Skip to main content
Buddhism

Iti 54 · uttaka 54

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, there are these three searches. Which three? The search for sensuality, the search for becoming, the search for a holy life. These are the three searches.”

Centered,

alert,

mindful,

the Awakened One’s

disciple

discerns searches,

how searches come into play,

where they cease,

& the path to their ending.

With the ending of searches, a monk

free from hunger

is totally unbound.

See also: MN 26; AN 3:39; AN 4:252


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).

Join the Journal

Subscribe to Ninth Heaven | Literary & Arts Journal

New issues, stories, and poems, delivered to your inbox.
Subscribe