Aṇguttara-Nikāya
III. Tika Nipāta
III. Puggala Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
or
More-Numbered Suttas
III. The Book of the Threes
III. On Persons
Sutta 25
Vajirūpama Suttaṃ
The Open Sore[1]
Translated from the Pali by
F.L. Woodward, M.A.
Copyright The Pali Text Society
Commercial Rights Reserved
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[1][bodh][upal] Thus have I heard:
On a certain occasion the Exalted One was staying near Sāvatthi at Jeta Grove,
in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
Then the Exalted One addressed the monks, saying:
"Monks."
"Yes, Lord," replied those monks to the Exalted One.
The Exalted One said this:
"Monks, these three persons are found existing in the world.
What three?
The one whose mind is like an open sore,
the lightning-minded
and the diamond-minded.
§
Of what sort, monks, is the one whose mind is like an open sore?
Herein a certain person is irritable and turbulent.
When anything,
no matter how trifling,
is said to him,
he becomes enraged,
he gets angry and quarrelsome:
he resents it and displays anger,
hatred
and sulkiness.
Just as, for instance,
when a festering sore,
if struck by a stick or sherd,
discharges matter all the more,
even so, monks, a certain person is irritable and turbulent.
When anything,
no matter how trifling,
is said to him,
he becomes enraged,
he gets angry and quarrelsome:
he resents it and displays anger,
hatred
and sulkiness.
This one is called:
'He whose mind is like an open sore.'
■
And of what sort, monks, is the lightning-minded?
Herein a certain person understands,
as it really is,
the meaning of:
This is Ill.
This is the arising of Ill.
This is the ceasing of Ill.
This is the practice that leads to the ending of Ill.
Just as, monks,
a man with good eyesight
sees objects in the gloom of murky darkness
by a flash [107] of lightning,[2]
even so in this case
a certain person understands,
as it really is,
the meaning of:
This is Ill.
This is the arising of Ill.
This is the ceasing of Ill.
This is the practice that leads to the ending of Ill.
This one, monks, is called:
'He whose mind is like a lightning-flash.'
■
And of what sort, monks, is the diamond-minded?
Herein a certain person,
by the destruction of the āsavas,
himself in this very life
comes to know thoroughly
the heart's release,
the release by insight
which is freed from the āsavas,
and having attained it
abides therein.
Just as, monks, there is nothing,
whether gem or rock,
which a diamond cannot cut,
even so a certain person,
by the destruction of the āsavas,
himself in this very life
comes to know thoroughly
the heart's release,
the release by insight
which is freed from the āsavas,
and having attained it
abides therein.
This one is called:
'The diamond-minded.'
Thus, monks, these three persons are found existing in the world.'
[1] Cf.Pugg., p. 30; PuggA. 212. Vajira also = 'thunderbolt,' as at Buddh. Psych. Eth., p. 339 n.
[2] Cf. Expos. ii, 497.
