← English library

SN 36.3 — Pahana Sutta: Giving Up

translated from the Pāli by Nyanaponika Thera

"In the case of pleasant feelings, O monks, the underlying tendency[1] to lust should be given up; in the case of painful feelings, the underlying tendency to resistance (aversion) should be given up; in the case of neither-painful-nor-pleasant feelings, the underlying tendency to ignorance should be given up.

"If a monk has given up the tendency to lust in regard to pleasant feeling, the tendency to resistance in regard to painful feelings, and the tendency to ignorance in regard to neither-painful-nor-pleasant feelings, then he is called one who is free of (unwholesome) tendencies, one who has the right outlook. He has cut off craving, severed the fetters (to future existence), and through the full penetration of conceit,[2] he has made an end of suffering."

If one feels joy, but knows not feeling's nature, bent towards greed, he will not find deliverance. If one feels pain, but knows not feeling's nature, bent toward hate, he will not find deliverance. And even neutral feeling which as peaceful the Lord of Wisdom has proclaimed, if, in attachment, he should cling to it, he will not be free from the round of ill. And having done so, in this very life will be free from cankers, free from taints. Mature in knowledge, firm in Dhamma's ways, when once his life-span ends, his body breaks, all measure and concept he has transcended.

Notes

1.
Anusaya.
2.
"Conceit" refers in particular to self-conceit (asmi-mano), i.e., personality belief, on both the intellectual and the emotional levels.
Copyright © 1983 Buddhist Publication Society. The text of this page (“Pahana Sutta: Giving Up”, by Nyanaponika Thera) is licensed under a Buddhist Publication Society free-distribution licence. From Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013. You may copy, reformat, reprint, republish, and redistribute this work in any medium whatsoever, provided that: (1) you only make such copies, etc. available free of charge and, in the case of reprinting, only in quantities of no more than 50 copies; (2) you clearly indicate that any derivatives of this work (including translations) are derived from this source document; and (3) you include the full text of this license in any copies or derivatives of this work. Otherwise, all rights reserved. This presentation is a derivative of that source document: it has been restyled and its links rewritten. The translation itself is unaltered.