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Buddhism

SN 45:27 · A Pot (Kumbha 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

At Sāvatthī. “Monks, just as a pot without a stand is easy to knock over, but if it has a stand is hard to knock over; in the same way, the mind without a stand is easy to knock over, but if it has a stand is hard to knock over.

“And what is the mind’s stand? Just this noble eightfold path, i.e., right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, & right concentration.

“Just as a pot without a stand is easy to knock over, but if it has a stand is hard to knock over; in the same way, the mind without a stand is easy to knock over, but if it has a stand is hard to knock over.”

See also: SN 45:8


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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