Majjhima Nikāya
III. Upari Paṇṇāsa
5. Saḷāyatana Vagga
Sacred Books of the Buddhists
Volume VI
Dialogues of the Buddha
Part V
Further Dialogues of the Buddha
Volume II
Translated from the Pali
by Lord Chalmers, G.C.B.
Sometime Governor of Ceylon
London
Humphrey Milford
Oxford University Press
1927
Public Domain
Sutta 151
Piṇḍapāta-Pārisuddhi Suttaɱ
Perils of the Daily Round
[1][chlm][pts][ntbb][upal][than] THUS have I heard:
Once when the Lord was staying at Rājagaha
in the Bamboo grove
where the squirrels were fed,
the reverend Sāriputta,
rising from his meditations at eventide,
came to the Lord
and after salutations
took his seat to one side.
As he sat there,
the Lord said to him: -
Your faculties, Sāriputta, are acute;
[294] and your complexion is clear and unsullied.
What manner of life do you mostly live nowadays?
Mostly aloof nowadays, sir.
Quite right, Sāriputta, quite right.
Yours is indeed the Superman's life,
for his is a life aloof.
If an Almsman desires to live mostly aloof,
he should ask himself whether,
on the way he took to the village for alms
or in the district he frequented for alms
or on the way he came back from his round for alms,
he there found that the sense-objects of sight -
or of hearing
or of the other senses -
had aroused longings
or lust
or hate
or folly
or repugnance of heart.
If, on the one hand,
he finds that they had aroused such emotions,
then he must strive to get rid of
those bad and wrong dispositions.
But if he finds that nothing of the sort had been aroused,
then he should dwell on in this selfsame joy and bliss,
day and night immersed in studious aspiration for right dispositions.
[295] If, on questioning himself similarly
about the five pleasures of the senses,
he finds they are not got rid of from his heart,
he must strive to get rid of them.
But if he finds that he is rid of them,
he should dwell on in this self-same joy and bliss,
day and night immersed in studious aspiration for right dispositions.
If, on questioning himself similarly
about the five hindrances,
he finds ... right dispositions.
If, on questioning himseTf similarly about the five [324] factors of attachment,
he finds that he has not fathomed them,
he must strive to do so.
But if he finds that [296] he has done so,
he should dwell on in this selfsame joy and bliss,
day and night immersed in studious aspiration for right dispositions.
If, on questioning himself similarly
about the four bases of mindfulness,
he finds that he has not developed them,
he must strive to do so.
But if he finds that he has ... right dispositions.
And the like course should he take with developing
the four right efforts,
the five faculties,
the five forces,
the seven factors of enlightenment,
the Noble Eightfold Path,
[297] and calm and intuition.
If, on questioning himself similarly
about realizing Understanding and Deliverance,
he finds that he has not realized them,
he must strive to do so.
But if he finds that he has done so,
then he should dwell on in this selfsame joy and bliss,
day and night immersed in studious aspiration for right dispositions.
For, Sāriputta,
all those recluses or brahmins
who have in the past observed purity in collecting alms,
have done so by constant review and self-questioning;
and so too it shall always be in days to come,
as it is to-day.
Therefore, Sāriputta, you must study by constant review
to observe purity in collecting alms.
Thus spoke the Lord.
Glad at heart,
the reverend Sāriputta rejoiced in what the Lord had said.
