{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/iti/iti1.htm","path":"bud/iti/iti1.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/iti/iti1.htm","text":"\"Abandon one quality, monks, and I guarantee you non-return. Which one quality? Abandon greed as the one quality, and I guarantee you non-return.\" This is the meaning of what the Blessed One said. So with regard to this it was said: *\nThe greed with which\nbeings go to a bad bourn, coveting:\nFrom rightly discerning that greed,\nthose who see clearly\nlet go.\nLetting go, they never come to this world\never again.\n[*These two statements are repeated in each discourse. To avoid monotony, they are given here only in the first and last discourses.]\n\"Abandon one quality, monks, and I guarantee you non-return. Which one quality? Abandon aversion as the one quality, and I guarantee you non-return.\"\nThe aversion with which\nbeings go to a bad bourn, upset:\nFrom rightly discerning that aversion,\nthose who see clearly\nlet go.\nLetting go, they never come to this world\never again.\n\"Abandon one quality, monks, and I guarantee you non-return. Which one quality? Abandon delusion as the one quality, and I guarantee you non-return.\"\nThe delusion with which\nbeings go to a bad bourn, confused:\nFrom rightly discerning that delusion,\nthose who see clearly\nlet go.\nLetting go, they never come to this world\never again.\n\"Abandon one quality, monks, and I guarantee you non-return. Which one quality? Abandon anger as the one quality, and I guarantee you non-return.\"\nThe anger with which\nbeings go to a bad bourn, enraged:\nFrom rightly discerning that anger,\nthose who see clearly\nlet go.\nLetting go, they never come to this world\never again.\n\"Abandon one quality, monks, and I guarantee you non-return. Which one quality? Abandon contempt as the one quality, and I guarantee you non-return.\"\nThe contempt with which\nbeings go to a bad bourn, disdainful:\nFrom rightly discerning that contempt,\nthose who see clearly\nlet go.\nLetting go, they never come to this world\never again.\n\"Abandon one quality, monks, and I guarantee you non-return. Which one quality? Abandon conceit as the one quality, and I guarantee you non-return.\"\nThe conceit with which\nbeings go to a bad bourn, proud:\nFrom rightly discerning that conceit,\nthose who see clearly\nlet go.\nLetting go, they never come to this world\never again.\n\"Monks, one who has not fully known and fully understood the All, who has not detached his mind from it and let go of it, is incapable of putting an end to stress. But one who has fully known and fully understood the All, who has detached his mind from it and let go of it, is capable of putting an end to stress.\"\nHe who knows the All\nfrom all around,\nwho is not aroused\nby anything at all.\nhaving totally comprehended\nthe All,\nhas overcome\nall stress.\nNote: The All = the six senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and ideation) and their respective objects. This covers the entirety of experience that can be described. For a full discussion of this point, see The Mind Like Fire Unbound, pp. 30-32.\n\"Monks, one who has not fully known and fully understood conceit, who has not detached his mind from it and let go of it, is incapable of putting an end to stress. But one who has fully known and fully understood conceit, who has detached his mind from it and let go of it, is capable of putting an end to stress.\"\nPeople are\npossessed by conceit\ntied up with conceit\ndelighted with becoming.\nNot comprehending conceit\nthey come to becoming again.\nBut those who, letting go of conceit,\nare, in its destruction, released,\nconquering the bond of conceit,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 overcome all bonds.\n\"Monks, I don't envision even one other obstruction -- obstructed by which people go wandering and transmigrating on for a long, long time -- like the obstruction of ignorance. Obstructed with the obstruction of ignorance, monks, people go wandering and transmigrating on for a long, long time.\"\nNot a single thing\nso obstructs people\nthat they transmigrate on, day & night,\nas when they are strung-up on delusion.\nBut those who, letting go of delusion\nshatter the mass of darkness\nwander no further.\nTheir cause isn't found.\n\"Monks, I don't envision even one other fetter -- fettered by which beings conjoined go wandering and transmigrating on for a long, long time -- like the fetter of craving. Fettered with the fetter of craving, beings conjoined go wandering and transmigrating on for a long, long time.\"\nA man with craving as his companion\nwanders on a long, long time.\nNeither in this state nor another\ncan he get beyond the wandering on.\nKnowing this drawback --\nthat craving brings stress into play --\nfree from craving, devoid of clinging,\nthe mindful monk is unbound.\n\"With regard to internal factors, I don't envision any other single factor so helpful as appropriate attention for a monk who is a learner, who has not attained the goal but remains intent on the unsurpassed rest from the yoke. A monk who attends appropriately abandons what is unskillful and develops what is skillful.\nThe quality of appropriate attention\nin a learning monk:\nNothing else is so helpful\nfor attaining the supreme goal.\nA monk, striving appropriately,\nattains the ending of stress.\n\"With regard to external factors, I don't envision any other single factor like friendship with admirable people in being so helpful for a monk who is a learner, who has not attained the goal but remains intent on the unsurpassed rest from the yoke. A monk who is a friend with admirable people abandons what is unskillful and develops what is skillful.\"\nA monk who is a friend\nto admirable people,\n-- one reverential, respectful,\ndoing what his friends advise --\nalert, mindful,\nattains step by step\nthe ending of all fetters.\n\"One thing, when arising in the world, arises for the welfare of the masses, for the happiness of the masses, for the welfare and happiness of many beings, both heavenly and human. Which one thing? Concord in the Sangha. When the Sangha is in concord, there are no arguments with one another, no abuse of one another, no ganging up on one another, no abandoning of one another. Then those with little confidence [in the teaching] become confident, while those already confident become even more so.\"\nBlissful is concord in the Sangha.\nOne who assists in concord --\ndelighting in concord,\njudicious --\nis not barred\nfrom security from bondage.\nHaving brought concord to the Sangha,\none rejoices for an aeon\nin heaven.\n\"This one quality, if developed and pursued, keeps both benefits in hand: benefit in this life, and benefits in lives to come. Which one quality? Heedfulness with regard to skillful qualities. This is the one quality that, if developed and pursued, keeps both benefits in hand: benefit in the here and now, and benefits in lives to come.\"\nThe wise praise heedfulness\nin doing deeds of merit,\nfor one who is heedful, wise,\nachieves both benefits:\nbenefit in the here and now,\n& benefits in lives to come.\nFrom breaking through to one's benefit,\none is called prudent,\nwise.\n\"If a single person were to wander and transmigrate on for an aeon, he would leave behind a chain of bones, a pile of bones, a heap of bones, as large as this Mount Vepulla, if there were someone to collect them and the collection were not destroyed.\"\nThe accumulation of a single person's\nbones for an aeon\nwould be a heap on a par\nwith the mountain,\nso said the Great Seer.\n(He declared this to be\nthe great Mount Vepulla\nto the north of Vulture's Peak\nin the mountain-ring\nof the Magadhans.)\nBut when that person sees\nwith right discernment\nthe four Noble Truths --\nstress,\nthe cause of stress,\nthe transcending of stress,\n& the Noble Eightfold Path,\nthe way to the stilling of stress --\nhaving wandered on\nseven times at most, then,\nfrom the ending of all fetters\nhe makes an end of suffering & stress.\n\"For the person who transgresses in one thing, I tell you, there is no evil deed that is not to be done. Which one thing? This: telling a deliberate lie.\"\nThe person who lies,\nwho transgress in this one thing,\ntranscending concern for the world beyond:\nthere's no evil\nhe might not do.\n\"If beings knew, as I know, the results of giving and sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would the stain of selfishness overcome their minds. Even if it were their last bite, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having shared, if there were someone to receive their gift. But because beings do not know, as I know, the results of giving and sharing, they eat without having given. The stain of selfishness overcomes their minds.\"\nIf beings knew\nwhat was said by the great sage,\nthat the result of sharing\nis of such great fruit,\nsubduing selfishness\nwith brightened awareness,\nthey would give in season\nto the noble ones,\nwhere a gift bears great fruit.\nHaving given much food\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 as an offering\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to those worthy of offerings,\nthen when they fall from here,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the human state,\nthe donors go to heaven.\nAnd having gone there to heaven,\nthey rejoice in yearned-for pleasures.\nThey, the unselfish, partake in\nthe result of sharing.\n\"All the grounds for making merit leading to spontaneously arising (in heaven) do not equal one-sixteenth of the release of awareness through good will. Good will -- surpassing them -- shines, blazes, and dazzles.\nJust as the radiance of all the stars does not equal one-sixteenth of the radiance of the moon, as the moon -- surpassing them -- shines, blazes, and dazzles, even so, all the grounds for making merit leading to spontaneously arising in heaven do not equal one-sixteenth of the release of awareness through good will. Good will -- surpassing them -- shines, blazes, and dazzles.\nJust as in the last month of the rains, in autumn, when the sky is clear and cloudless, the sun, on ascending the sky, overpowers the space immmersed in darkness, shines, blazes, and dazzles, even so, all the grounds for making merit leading to spontaneously arising in heaven do not equal one-sixteenth of the release of awareness through good will. Good will -- surpassing them -- shines, blazes, and dazzles.\nJust as in the pre-dawn darkness the morning star shines, blazes, and dazzles, even so, all the grounds for making merit leading to spontaneously arising in heaven do not equal one-sixteenth of the release of awareness through good will. Good will -- surpassing them -- shines, blazes, and dazzles.\"\nWhen one develops, mindfully,\nunlimited good will,\nfetters are worn through,\non seeing the ending of acquisitions.\nIf with uncorrupted mind\none feels good will for\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 even\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 one\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 being,\none becomes skilled from that.\nBut a Noble One produces\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 a mind of sympathy\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 for all beings,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 an abundance of merit.\nKingly seers, who conquered the earth\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 swarming with beings,\nwent about making sacrifices:\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the horse sacrifice, human sacrifice,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 water rites, soma rites,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 & the \"Unobstructed,\"\nbut these don't equal one-sixteenth\nof a well-developed mind of good will,\njust as the constellations\ndon't equal one-sixteenth\nof the radiance of the moon.\nOne who neither kills\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 nor gets others to kill,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 neither conquers,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 nor gets others to conquer,\nwith good will for all beings,\nhas no enmity with anyone at all.","title":"Iti 1","type":"page"}