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searching for heartwood, passing over the heartwood of a great standing tree full of heartwood, might cut off the sapwood, take it away, and imagine it to be heartwood. A sharp-eyed man seeing him would say: 'Indeed, this good man did not know heartwood, did not know sapwood, did not know bark, did not know outer bark, did not know leaves and branches. Thus, this good man, in search of heartwood, seeking heartwood, searching for heartwood, passing over the heartwood of a great standing tree full of heartwood, cut off the sapwood, took it away, and imagined it to be heartwood. Whatever purpose is served by heartwood, that purpose will not be fulfilled for him.' Even so, monks, some young man of good family, out of faith, goes forth from the home life into homelessness, thinking: 'I am overwhelmed by birth, by old age, by death, by sorrows, by lamentations, by pains, by griefs, by despairs. Overwhelmed by suffering, overcome by suffering. Oh, that an end to this entire mass of suffering might be discerned!' Thus. Having thus gone forth, he generates gain, honor, and renown. By that gain, honor, and renown, he is not pleased, nor is his resolve fulfilled. By that gain, honor, and renown, he does not praise himself, nor does he disparage others. By that gain, honor, and renown, he is not intoxicated, not heedless, does not fall into heedlessness; being unheedful, he achieves accomplishment in virtue. By that accomplishment in virtue, he is pleased, but his resolve is not fulfilled. By that accomplishment in virtue, he does not praise himself, nor does he disparage others. By that accomplishment in virtue, he is not intoxicated, not heedless, does not fall into heedlessness; being unheedful, he achieves accomplishment in concentration. By that accomplishment in concentration, he is pleased, but his resolve is not fulfilled. By that accomplishment in concentration, he does not praise himself, nor does he disparage others. By that accomplishment in concentration, he is not intoxicated, not heedless, does not fall into heedlessness; being unheedful, he achieves knowledge and vision. By that knowledge and vision, he is pleased, and his resolve is fulfilled. By that knowledge and vision, he praises himself, and disparages others— ‘I dwell knowing and seeing, but these other monks dwell not knowing and not seeing.’ By that knowledge and vision, he becomes intoxicated, heedless, falls into heedlessness; being heedless, he dwells in suffering. This, monks, is called a monk who has grasped the pithless wood of the holy life; and by that, he comes to an end. 311. Here, monks, some young man of good family, out of faith, goes forth from home into homelessness, thinking: ‘I am overcome by birth, old age, death, sorrows, lamentations, pains, griefs, and despairs; I am overcome by suffering, afflicted by suffering. Oh, if only an end to this entire mass of suffering could be known!’ Having thus gone forth, he generates gain, honor, and renown. By that gain, honor, and renown, he is not pleased, nor is his resolve fulfilled. By that gain, honor, and renown, He does not praise himself, nor disparage others. By that gain, honor, and fame, he is not intoxicated, not heedless, does not fall into negligence. Being diligent, he achieves moral perfection. He is pleased with that moral perfection, but his aspiration is not yet fulfilled. By that moral perfection, he does not praise himself, nor disparage others. By that moral perfection, he is not intoxicated, not heedless, does not fall into negligence. Being diligent, he achieves concentration perfection. He is pleased with that concentration perfection, but his aspiration is not yet fulfilled. By that concentration perfection, he does not praise himself, nor disparage others. By that concentration perfection, he is not intoxicated, not heedless, does not fall into negligence. Being diligent, he achieves knowledge and vision. He is pleased with that knowledge and vision, but his aspiration is not yet fulfilled. By that knowledge and vision, he does not praise himself, nor disparage others. By that knowledge and vision, he is not intoxicated, not heedless, does not fall into negligence. Being diligent, he achieves timeless liberation. It is impossible, monks, it is not possible, that such a monk should fall away from that timeless liberation. Just as, monks, a man in search of heartwood, seeking heartwood, looking for heartwood, would cut off only the heartwood from a great standing tree full of heartwood, and take it away, knowing it to be heartwood. A man with good sight, seeing him, would say: ‘Indeed, this good man knew the heartwood, he knew the sapwood, he knew the inner bark, he knew the outer bark, he knew the branches and leaves. Thus, this good man, in search of heartwood, seeking heartwood, looking for heartwood, cut off only the heartwood from a great standing tree full of heartwood, and took it away, knowing it to be heartwood. Whatever purpose is to be served by heartwood, that purpose he will experience.’ In the same way, monks, some young man of good family, out of faith, goes forth from home into homelessness. He goes forth (into homelessness) thinking: ‘I am overwhelmed by birth, by old age, by death, by sorrows, by lamentations, by pains, by griefs, by despairs. Overwhelmed by suffering, beset by suffering, may there somehow be an end to this entire mass of suffering.’ Having thus gone forth, he generates gain, honor, and fame. By that gain, honor, and fame, he is not pleased, his resolve is not fulfilled. By that gain, honor, and fame, he does not praise himself, he does not disparage others. By that gain, honor, and fame, he does not become intoxicated, does not become heedless, does not fall into heedlessness. Being diligent, he achieves accomplishment in virtue. By that accomplishment in virtue, he is pleased, but his resolve is not fulfilled. By that accomplishment in virtue, he does not praise himself, he does not disparage others. By that accomplishment in virtue, he does not become intoxicated, does not become heedless, does not fall into heedlessness. Being diligent, he achieves accomplishment in concentration. By that accomplishment in concentration, he is pleased, but his resolve is not fulfilled. By that accomplishment in concentration, he does not praise himself, he does not disparage others. By that accomplishment in concentration, he does not become intoxicated, does not become heedless, does not fall into heedlessness. Being diligent, he achieves knowledge and vision. By that knowledge and vision, he is pleased, but his resolve is not fulfilled. By that knowledge and vision, he does not praise himself, he does not disparage others. By that knowledge and vision, he does not become intoxicated, does not become heedless, does not fall into heedlessness. Being diligent, he achieves unshakeable liberation. It is impossible, monks, it cannot be, that such a monk should fall away from that unshakeable liberation. Thus, monks, this holy life is not for the sake of gain, honor, and fame, nor for the sake of accomplishment in virtue, nor for the sake of accomplishment in concentration, nor for the sake of knowledge and vision. But rather, monks, it is for the sake of this unshakeable liberation of mind – for this purpose, monks, is this holy life, this is its essence, this is its culmination. The Blessed One said this. So. Those bhikkhus were delighted and rejoiced in the Blessed One’s words. The Great Simile of the Heartwood Sutta, the ninth, is finished. 10. The Shorter Simile of the Heartwood Sutta 312. Thus have I heard: On one occasion the Blessed One was staying at Sāvatthī, in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park. Then the brahmin Piṅgalakoccha approached the Blessed One. Having approached, he exchanged greetings with the Blessed One. When they had concluded their courteous and amiable talk, he sat down to one side. Seated to one side, the brahmin Piṅgalakoccha said to the Blessed One: “These ascetics and brahmins, good Gotama, who are leaders of communities, heads of groups, teachers of groups, well-known and famous, founders of sects, regarded as holy by many people, such as Pūraṇa Kassapa, Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambala, Pakudha Kaccāyana, Sañcaya Belaṭṭhaputta, Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta— did all of them realize according to their own claims? Or did none of them realize? Or did some of them realize and some not realize?” “Enough, brahmin, let that be. ‘Did all of them realize according to their own claims, or did none of them realize, or did some of them realize and some not realize?’ I will teach you the Dhamma, brahmin. Listen to it, pay careful attention, I will speak.” “Yes, good sir,” the brahmin Piṅgalakoccha replied to the Blessed One. The Blessed One said this: 313. “Suppose, brahmin, a man in search of heartwood, seeking heartwood, wandering in search of heartwood, would pass over the heartwood, pass over the sapwood, pass over the inner bark, pass over the outer bark, of a great standing tree full of heartwood, and cutting off a branch and leaves, would go away taking it, thinking it to be heartwood. A man with good sight, seeing him, would say this: ‘This good man did not know the heartwood, did not know the sapwood, did not know the inner bark, did not know the outer bark, did not know the branch and leaves. Indeed, this good man, in search of heartwood, seeking heartwood, seeking the essence, going about a great tree standing, full of essence, he would pass over the essence, pass over the solid wood, pass over the inner bark, pass over the outer bark, and cutting off the branches and leaves, take them and depart, thinking 'this is the essence'. And whatever work is to be done with the essence, that purpose he will not achieve. 314. "Just as, O brahmin, a man in need of essence, seeking essence, going about seeking essence of a great tree standing, full of essence, would pass over the essence, pass over the solid wood,