This discourse of the Buddha — the seventh in the Collection of Middle Length Texts (Majjhima Nikaya) — deals first with a set of sixteen defilements of the human mind; and in its second part, with the disciple’s progress to the highest goal of Arahatship, which can be achieved if — and only if — these impurities are gradually reduced and finally eliminated.
While there are also defilements of insight which must be removed for the attainment of the goal, the sixteen defilements dealt with here are all of an ethical nature and are concerned with man’s social behavior. Only the last of these sixteen, negligence, may also refer to purely personal concerns as well as to one’s relations with others.
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You yourselves must strive, the Buddhas only point the way
Buddha, Dhp 276
Handful of Leaves vol. 2: An Anthology from the Majjhima Nikaya
Thānissaro BhikkhuThe Majjhima Nikāya — the Middle Collection — is the second collection in the Sutta Piṭaka. It takes its name from the length of the discourses it contains…
The Greater Discourse on the Elephant-Footprint Simile
Nyanaponika TheraThe Greater Discourse on the Elephant-footprint Simile (Mahāhatthipadopama Sutta) is the 28th sutta of the Majjhima-Nikāya (Middle Collection).
Advice to Rahula: Four Discourses of the Buddha
Nyanaponika TheraThis book contains a collection of teachings the Buddha gave to his son Rahula. The first of the texts translated here, the Exhortation to Rāhula given at…
Handful of Leaves: An Anthology from the Sutta Pitaka
Thānissaro BhikkhuThis all-in-one book bundles all of the sutta collections: the Dīgha, Majjhima, Saṁyutta, and Aṅguttara Nikāyas, as well as six books from the Khuddaka Nikāya…
Handful of Leaves vol. 1: An Anthology from the Digha Nikaya
Thānissaro BhikkhuThis volume is the first in a four-volume anthology of suttas (discourses) drawn from the Sutta Piṭaka (discourse basket or repository) of the Pāli Canon.
Handful of Leaves vol. 4: An Anthology from the Anguttara Nikaya
Thānissaro BhikkhuThe Aṅguttara Nikāya, a collection of short to medium-length discourses, takes its name from the way the discourses are grouped by the number of their parts…