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Buddhism

Iti 34 · uttaka 34

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

This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard: “Monks, a person without ardency, without compunction, is incapable of self-awakening, incapable of Unbinding, incapable of attaining the unsurpassed safety from bondage. A person ardent & compunctious is capable of self-awakening, capable of Unbinding, capable of attaining the unsurpassed safety from bondage.”

With no ardency, no

compunction,

lazy, with low persistence,

full of sloth & drowsiness,

shameless, without respect:

he’s incapable,

a monk like this,

of touching superlative

self-awakening.

But whoever is mindful, masterful,

absorbed in jhāna,

ardent, concerned, & heedful,

cutting the fetter of birth & aging,

touches right here

a self-awakening un-

surpassed.


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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