1.80. Source of Light (SN1.80)

“What is the source of light in the world?
What in the world is the wakeful one?
What are the colleagues of those living by work?
What is one’s course of movement?

“What nurtures both the slack and active
Just as a mother nurtures her child?
The creatures who dwell on the earth—
By what do they sustain their life?”

“Wisdom is the source of light in the world;
Mindfulness, in the world, is the wakeful one;
Cattle are the colleagues of those living by work;
One’s course of movement is the furrow.

“Rain nurtures both the slack and active
Just as a mother nurtures her child.
Those creatures who dwell on the earth
Sustain their life by rain.”

© Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Wisdom Publications, 2000)

This excerpt from The Connected Discourses of the Buddha by Bhikkhu Bodhi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Based on the work Connected Discourses of the Buddha at Wisdom Publications.

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Prepared for SuttaCentral by Blake Walsh.