4.49. Perversions (AN4.49)

“Monks, there are these four perversions of perception, perversions of mind, perversions of view. Which four? ‘Constant’ with regard to the inconstant is a perversion of perception, a perversion of mind, a perversion of view. ‘Pleasant’ with regard to the stressful… ‘Self’ with regard to not-self… ‘Attractive’ with regard to the unattractive is a perversion of perception, a perversion of mind, a perversion of view. These are the four perversions of perception, perversions of mind, perversions of view.

“There are these four non-perversions of perception, non-perversions of mind, non-perversions of view. Which four? ‘Inconstant’ with regard to the inconstant is a non-perversion of perception, a non-perversion of mind, a non-perversion of view. ‘Stressful’ with regard to the stressful… ‘Not-self’ with regard to not-self… ‘Unattractive’ with regard to the unattractive is a non-perversion of perception, a non-perversion of mind, a non-perversion of view. These are the four non-perversions of perception, non-perversions of mind, non-perversions of view.”

Perceiving constancy in the inconstant,
pleasure in the stressful,
self in what’s not-self,
attractiveness in the unattractive,
beings, destroyed by wrong-view, go mad, out of their minds.
Bound to Mara’s yoke,
from the yoke they find no rest.
Beings go on to the wandering-on,
leading to birth & death.
But when Awakened Ones
arise in the world,
bringing light to the world,
they proclaim the Dhamma
leading to the stilling of stress.
When those with discernment listen,
they regain their senses,
seeing the inconstant as inconstant,
the stressful as stressful,
what’s not-self as not-self,
the unattractive as unattractive.
Undertaking right view,
they transcend all stress & suffering.

Translated from the Pali by: Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

©1998 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The text of this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. Transcribed from a file provided by the translator.

Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Gabriel Laera and Ayya Vimala.