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Buddhism

SN 20:1 · The Ridge-Beam (Kūṭa 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

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta's Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. There he addressed the monks: “Monks!”

“Yes, lord,” the monks responded to him.

The Blessed One said, “Monks, just as all the rafters in a ridge-roofed house go to the ridge-beam, converge on the ridge-beam, and are removed when the ridge-beam is removed, in the same way, all unskillful qualities are rooted in ignorance, converge on ignorance, and are removed when ignorance is removed.

“Therefore, monks, you should train yourselves: ‘We will dwell heedfully.’ That’s how you should train yourselves.”

See also: SN 48:52; AN 10:15


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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