SN 3:2 · A Man (Purisa Sutta)

Near Sāvatthī. Then King Pasenadi Kosala went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, he said to the Blessed One, “Lord, what qualities, arising in a man, arise for his harm, suffering, & discomfort?”

“Three qualities, great king, arising in a man, arise for his harm, suffering, & discomfort. Which three?

“Greed is a quality that, arising in a man, arises for his harm, suffering, & discomfort.

“Aversion is a quality that, arising in a man, arises for his harm, suffering, & discomfort.

“Delusion is a quality that, arising in a man, arises for his harm, suffering, & discomfort.

“These are the three qualities, great king, that, arising in a man, arise for his harm, suffering, & discomfort.”

That is what the Blessed One said. Having said that, the One Well-Gone, the Teacher, said further:

“Greed, aversion, & delusion
arisen from within oneself,
destroy the man of evil awareness,
like its own fruit, the reed.”

See also: AN 3:34; AN 3:70; Dhp 164

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).