{"collection":"Anguttara Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_an4.33/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_an4.33","id":"suttacentral_an4.33","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/an4.33/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Anguttara Nikaya","Early Buddhist Texts"],"text":"\u201cMendicants, toward evening the lion, king of beasts, emerges from his den, yawns, surveys the four quarters, and roars his lion\u2019s roar three times. Then he sets out on the hunt. And the animals who hear the roar of the lion, king of beasts, are typically filled with fear, awe, and terror. They return to their lairs, be they in a hole, the water, or a wood; and the birds take to the air. Even the royal elephants, bound with strong harnesses in the villages, towns, and capital cities, break apart their bonds, and urinate and defecate in terror as they flee here and there. That\u2019s how powerful is the lion, king of beasts, over animals, how illustrious and mighty. In the same way, when a Realized One arises in the world\u2014perfected, a fully awakened Buddha, accomplished in knowledge and conduct, holy, knower of the world, supreme guide for those fit for training, teacher of gods and humans, awakened, blessed\u2014he teaches the Dhamma: \u2018Such is substantial reality, such is the origin of substantial reality, such is the cessation of substantial reality, such is the practice that leads to the cessation of substantial reality.\u2019 Now, there are gods who are long-lived, beautiful, and very happy, lasting long in their divine palaces. When they hear this teaching by the Realized One, they\u2019re typically filled with fear, awe, and terror. \u2018Oh no! It turns out we\u2019re impermanent, though we thought we were permanent! It turns out we don\u2019t last, though we thought we were everlasting! It turns out we\u2019re transient, though we thought we were eternal! It turns out that we\u2019re impermanent, not lasting, transient, and included within substantial reality.\u2019 That\u2019s how powerful is the Realized One in the world with its gods, how illustrious and mighty. The Buddha, the unrivaled Teacher in all the world with its gods, rolls forth the Wheel of Dhamma from his own insight: substantial reality, its cessation, the origin of substantial reality, and the noble eightfold path that leads to the stilling of suffering. And then the long-lived gods, so beautiful and glorious, are afraid and full of terror, like the other beasts when they hear a lion. \u2018We haven\u2019t passed beyond substantial reality! It turns out we\u2019re impermanent!\u2019 So they say when they hear the word of the perfected one, free and unaffected.\u201d","title":"The Lion","tradition":"Anguttara Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":387}