Going to the Far Shore (SN45.34)

Linked Discourses 45.34

4. Practice

Going to the Far Shore

At Sāvatthī.

“Mendicants, when these eight things are developed and cultivated they lead to going from the near shore to the far shore.

What eight?

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

When these eight things are developed and cultivated they lead to going from the near shore to the far shore.”

That is what the Buddha said.

Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say:

“Few are those among humans¹

who cross to the far shore.

The rest just run

around on the near shore.

When the teaching is well explained,

the people who practice accordingly

will cross over

Death’s dominion so hard to pass.

Rid of dark qualities,²

an astute person would develop the bright.³

Having left home for homelessness⁴

in seclusion, where joy is hard,

they’d long for satisfaction there.

Forsaking sensual pleasures, owning nothing,

an astute person would cleanse themselves

of mental corruptions.

And those whose minds are rightly developed

in the awakening factors;⁵

who, letting go of attachments,

delight in not grasping—

with defilements ended, brilliant,

they are quenched in this world.”