Pots (SN45.27)

Linked Discourses 45.27

3. The Wrong Way

Pots

At Sāvatthī.

“A pot without a stand is easy to overturn, but if it has a stand it’s hard to overturn.

In the same way, a mind without a stand is easy to overturn, but if it has a stand it’s hard to overturn.

And what’s the stand for the mind?

It is simply this noble eightfold path, that is:

right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion.

This is the stand for the mind.

A pot without a stand is easy to overturn, but if it has a stand it’s hard to overturn.

In the same way, a mind without a stand is easy to overturn, but if it has a stand it’s hard to overturn.”¹