SN 45:56 · Admirable Friendship (Kalyāṇa-mittatā Sutta)
“Monks, this is the forerunner, the harbinger of the rising of the sun, i.e., dawnrise. In the same way, this is the forerunner, the harbinger of the arising of the noble eightfold path in a monk, i.e., admirable friendship. It can be expected of a monk who has an admirable friend that he will develop the noble eightfold path, that he will pursue the noble eightfold path
“And how does a monk with admirable friendship develop the noble eightfold path, pursue the noble eightfold path?
“There is the case where a monk develops right view ending in the subduing of passion, ending in the subduing of aversion, ending in the subduing of delusion. He develops right resolve… right speech… right action… right livelihood… right effort… right mindfulness… right concentration ending in the subduing of passion, ending in the subduing of aversion, ending in the subduing of delusion.
“This, monks, is how a monk with admirable friendship develops the noble eightfold path, pursues the noble eightfold path.”
“Monks, this is the forerunner, the harbinger of the rising of the sun, i.e., dawnrise. In the same way, this is the forerunner, the harbinger of the arising of the noble eightfold path in a monk, i.e., virtue-consummation… desire-consummation… self-consummation [according to the Commentary, this means being consummate in the training of the mind]… view-consummation… heedfulness-consummation… appropriate attention. It can be expected of a monk who has appropriate attention that he will develop the noble eightfold path, that he will pursue the noble eightfold path.
“And how does a monk with appropriate attention develop the noble eightfold path, pursue the noble eightfold path?
“There is the case where a monk develops right view ending in the subduing of passion, ending in the subduing of aversion, ending in the subduing of delusion. He develops right resolve… right speech… right action… right livelihood… right effort… right mindfulness… right concentration ending in the subduing of passion, ending in the subduing of aversion, ending in the subduing of delusion.
“This, monks, is how a monk with appropriate attention develops the noble eightfold path, pursues the noble eightfold path.”
See also: MN 2; SN 9:11; SN 22:122; SN 35:97; SN 48:56; AN 5:25; AN 5:180; AN 9:1; Ud 4:1, Iti 16–17
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).
