“Seeing the danger in hells,
the wise would shun evils,
would shun them,
taking on the noble Dhamma.
You shouldn’t kill living beings
existing, striving;
shouldn’t grasp what isn’t given.
Content with your own wife,
don’t delight in the wives of others.
You shouldn’t drink drinks,
distilled, fermented,
that confuse the mind.
Recollect
the self-awakened one.
Think often
of the Dhamma.
Develop a mind
useful, devoid of ill will,
for the sake of the heavenly world.
When hoping for merit,
provide gifts first
to those peaceful ones, ideal,
to whom what is offered, given,
becomes abundant (in fruit).
I will tell you of those peaceful ones,
Sāriputta.
Listen to me.
In a herd of cattle,
whether black, white,
ruddy, brown,
dappled, uniform,
or pigeon gray:
If a bull is born—
tame, enduring,
consummate in strength,
& swift—
people yoke him to burdens,
regardless of his color.
In the same way,
wherever one is born
among human beings—
noble warriors, brahmans,
merchants, workers,
outcastes, or scavengers—
if one is tame, with good practices,
righteous, consummate in virtue,
a speaker of truth,
with a sense of shame at heart,
one
who’s abandoned birth & death,
completed the holy life
put down the burden,
done the task
effluent-free,
gone beyond all dhammas,
through lack of clinging unbound:
Offerings to this spotless field
bear an abundance of fruit.
But fools, unknowing,
dull, uninformed,
give gifts outside
and don’t come near the good.
While those who do come near the good
—regarded as enlightened,
discerning—
whose conviction in the One Well-Gone
has taken root,
is established:
They go to the world of the devas
or are reborn here in good family.
Step by step
they reach
unbinding
: they
who are wise.”
Notes
1. The four pairs are (1) the person on the path to stream-entry, the person experiencing the fruit of stream-entry; (2) the person on the path to once-returning, the person experiencing the fruit of once-returning; (3) the person on the path to non-returning, the person experiencing the fruit of non-returning; (4) the person on the path to arahantship, the person experiencing the fruit of arahantship. The eight individuals are the eight types forming these four pairs.
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