Shackles of the Heart (AN9.82)

Numbered Discourses 9.82

8. Right Efforts

Shackles of the Heart

“Mendicants, there are these five shackles of the heart.

What five?

Firstly, a mendicant isn’t free of greed, desire, fondness, thirst, passion, and craving for sensual pleasures. …

These are the five shackles of the heart.

To give up these five shackles of the heart you should develop the four right efforts.

What four?

It’s when a mendicant generates enthusiasm, tries, makes an effort, exerts the mind, and strives so that bad, unskillful qualities don’t arise. …

so that unskillful qualities are given up …

so that skillful qualities arise …

They generate enthusiasm, try, make an effort, exert the mind, and strive so that skillful qualities that have arisen remain, are not lost, but increase, mature, and are fully developed.

To give up these five shackles of the hearts you should develop these four right efforts.”