35.104. Secure from Bondage (SN35.104)

At Savatthī. “Bhikkhus, I will teach you a Dhamma exposition on the theme of the one who declares the exertion to become secure from bondage. Listen to that….

“And what, bhikkhus, is the Dhamma exposition on the theme of the one who declares the exertion to become secure from bondage? There are, bhikkhus, forms cognizable by the eye that are desirable, lovely, agreeable, pleasing, sensually enticing, tantalizing. These have been abandoned by the Tathagata, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated so that they are no more subject to future arising. He declares an exertion should be made for their abandoning. Therefore the Tathagata is called one who declares the exertion to become secure from bondage.

“There are, bhikkhus, sounds cognizable by the ear … mental phenomena cognizable by the mind that are desirable, lovely, agreeable, pleasing, sensually enticing, tantalizing. These have been abandoned by the Tathagata, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated so that they are no more subject to future arising. He declares an exertion should be made for their abandoning. Therefore the Tathagata is called one who declares the exertion to become secure from bondage.

“This, bhikkhus, is the Dhamma exposition on the theme of the one who declares the exertion to become secure from bondage.”

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

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Prepared for SuttaCentral by Blake Walsh.