Kimsila Sutta

With What Virtue?

Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For free distribution only.

Read an alternate translation by John D. Ireland

Translator's note: This discourse mentions the metaphorical notion of "heartwood" (sara) three times. Although sara as a metaphor is often translated as "essence," this misses some of the metaphor's implications. When x is said to have y as its heartwood, that means that the proper development of x yields y, and that y is the most valuable part of x -- just as a tree, as it matures, develops heartwood, and the heartwood is the most valuable part of the tree.

"With     what virtue,
        what behavior,
nurturing     what actions,
would a person become rightly based
and attain the ultimate goal?"
"One should be respectful
    of one's superiors[1]
    & not envious;
should have a sense of the time
    for seeing teachers[2];
should value the opportunity
    when a talk on Dhamma's in progress;
should listen intently
    to well-spoken words;
should go at the proper time,
    humbly, casting off stubborness,
    to one's teacher's presence;
should both recollect & follow
    the Dhamma, its meaning,
    restraint, & the holy life.
Delighting in     Dhamma,
savoring         Dhamma,
established in     Dhamma,
with a sense of how
to investigate     Dhamma,
one should not speak in ways
destructive         of Dhamma,[3]
should guide oneself
with true, well-spoken words.
    Shedding
laughter,         chattering,
lamentation,     hatred,
deception,         deviousness,
greed,         pride,
confrontation,     roughness,
astringency,         infatuation,
one should go about free
of         intoxication,
    steadfast within.
Understanding's the heartwood
    of well-spoken words;
concentration, the heartwood
    of learning & understanding.
When a person is hasty & heedless
his discernment & learning
    don't grow.
While those who delight
in the doctrines taught by the noble ones,
    are unexcelled
in word, action, & mind.
They, established in
        calm,
        composure, &
        concentration,
have reached
what discernment & learning
have as their heartwood."[4]

Notes

1. According to the Commentary, one's superiors include those who have more wisdom than oneself, more skill in concentration and other aspects of the path than oneself, and those senior to oneself. [Go back]

2. The Commentary says that the right time to see a teacher is when one is overcome with passion, aversion, and delusion, and cannot find a way out on one's own. This echoes a passage in AN VI.26, in which Ven. Maha Kaccana says that the right time to visit a "monk worthy of esteem" is when one needs help in overcoming any of the five hindrances or when one doesn't yet have an appropriate theme to focus on to put an end to the mind's fermentations. [Go back]

3. The Commentary equates "words destructive of the Dhamma" with "animal talk." See the discussion under Pacittiya 85 in The Buddhist Monastic Code. [Go back]

4. The heartwood of learning & discernment is release. [Go back]

Revised: Wednesday 2005.03.23

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/khuddaka/suttanipata/snp2-09.html