The Discourse about Agitation (UD4.2)

Thus I heard: At one time the Gracious One was dwelling near Kusinārā, at Upavattana, in the Mallas’ Sāl Wood. Then at that time many monks were dwelling in a little forest hut not far from the Gracious One, agitated, arrogant, fickle, garrulous, of loose speech, unmindful, not fully understanding, uncomposed, with minds very unsteady, and with faculties uncontrolled.

The Gracious One saw those many monks dwelling in a little forest hut not far away, agitated, arrogant, fickle, garrulous, of loose speech, unmindful, not fully understanding, uncomposed, with minds very unsteady, and with faculties uncontrolled. Then the Gracious One, having understood the significance of it, on that occasion uttered this exalted utterance:

“Through unprotected body, and through attainment of wrong view,
Through being overcome by sloth and torpor one goes under the power of Māra.

“Therefore one should be of protected mind, one whose resort is right thought,
Devoted to right view, having come to know rise and fall.
The monk who overcomes sloth and torpor will give up all bad destinies.”

Translated by Bhikkhu Ānandajoti from the Buddha Jayanthi Tripitaka text. Version 2.2, revised February 2008.

The text and translation, together with detailed notes and discussions, may be found in multiple formats on the translator’s website, Ancient Buddhist Texts.

Used by kind permission of Bhikkhu Ānandajoti.

The original translation was released under the following licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.