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Buddhism

AN 3:116 · Immeasurable (Appameyya Sutta)

Thai temple painting: Prince Vessantara gives away the white elephant
Vessantara Jātaka, Chapter 2 (Himavanta Forest) · Thai, Rattanakosin, c. 1850–1870 · Walters Art Museum

“Monks, these three persons are to be found existing in the world. Which three? One who is easy to measure, one who is hard to measure, & one who is immeasurable.

“And which is the person who is easy to measure? There is the case where a certain person is high-strung, rowdy, unruly, talkative, of loose words & muddled mindfulness, unalert, unconcentrated, his mind scattered, his faculties left wide open. This is called a person who is easy to measure.

“And which is the person who is hard to measure? There is the case where a certain person is not high-strung, not rowdy, not unruly, not talkative, not of loose words—one with mindfulness established, alert, concentrated, his mind gathered into singleness, his faculties restrained. This is called a person who is hard to measure.

“And which is the person who is immeasurable? There is the case where a monk is an arahant, his effluents ended. This is called a person who is immeasurable.

“These, monks, are three persons to be found existing in the world.”

See also: MN 72; SN 44:1; Ud 4:2


Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. © 2014 / rev. 2017 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu — released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 licence, for free distribution only. Source: dhammatalks.org (Metta Forest Monastery).

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