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Majjhima Nikaya

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  • Sallekha Sutta - The Discourse on Effacement
    • (The Arising of Thought)
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(The Arising of Thought)

13. "Cunda, I say that even the arising of a thought concerned with salutary things [and ideas19] is of great importance, not to speak of bodily acts and words conforming [to such thought].20 Therefore, Cunda:

(1) The thought should be produced: 'Others will be harmful; we shall not be harmful here.'
(2) The thought should be produced: 'Others will kill living beings; we shall abstain from killing living beings here.'
(3)-(43)...
(44) The thought should be produced: 'Others will misapprehend according to their individual views, hold on to them tenaciously and not easily discard them; we shall not misapprehend according to individual views nor hold on to them tenaciously, but shall discard them with ease.'

 




19. Salutary: kusala, also translated by wholesome, profitable, skillful. There salutary things, says Sub. Comy., are the modes of effacement mentioned



20. Sub.Comy.: "For those who cannot take up, by actual application, the practice of effacement, even the arising of a thought (cittuppado), i.e., an inclination for it, is of great importance.

Comy. says that a salutary thought is of great importance as it leads entirely to weal and happiness, and as it is the cause for the subsequent actions conforming to it. Examples are given beginning with the intention to give almsfood to monks, up to the aspiration for Buddhahood. The Sub.Comy., however, says that in some cases the importance is not in the thought itself but only in the actual execution of it. This certainly applies to the intention to give alms, etc. But in the efforts for effacing the defilements, the formation of a mental attitude directed towards it, in other words, the heart's resolve, is certainly an important factor.

This section of the discourse has been condensed in the present translation. But he who has chosen the path of effacement as his way of practice (patipada) is well advised to repeat all forty-four items, linking them with his heart's earnest resolve. Also, the last two sections of the discourse have been condensed






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