Middle Discourses 120

Aspiration by Choice

mn120:1 So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. There the Buddha addressed the mendicants, “Mendicants!” “Venerable sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:

mn120:2 “I shall teach you aspiration by choice. Listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.” “Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:

mn120:3 “Take a mendicant who has faith, ethics, learning, generosity, and wisdom. They think: ‘If only, when my body breaks up, after death, I would be raised among the righteous in the Garden!’ They settle on that thought, stabilize it, and develop it. Those choices and meditations of theirs, developed and cultivated like this, lead to that destination. This is the path and the practice that leads to that destination.

mn120:12 Furthermore, take a mendicant who has faith, ethics, learning, generosity, and wisdom. And they’ve heard: ‘Those brought nearest to God are long-lived, beautiful, and very happy.’ They think: ‘If only, when my body breaks up, after death, I would be raised among those brought nearest to God!’ They settle on that thought, stabilize it, and develop it. Those choices and meditations of theirs, developed and cultivated like this, lead to that destination. This is the path and the practice that leads to that destination.

mn120:37 Furthermore, take a mendicant who has faith, ethics, learning, generosity, and wisdom. They think: ‘If only I might realize the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom, and live having realized it with my own insight in this very life due to the ending of defilements!’ They realize the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom. And they live having realized it with their own insight in this very life due to the ending of defilements. And, mendicants, that mendicant has no further bondage to this world.” That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, the mendicants approved what the Buddha said.