The Medium Discourses

Chapter 5: Related to Cultivation

47. Precepts

1. Thus I have heard: One time, the Buddha traveled to the country of Śrāvastī and stayed at Anāthapiṇḍada Park in Jeta Grove.

2. It was then that the Bhagavān addressed the monks, “If a monk violates the precepts, that’s detrimental to not having regrets, gladness, joy, calm, happiness, concentration, seeing as it really is and knowing as it truly is, disenchantment, lack of desire, and liberation. If he has no liberation, that’s detrimental to nirvāṇa.

3. “If a monk observes the precepts, he readily cultivates not having regrets, gladness, joy, calm, happiness, concentration, seeing as it really is and knowing as it truly is, disenchantment, lack of desire, and liberation. If he has liberation, he readily cultivates nirvāṇa.”

4. The Buddha spoke thus. [486c] Those monks who heard what the Buddha taught rejoiced and approved.

Translator: Charles Patton

Last Revised: 14 September 2020