Sutta On Two Kinds Of Thought -- A Reading

This is a reading from the middle-length discourses of the Buddha,

The Veda-Vitāka Sutta,

Two Kinds of Thought.

To others' affliction,

And to the affliction of both.

It obstructs wisdom,

Causes difficulty,

And leads away from nirvana.

When I considered this leads to my own affliction,

It subsided in me.

When I considered this leads to others' affliction,

It subsided in me.

And when I considered this leads to the affliction of both,

It subsided in me.

When I considered this obstructs wisdom,

Causes difficulty,

And leads away from nirvana,

It subsided in me.

Whenever a thought of sensual desire arose in me,

I abandoned it,

Removed it,

Did away with it.

As I abided thus,

Diligent,

Ardent,

And resolute,

A thought of ill-will arose in me,

A thought of cruelty arose in me,

And I understood this,

This thought of cruelty has arisen in me.

This leads to my own affliction,

To others' affliction,

And to the affliction of both.

It obstructs wisdom,

Causes difficulties,

And leads away from nirvana.

When I considered thus,

The thought subsided in me.

Whenever a thought of cruelty arose in me,

I abandoned it,

Removed it,

Did away with it.

Biku's Whatever a biku frequently thinks and ponders upon,

That will become the inclination of his mind.

If he frequently thinks and ponders upon thoughts of sensual desire,

He is abandoned a thought of renunciation to cultivate thought of sensual desire,

And then his mind inclines to thoughts of sensual desire.

If he frequently thinks and ponders upon thoughts of ill-will,

Upon thoughts of cruelty,

He is abandoned the thought of non-cruelty to cultivate the thought of cruelty,

And then his mind inclines to thoughts of cruelty.

Just as in the last month of the rainy season,

In the autumn,

When the crops thicken,

A cowherd would guard his cows by constantly tapping and poking them on this side and that with a stick to check and curb them,

Why is that?

Because he sees that he could be flogged,

Imprisoned,

Fined,

Or blamed if he let them stray into the crops.

So too I saw in unwholesome states danger,

Degradation,

And defilement,

And in wholesome states the blessing of renunciation,

The aspect of cleansing.

And as I abided thus,

Diligent,

Ardent,

And resolute,

A thought of renunciation arose in me,

And I understood thus.

This thought of renunciation has arisen in me.

This does not lead to my own affliction,

Nor to others' affliction,

Nor to the affliction of both.

It aids wisdom,

Does not cause difficulty,

And leads to nirvana.

If I think and ponder upon this thought,

Even for a night,

Even for a day,

Even for a night and day,

I see nothing to fear from it.

But with excessive thinking and pondering I might tire my body,

And when the body is tired the mind becomes strained,

And when the mind is strained it is far from concentration.

And so I steadied my mind internally,

Quieted it,

Brought it to singleness,

And concentrated it.

Why is that?

So that my mind should not be strained.

As I abided thus,

Diligent,

Ardent,

And resolute,

A thought of non-ill-will arose in me,

A thought of non-cruelty arose in me,

And I understood this.

This thought of non-cruelty has arisen in me.

This does not lead to my own affliction,

Or to others' affliction,

Nor to the affliction of both.

It aids wisdom,

Does not cause difficulty,

And leads to nirvana.

If I think and ponder upon this thought,

Even for a night,

Even for a day,

Even for a night and day,

I see nothing to fear from it.

But with excessive thinking and pondering I might tire my body,

And when the body is tired the mind becomes strained,

And when the mind is strained it is far from concentration.

So I steadied my mind internally,

Quieted it,

Brought it to singleness,

And concentrated it.

Why is that?

So that my body should not be strained.

Biku's whatever a biku frequently thinks and ponders upon,

That will become the inclination of his mind.

If he frequently thinks and ponders upon thoughts of renunciation,

He has abandoned the thought of sensual desire to cultivate the thought of renunciation,

And then his mind inclines to thoughts of renunciation.

If he frequently thinks and ponders upon thoughts of non-ill-will,

Upon thoughts of non-cruelty,

He has abandoned the thought of cruelty to cultivate the thought of non-cruelty,

And then his mind inclines to thoughts of non-cruelty.

Just as in the last month of the hot season,

When all the crops had been brought inside,

A cowherd would guard his cows while staying at the root of a tree,

Or out in the open,

Since he needs only to be mindful that the cows are there.

So,

Too,

There was need for me only to be mindful that those states were there too.

Tireless energy was aroused in me,

And unremitting mindfulness was established.

My body was tranquil and untroubled,

My mind concentrated and unified.

Quite secluded from sensual pleasures,

Secluded from unwholesome states,

I entered upon and abided in the first jhana.

I directly knew birth is destroyed,

The holy life has been lived,

What had to be done has been done,

There is no more coming to any state of being.

This was the third true knowledge attained by me in the last watch of the night.

Ignorance was banished and true knowledge arose,

Darkness was banished and light arose,

As happens in one who abides diligent,

Ardent and resolute.

Suppose,

Bhikkhus,

That in a wooded range there was a great low-lying marsh,

Near which a large herd of deer lived,

And then a man appeared,

Desiring their ruin,

Harm and bondage,

And he closed off the safe and good path to be travelled joyfully,

And opened instead a false path,

And he put out a decoy and set up a dummy,

So that the large herd of deer might later come upon calamity,

Disaster and loss.

But another man came,

Desiring their good,

Their welfare and protection,

And he reopened the safe and good path that led to their happiness,

And he closed off the false path,

And he removed the decoy and destroyed the dummy,

So that the large herd of deer might later come to growth and increase and fulfilment.

Bhikkhus I have given this simile in order to convey a meaning,

And this is the meaning.

The great low-lying marsh is a term for sensual pleasure.

The large herd of deer is a term for all beings.

The man,

Desiring their ruin,

Harm and bondage,

Is a term for Mara,

The evil one.

The false path is a term for the wrong eightfold path,

That is,

Wrong view,

Wrong intention,

Wrong speech,

Wrong action,

Wrong livelihood,

Wrong effort,

Wrong mindfulness,

And wrong concentration.

The decoy is a term for delight and lust.

The dummy is a term for ignorance.

The man,

Desiring their good,

Their welfare and protection,

Is a term for the tathagata,

Accomplished and fully enlightened.

The safe and good path to be travelled joyfully is a term for the noble eightfold path,

That is,

Right view,

Right intention,

Right speech,

Right action,

Right livelihood,

Right effort,

Right mindfulness,

And right concentration.

So Bhikkhus,

The safe and good path to be travelled joyfully has been reopened by me.

The wrong path has been closed off,

The decoy removed,

The dummy destroyed.

What should be done for his disciples out of compassion by a teacher who seeks their welfare and has compassion for them?

This I have done for you,

Bhikkhus.

These are the roots of trees,

These empty huts.

Meditate,

Bhikkhus.

Do not delay or else you will regret it later.

This is our instruction to you.

This is what the Blessed One said,

And the Bhikkhus were satisfied and delighted in the Blessed One's words.

This text,

The Vedavitaka Sutta,

Two Kinds of Thought,

Was taken from the book The Middle-Length Discourses of the Buddha,

Translated by Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi.

The music is from the album Good Hope by Dave Holland,

Zakir Hussain and Chris Potter.

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