English
leading to renewed existence, accompanied by suffering, with painful results, in the future, leading to birth, aging, and death. Thus, monks, is a monk an ascetic. And how And how, monks, is a monk a brahmin? Evil, unwholesome states are banished for him, defiling, leading to renewed existence, accompanied by suffering, resulting in pain, in the future, leading to birth, aging, and death. Thus, monks, is a monk a brahmin. And how, monks, is a monk one who has bathed? Evil, unwholesome states are washed away for him, defiling, leading to renewed existence, accompanied by suffering, resulting in pain, in the future, leading to birth, aging, and death. Thus, monks, is a monk one who has bathed. And how, monks, is a monk a master of the Vedas? Evil, unwholesome states are known for him, defiling, leading to renewed existence, accompanied by suffering, resulting in pain, in the future, leading to birth, aging, and death. Thus, monks, is a monk a master of the Vedas. And how, monks, is a monk one who has heard? Evil, unwholesome states are heard for him, defiling, leading to renewed existence, accompanied by suffering, resulting in pain, in the future, leading to birth, aging, and death. Thus, monks, is a monk one who has heard. And how, monks, is a monk a noble one? Evil, unwholesome states are far away for him, defiling, leading to renewed existence, accompanied by suffering, resulting in pain, in the future, leading to birth, aging, and death. Thus, monks, is a monk a noble one. And how, monks, is a monk an Arahant? Evil, unwholesome states are far away for him, defiling, leading to renewed existence, accompanied by suffering, resulting in pain, in the future, leading to birth, aging, and death. Thus, monks, is a monk an Arahant. This is what the Blessed One said. Satisfied, those monks delighted in the Blessed One’s words. The Great Assapura Sutta, the ninth, is finished. 10. The Lesser Assapura Sutta Thus have I heard: On one occasion the Blessed One was staying in the Angas, at a market town of the Angas named Assapura. There the Blessed One addressed the monks, saying: “Monks!” “Venerable sir,” they replied to the Blessed One. The Blessed One said this: “Ascetics, ascetics People, monks, recognize you thus. And you, when asked ‘Who are you?’, declare ‘We are ascetics.’ For you, monks, who are thus named, and thus declared – ‘The proper practice of an ascetic, that we will undertake; thus our designation will be true, and our declaration real; and for those whose robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicinal requisites for the sick we consume, their offerings to us will be of great fruit, of great benefit, and our own going forth will not be barren, but fruitful and productive.’ Thus, monks, you should train. 436. And how, monks, is a monk not practicing the proper practice of an ascetic? If, monks, for any monk, who is covetous, covetousness is not abandoned; who has an ill will, ill will is not abandoned; who is angry, anger is not abandoned; who is resentful, resentment is not abandoned; who is contemptuous, contempt is not abandoned; who is arrogant, arrogance is not abandoned; who is envious, envy is not abandoned; who is stingy, stinginess is not abandoned; who is deceitful, deceit is not abandoned; who is fraudulent, fraud is not abandoned; who has evil wishes, evil wishes are not abandoned; who has wrong view, wrong view is not abandoned – Because of the non-abandonment of these, monks, these stains of an ascetic, these faults of an ascetic, these impurities of an ascetic, these states leading to the lower realms, leading to suffering, I say that he ‘is not practicing the proper practice of an ascetic.’ Just as, monks, a weapon called ‘death-born,’ double-edged and well-sharpened, might be wrapped up and concealed in a robe. Such, I say, monks, is the going forth of such a monk. 437. I do not say, monks, that asceticism is merely wearing a robe. I do not say, monks, that asceticism is merely being naked. I do not say, monks, that asceticism is merely being covered in dust and dirt... I declare monkhood by that much. I do not, bhikkhus, declare monkhood by merely being one who descends into water. I do not, bhikkhus, declare monkhood by merely being one who dwells at the root of a tree. I do not, bhikkhus, declare monkhood by merely being one who dwells in the open air. I do not, bhikkhus, declare monkhood by merely being one who stands upright. I do not, bhikkhus, declare monkhood by merely being one who eats by turns. I do not, bhikkhus, declare monkhood by merely being one who recites mantras. I do not, bhikkhus, declare monkhood by merely being one with matted hair, by merely wearing matted hair. If, bhikkhus, by merely wearing a patched robe, for one who is covetous, covetousness would be abandoned, for one with an ill will, ill will would be abandoned, for one who is angry, anger would be abandoned, for one who is resentful, resentment would be abandoned, for one who is contemptuous, contempt would be abandoned, for one who is arrogant, arrogance would be abandoned, for one who is envious, envy would be abandoned, for one who is stingy, stinginess would be abandoned, for one who is deceitful, deceit would be abandoned, for one who is fraudulent, fraud would be abandoned, for one with evil wishes, evil wishes would be abandoned, for one with wrong view, wrong view would be abandoned, then his friends, acquaintances, relatives, and kinsmen, as soon as he was born, would make him a wearer of the patched robe, they would urge him to be a wearer of the patched robe: "Come, good sir, be a wearer of the patched robe! For you, being a wearer of the patched robe, by merely wearing the patched robe, for one who is covetous, covetousness will be abandoned, for one with an ill will, ill will will be abandoned, for one who is angry, anger will be abandoned, for one who is resentful, resentment will be abandoned, for one who is contemptuous, contempt will be abandoned, for one who is arrogant, arrogance will be abandoned, for one who is envious, envy will be abandoned, for one who is stingy, stinginess will be abandoned, for one who is deceitful, deceit will be abandoned, for one who is fraudulent, fraud will be abandoned, for one with evil wishes, evil wishes will be abandoned, for one with wrong view, wrong view will be abandoned." is. And because I, bhikkhus, see some wearer of the outer robe who is covetous, malevolent-minded, angry, resentful, denigrating, domineering, envious, stingy, deceitful, fraudulent, of evil wishes, of wrong view, therefore I do not say that wearing the outer robe alone makes one a recluse. If, bhikkhus, for a naked ascetic… …for a dust-and-dirt ascetic… …for a water-plunging ascetic… …for a tree-root dweller… …for an open-air dweller… …for a standing ascetic… …for one who eats at fixed intervals… …for a mantra reciter… …if, bhikkhus, for a matted-hair ascetic, merely by wearing matted hair, for the covetous, covetousness would be abandoned; for the malevolent-minded, malevolence would be abandoned; for the angry, anger would be abandoned; for the resentful, resentment would be abandoned; for the denigrating, denigration would be abandoned; for the domineering, domineeringness would be abandoned; for the envious, envy would be abandoned; for the stingy, stinginess would be abandoned; for the deceitful, deceit would be abandoned; for the fraudulent, fraud would be abandoned; for the of evil wishes, evil wishes would be abandoned; for the of wrong view, wrong view would be abandoned, then his friends, companions, relatives, and kinsmen would make him a matted-hair ascetic as soon as he was born, and would urge him to take up matted-hair asceticism – ‘Come, good sir, be a matted-hair ascetic! For if you are a matted-hair ascetic, merely by wearing matted hair, for the covetous, covetousness will be abandoned; for the malevolent-minded, malevolence will be abandoned; for the angry, anger will be abandoned… …for the of evil wishes, evil wishes will be abandoned; for the of wrong view, wrong view will be abandoned.’ But because I, bhikkhus, see some matted-hair ascetic who is covetous, malevolent-minded, angry, resentful, denigrating, domineering, envious, stingy, deceitful, fraudulent, of evil wishes, of wrong view, therefore I do not say that merely wearing matted hair makes one a recluse. And how, bhi Monks, how is a monk practicing the proper practice of a recluse? Monks, for any monk who is covetous, covetousness is abandoned, for one with ill will, ill will is abandoned, for one who is angry, anger is abandoned, for one who is resentful, resentment is abandoned, for one who is denigrating, denigration is abandoned, for one who is domineering, domineering is abandoned, for one who is envious, envy is abandoned, for one who is stingy, stinginess is abandoned, for one who is deceitful, deceit is abandoned, for one who is fraudulent, fraud is abandoned, for one with evil wishes, evil wishes are abandoned, for one with wrong view, wrong view is abandoned. Monks, it is by the abandonment of these stains of a recluse, these faults of a recluse, these impurities of a recluse, these states leading to the lower realms, these states leading to painful destinations, that I say one 'practices the proper practice of a recluse'. He sees himself purified from all these evil, unwholesome qualities. As he sees himself purified from all these evil, unwholesome qualities, joy arises in him. From joy, rapture arises. With a rapturous mind, his body becomes tranquil. With a tranquil body, he feels happiness. With a happy mind, his mind becomes concentrated. He dwells pervading one direction with a mind imbued with loving-kindness, likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth. Thus, above, below, across, everywhere, in every way, he dwells pervading the entire world with a mind imbued with loving-kindness, vast, exalted, immeasurable,