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1. The mind is the key

  1. “I do not perceive even one other thing, O monks, that is so unwieldy as an undeveloped mind. An undeveloped mind is truly unwieldy.

  2. “I do not perceive even one other thing, O monks, that is so wieldy as a developed mind. A developed mind is truly wieldy.

  3. “I do not perceive even one other thing, O monks, that leads to such great harm as an undeveloped mind. An undeveloped mind leads to great harm.

  4. “I do not perceive even one other thing, O monks, that leads to such great benefit as a developed mind. A developed mind leads to great benefit.

  5. “I do not perceive even one other thing, O monks, that when undeveloped and uncultivated entails such great suffering as the mind. The mind when undeveloped and uncultivated entails great suffering.

  6. “I do not perceive even one other thing, O monks, that when developed and cultivated entails such great happiness as the mind. The mind when developed and cultivated entails great happiness.” 1 2 3

(AN 1: iii, 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10; I5–6)

Footnotes

  1. These are the stages of stream-entry, once-returning, nonreturning, and arahantship. See chapter X. ↩

  2. See, e.g., AN 9:3 (IV 358) = Ud 4:1. ↩

  3. A translation of the sutta together with its commentary and substantial excerpts from the subcommentary can be found in Soma Thera, The Way of Mindfulness. Two excellent modern expositions, which also include translations of the sutta, are: Nyanaponika Thera, The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, and Anālayo, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization. ↩

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