Trainings (2)
Sikkha Sutta  (AN 3:91)

“There are these three trainings. Which three? The training in heightened virtue, the training in heightened mind, the training in heightened discernment.

“And what is the training in heightened virtue? There is the case where a monk is virtuous. He dwells restrained in accordance with the Pāṭimokkha, consummate in his behavior & sphere of activity. He trains himself, having undertaken the training rules, seeing danger in the slightest fault. This is called the training in heightened virtue.

“And what is the training in heightened mind? There is the case where a monk—quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful qualities—enters & remains in the first jhāna: rapture & pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. With the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, he enters & remains in the second jhāna: rapture & pleasure born of concentration, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation—internal assurance. With the fading of rapture he remains equanimous, mindful, & alert, and senses pleasure with the body. He enters & remains in the third jhāna, of which the noble ones declare, ‘Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.’ With the abandoning of pleasure & pain—as with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress—he enters & remains in the fourth jhāna: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain. This is called the training in heightened mind.

“And what is the training in heightened discernment? There is the case where a monk, through the ending of the effluents, enters & remains in the effluent-free awareness-release & discernment-release, having directly known & realized them for himself right in the here & now. This is called the training in heightened discernment.

“These are the three trainings.”

Heightened virtue,

heightened mind,

heightened discernment:

persistent,

firm,

steadfast,

absorbed in jhāna,

mindful,

with guarded faculties,

you should practice them—

as in front,

so behind;

as behind,

so in front;

as below,

so above;

as above,

so below;

as by day,

so by night;

as by night,

so by day;

conquering all the directions

with limitless concentration.

This is called

the practice of training,

as well as the pure way of life.

(Following it,) you’re called

self-awakened in the world,

enlightened,

one who’s taken the path

to its end.

With the cessation of sensory consciousness

of one released in the stopping of craving,

the liberation of awareness

of one released in the stopping of craving,

is like the unbinding

of a flame.1

Note

1. For a discussion of this image, see The Mind Like Fire Unbound.