ending of the effluents —
he will enter and remain
in the effluent-free awareness-release and discernment-release,
having realized and directly known them for himself
in the here and now.

Which five?

"There is the case where a monk
remains focused on unattractiveness
with regard to the body,
is percipient of loathsomeness in food,
is percipient of distaste
with regard to every world,
remains focused on inconstancy with regard to all fabrications.

The perception of death
well established within hims.

"When these five things don't leave a monk
who is weak and sickly,
it can be expected of him
that, before long
— with the ending of the effluents —
he will enter and remain
in the effluent-free awareness-release and discernment-release,
having realized and directly known them for himself
in the here and now."