Aṇguttara Nikāya
VIII. Aṭṭhaka Nipāta
I: Mettā Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
VIII. The Book of the Eights
I. On Amity
Sutta 5
Paṭhama Lokadhamma Suttaṃ
Worldly Failings[1] (a)
Translated from the Pali by E.M. Hare.
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[1][olds][bodh] Thus have I heard:
Once the Exalted One was dwelling near Sāvatthī,
at Jeta Grove,
in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
There the Exalted One addressed the monks, saying:
"Monks."
"Yes, lord," they replied, and the Exalted One said:
"Monks, these eight worldly conditions obsess[2] the world;
the world revolves[2] round
these eight worldly conditions.
What eight?
Gain and loss,
fame and obscurity,
blame and praise,
contentment and pain.
Monks, these eight worldly conditions obsess the world,
the world revolves round
these eight worldly conditions.
Gain, loss, obscurity and fame,
And censure, praise, contentment, pain -
These are man's states - impermanent,
Of time[3] and subject unto change.
And recognizing these the sage,
Alert, discerns these things of change;
Fair things his mind ne'er agitate,
Nor foul his spirit vex. Gone are
Compliance and hostility,[4]
[108] Gone up in smoke[5] and are no more.
The goal[6] he knows. In measure full
He knows the stainless, griefiess state.
Beyond becoming hath he gone.'
[1] Cf. D. iii, 260, 286 (Dial. iii, 241); A. ii. 188; v. 53; Vism. 683. These 'pairs of opposites' are presumably those to which Asvaghosha refers at Buddha-carita xi, 43 (S.B.E. xlix, 117); cf. also the Bhagavad Gīta, Discourse ii, 38, 45, etc.
[2] Anuparivattati.
[3] Cf. M. ii, 73, where the second half of line 2 of the text recurs; also Ud. 33; It. 69; Nidd. i, 411.
[4] Anurodha and virodha; here the Comy. is silent. Sn.A. 363: anurodha-virodha-vippahīno-ti sabbavatthūsu pahinaragadoso; see DhS. trsl. 276; S. i, 111; K.S. i, 139 f.
[5] Cf. Sn. 472, Vidhūpitā. Comy. vidhamitā, viddhaṃsitā.
[6] Padaṃ. Comy. Nibbāna-padaṃ.
