Pahana Sutta
Pahana Sutta: Giving Up
translated from the Pali 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.
