The Book of the Nines

Chapter One

Bhūta

thag9.1:1 When an astute person knows, <j>“Old age and death are suffering; yet an ignorant ordinary person is bound to them”, completely understanding suffering, being mindful, <j>practicing absorption: there is no greater pleasure than this.

thag9.1:2 When clinging, the carrier <j>of suffering, and craving, the carrier <j>of this painful mass of proliferation, are destroyed, and one is mindful, <j>practicing absorption: there is no greater pleasure than this.

thag9.1:3 When the eightfold way, so full of grace, the supreme path, cleanser of all corruptions, is seen with wisdom; and one is mindful, <j>practicing absorption: there is no greater pleasure than this.

thag9.1:4 When one develops that peaceful state, sorrowless, stainless, unconditioned, cleanser of all corruptions, <j>cutter of fetters and bonds: there is no greater pleasure than this.

thag9.1:5 When the thundercloud rumbles in the sky, while the rain pours on the path of birds all around, and a monk has gone to a mountain cave, <j>practicing absorption: there is no greater pleasure than this.

thag9.1:6 When sitting on a riverbank covered in flowers, garlanded with brightly colored forest plants, one is truly happy, <j>practicing absorption: there is no greater pleasure than this.

thag9.1:7 When it is midnight in a lonely forest, and the lions roar as the heavens pour, and a monk has gone to a mountain cave, <j>practicing absorption: there is no greater pleasure than this.

thag9.1:8 When one’s own thoughts have been cut off, between the mountains, sheltered inside a cleft, without stress or heartlessness, <j>practicing absorption: there is no greater pleasure than this.

thag9.1:9 When one is happy, destroyer of stains, heartlessness, and sorrow, free of obstructions, snarls, and thorns, and with all defilements annihilated, <j>practicing absorption: there is no greater pleasure than this.