A person unknowing:
the actions performed by him,
born of greed, born of aversion,
& born of delusion,
whether many or few,
are experienced right here:
No other ground is found.1
So a monk, knowing,
sheds
greed, aversion, & delusion;
giving rise to clear knowledge, he
sheds
all bad destinations.2
Notes
1. According to the Commentary, “right here” means within the stream of one’s own “selfhood” (atta-bhāva), i.e., one’s own chain of rebirth. “No other ground is found” means that the fruit of the action is not experienced by any other person’s chain of rebirth.
2. The Commentary notes that this verse refers to the attainment of arahantship, and that an arahant—in reaching nibbāna—sheds not only bad destinations, but also good ones.
The word “sheds” acts as a “lamp” in this verse—it appears only once, but functions in two phrases, as I have rendered it in the translation. On the use of the lamp as a literary figure of speech, see the Introduction to Dhammapada: A Translation.
Origin URL: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN3_34.html