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Buddhism

SN 1:59 · Companion (Dutiya 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
“What is a person’s companion?
What is it that instructs him?
Taking delight
in what 		
	does a mortal
	gain release
	from all suffering & stress?”
“Conviction is a person’s companion.
Discernment is what instructs him.
Taking delight
in unbinding,
	a mortal
	gains release
	from all suffering & stress.”

See also: SN 1:36; AN 6:78; Dhp 31; Dhp 79; Dhp 88–89; Dhp 181; Dhp 187


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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