3:2 Exertion · 莲华归心开放中文佛学资料库

- suttas - - evening talks - short morning talks - lectures - guided meditations - talk collections - other themes - chants - - - - à¹à¸à¸¢ - Franā§ais - Espaā±ol - - Portuguāªs - Ð ÑÑÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹ - - - Ð£ÐºÑÐ°ÑÐ½ÑÑÐºÐ° Submit Search - Home - Suttas - KN - Sn - Sn 3:2 Exertion ## Browse Suttas Go to Sutta Nipṅta index Sn index ## 3:2 Â Exertion To me— my mind resolute in exertion near the river Neraā±jarṅ, making a great effort, doing jhṅna to attain rest from the yoke— Nṅmuci1 came, speaking words of compassion: "You are ashen, thin. Death is in your presence. Death has 1,000 parts of you. Only one part is your life. Live, good sir! Life is better. Alive, you can do acts of merit. Your living the holy life and performing the fire sacrifice will heap up much merit. What use is exertion to you? Hard to follow —the path of exertion— hard to do, hard to sustain." Saying these verses, Mṅra stood in the Awakened Oneâs presence. And to that Mṅra, speaking thus, the Blessed One said this: "Kinsman of the heedless, Evil One, come here for whatever purpose: I havenât, for merit, even the least bit of need. Those who have need of merit: Those are the ones Mṅraâs fit to address. In me are conviction austerity, persistence, discernment. Why, when my mind is resolute, do you petition me to live? This wind could burn up even river currents. Why, when my mind is resolute, shouldnât my blood dry away? As my blood dries up, gall & phlegm dry up, as muscles waste away, the mind grows clearer; mindfulness, discernment, concentration stand more firm. Staying in this way, attaining the ultimate feeling,2 the mind has no interest in sensuality. See: a beingâs purity! Sensual passions are your first army. Your secondÂ Â Â Â Â is called Discontent. Your thirdÂ Â Â Â Â is Hunger & Thirst. Your fourthÂ Â Â Â Â is called Craving. FifthÂ Â Â Â Â is Sloth & Torpor. SixthÂ Â Â Â Â is called Cowardice. Your seventhÂ Â Â Â Â is Uncertainty. Hypocrisy & Stubbornness, your eighth. Gains, Offerings, Fame, & Status wrongly gained, and whoever would praise self & disparage others: That, Nṅmuci, is your army, the Dark Oneâs commando force. A coward canât defeat it, but one having defeated it gains bliss. Do I carry muā±ja grass?3 I spit on my life. Death in battle would be better for me than that I, defeated, survive.4 Sinking here, they donât appear, some brahmans & contemplatives. They donât know the path by which those with good practices go. Seeing the bannered force on all sides— the troops, Mṅra along with his mount— I go into battle. May they not budge me from my spot. That army of yours, that the world with its devas canât overcome, I will smashÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â with discernment— as an unfired potÂ Â Â Â Â with a stone. Making myÂ Â Â Â Â resolve mastered, mindfulness well-established, I will go about, from kingdom to kingdom, training many disciples. They—heedful, resolute in mind, doing my bidding— despite your wishes, will go where, having gone, thereâs no grief." Mṅra: "For seven years, Iâve dogged the Blessed Oneâs steps, but havenât gained an opening in the One Self-Awakened & glorious. A crow circled a stone the color of fat —âMaybe Iâve found something tender here. Maybe thereâs something deliciousâ— but not getting anything delicious there, the crow went away. Like the crow attacking the rock, I weary myself with Gotama." As he was overcome with sorrow, his lute fell from under his arm. Then he, the despondent spirit, right there disappeared. vv. 425–449 Notes 1. Mṅra. 2. The highest equanimity that can be attained through jhṅna. 3. Muā±ja grass was the ancient Indian equivalent of a white flag. A warrior expecting that he might have to surrender would take muā±ja grass into battle with him. If he did surrender, he would lie down with the muā±ja grass in his mouth. The Buddha, in asking this rhetorical question, is indicating that he is not the type of warrior who would carry muā±ja grass. If defeated, he would rather die than surrender. 4. This line is repeated in ThagÂ 2:37. See also: MNÂ 70; SN 4; ANÂ 2:5; ANÂ 5:53 - --> - - - -