The Near Shore

“Monks, I shall point out the nearest shore and the farthest shore. Hear this, and thoroughly attend to it in mind. I shall speak.”

“Just so, Venerable One,” the monks assented to the Blessed One.

“What, monks, is the nearest shore; what is the farthest shore?

“Wrong view is the nearest shore; right view is the farthest shore;

“Wrong intention is the nearest shore; right intention is the farthest shore; wrong speech is the nearest shore; right speech is the farthest shore; wrong conduct is the nearest shore; right conduct is the farthest shore; wrong livelihood is the nearest shore; right livelihood is the farthest shore; wrong effort is the nearest shore; right effort is the farthest shore; wrong mindfulness is the nearest shore; right mindfulness is the farthest shore; wrong concentration is the nearest shore; right concentration is the farthest shore; wrong knowledge is the nearest shore; right knowledge is the farthest shore; wrong liberation is the nearest shore; right liberation is the farthest shore.

“This, monks, is the nearest shore; this is the farthest shore.

“Amongst humans, very few are they, those mortals going to the farthest shore; Rather, the rest of humankind runs just along this shore. Those who, indeed, practise in the Dhamma, in the well-taught Dhamma, They are mortals who will go beyond the sway of death, so difficult to escape. Renouncing the dark qualities, the wise person should cultivate the bright; From home, having come to homelessness, in seclusion, where delight is difficult, One should wish to feel delight there, having destroyed sensuality, a person of nothing. The wise person should purify himself from the defilements of the mind. Those with mind rightly well-cultivated in the qualities of perfect awakening, Who, in the giving-up of grasping, without clinging, are delighted, The brilliant ones, with unconscious influences withered away, they, in the world, are completely unbound.”