{"collection":"Anguttara Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_an8.29/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_an8.29","id":"suttacentral_an8.29","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/an8.29/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Anguttara Nikaya","Early Buddhist Texts"],"text":"\u201c\u2018Now is the time! Now is the time!\u2019 So says an unlearned ordinary person. But they don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s time or not. Mendicants, there are eight lost opportunities for spiritual practice. What eight? Firstly, a Realized One has arisen 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. He teaches the Dhamma leading to peace, extinguishment, awakening, as proclaimed by the Holy One. But an individual has been reborn in hell. This is the first lost opportunity for spiritual practice. Furthermore, a Realized One has arisen in the world \u2026 He teaches the Dhamma leading to peace, extinguishment, awakening, as proclaimed by the Holy One. But an individual has been reborn in the animal realm. This is the second lost opportunity \u2026 Furthermore, a Realized One has arisen in the world \u2026 But an individual has been reborn in the ghost realm. This is the third lost opportunity \u2026 Furthermore, a Realized One has arisen in the world \u2026 But an individual has been reborn in one of the long-lived orders of gods. This is the fourth lost opportunity \u2026 Furthermore, a Realized One has arisen in the world \u2026 But an individual has been reborn in the borderlands, among uneducated foreigners, where monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen do not go. This is the fifth lost opportunity \u2026 Furthermore, a Realized One has arisen in the world \u2026 And an individual is reborn in a central country. But they have wrong view and distorted perspective: \u2018There\u2019s no meaning in giving, sacrifice, or offerings. There\u2019s no fruit or result of good and bad deeds. There\u2019s no afterlife. There\u2019s no such thing as mother and father, or beings that are reborn spontaneously. And there\u2019s no ascetic or brahmin who is rightly comported and rightly practiced, and who describes the afterlife after realizing it with their own insight.\u2019 This is the sixth lost opportunity \u2026 Furthermore, a Realized One has arisen in the world \u2026 And an individual is reborn in a central country. But they\u2019re witless, dull, idiotic, and unable to distinguish what is well said from what is poorly said. This is the seventh lost opportunity for spiritual practice. Furthermore, a Realized One has not arisen in the world \u2026 So he doesn\u2019t teach the Dhamma leading to peace, extinguishment, awakening, as proclaimed by the Holy One. And an individual is reborn in a central country. And they\u2019re wise, bright, clever, and able to distinguish what is well said from what is poorly said. This is the eighth lost opportunity for spiritual practice. There are these eight lost opportunities for spiritual practice. Mendicants, there is just one opportunity for spiritual practice. What is that one? It\u2019s when a Realized One has arisen in the world, perfected, 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. He teaches the Dhamma leading to peace, extinguishment, awakening, as proclaimed by the Holy One. And an individual is reborn in a central country. And they\u2019re wise, bright, clever, and able to distinguish what is well said from what is poorly said. This is the one opportunity for spiritual practice. When you\u2019ve gained the human state, and the true teaching has been so well proclaimed, those who don\u2019t seize the moment are wasting their time. For many wrong times are spoken of, which obstruct the path. Only on rare occasions do Realized Ones arise. If you find yourself in their presence, so hard to find in the world, and if you\u2019ve gained a human birth, and the teaching of the Dhamma; that\u2019s enough to make an effort, for a personage who desires self-knowledge. How is the true teaching to be understood so that the moment doesn\u2019t pass you by? For if you miss your moment you\u2019ll grieve when sent to hell. If you fail to achieve certainty regarding the true teaching you\u2019ll regret it for a long time, like the merchant in the story of the past. A man shrouded by ignorance, a failure in the true teaching, will long undergo transmigration through birth and death. Those who\u2019ve gained the human state when the true teaching has been so well proclaimed, and have completed what the Teacher taught\u2014 or will do so, or are doing so now\u2014 have realized the right time in the world for the supreme spiritual life. You should live guarded, ever mindful, not festering with defilements, among those restrained ones who have practiced the path proclaimed by the Realized One, the Clear-eyed One, and taught by the Kinsman of the Sun. Having cut off all underlying tendencies that follow those drifting in M\u0101ra\u2019s dominion, they\u2019re the ones in this world <j>who\u2019ve truly crossed over, having reached the ending of defilements.\u201d","title":"Lost Opportunities","tradition":"Anguttara Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":820}