{"collection":"Khuddaka Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_snp3.2/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_snp3.2","id":"suttacentral_snp3.2","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/snp3.2/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Khuddaka Nikaya"],"text":"\u201cDuring my time of resolute striving back on the bank of the Nera\u00f1jara River, I was meditating very hard for the sake of sanctuary from the yoke. Namuc\u012b approached, speaking words of kindness: \u2018You\u2019re thin, discolored, on the verge of death. Death has a thousand parts of you, one fraction is left to life. Live, worthy sir! Life is better! Living, you can make merits. While leading the spiritual life and serving the sacred flame, you can pile up abundant merit\u2014 so what will striving do for you? Hard to walk is the path of striving, hard to do, a hard challenge to win.\u2019\u201d These are the verses M\u0101ra spoke as he stood beside the Buddha. When M\u0101ra had spoken in this way, the Buddha said this: \u201cO Wicked One, kinsman of the negligent, you\u2019re here for your own purpose. I have no need for the slightest bit of merit. Those with need for merit are fit for M\u0101ra to address. I have faith and energy too, and wisdom is found in me. When I am so resolute, why do you beg me to live? The rivers and streams might be dried by the wind, so why, when I am resolute, should it not dry up my blood? And while the blood is drying up, the bile and phlegm dry too. And as my muscles waste away, my mind grows more serene. And all the stronger grow mindfulness and wisdom and immersion. As I meditate like this, having attained the supreme feeling, my mind has no interest in sensual pleasures: behold a being\u2019s purity! Sensual pleasures are your first army, the second is called discontent, hunger and thirst are the third, and the fourth is said to be craving. Your fifth is dullness and drowsiness, the sixth is said to be cowardice, your seventh is doubt, contempt and obstinacy are your eighth. Profit, praise, and honor, and misbegotten fame; the extolling of oneself while scorning others. This is your army, Namuc\u012b, the strike force of the Dark One. Only a hero can defeat it, but in victory there lies bliss. Let me gird myself\u2014 curse my life! I\u2019d rather die in battle than live on in defeat. Here some ascetics and brahmins are swallowed up, not to be seen again. And they do not know the path traveled by those true to their vows. Seeing M\u0101ra ready with his legions, surrounded by his bannered forces, I shall meet them in battle\u2014 they\u2019ll never make me retreat! That army of yours has never been beaten by the world with all its gods. Yet I shall smash it with wisdom, like an unfired pot with a stone. Having brought my thoughts under control, and established mindfulness well, I shall wander from nation to nation, guiding many disciples. Diligent and resolute, following my instructions, they will proceed despite your will, to where there is no sorrow.\u201d \u201cFor seven years I followed step by step behind the Blessed One. I found no vulnerability in the mindful Awakened One. A crow once circled a stone that looked like a lump of fat. \u2018Perhaps I\u2019ll find something tender,\u2019 it thought, \u2018perhaps there\u2019s something tasty.\u2019 But finding nothing tasty, the crow left that place. Like the crow that pecked the stone, I leave Gotama disappointed.\u201d So stricken with sorrow that his harp dropped from his armpit, that spirit, downcast, vanished right there.","title":"Striving","tradition":"Khuddaka Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":565}