Conviction
Saddhā Sutta (SN 1:36)
On one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Then many devatās of the Satullapa host, in the far extreme of the night, their extreme radiance lighting up the entirety of Jeta’s Grove, went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, stood to one side. As they were standing there, one devatā recited these verses in the Blessed One’s presence:
Conviction is a person’s companion.1
When you don’t take a stand
in lack of conviction,
prestige & honor come to you from that.
You go to heaven
on abandoning the body.
You should discard anger,2
abandon conceit,
transcend all fetters.
When you’re not adhering to name & form,
you have nothing—
no bonds attack you.
They’re devoted to heedlessness —dullards, fools— while one who is wise protects heedfulness as his highest wealth.
Don’t devote yourself to heedlessness
or to intimacy
with sensual delight—
for a heedful person,
absorbed in jhāna,
attains the foremost ease.3
Notes
1. Compare this line with Iti 15.
2. The Burmese and Sri Lankan editions indicate that another devatā recites these verses, but the Thai edition doesn’t.
3. Aside from the final line, these last two verses are identical with Dhp 26–27. Here the final line reads, pappoti paramaṁ sukhaṁ, “attains the foremost ease,” while in Dhp 27 it reads, pappoti vipulaṁ sukhaṁ, “attains an abundance of ease.”
See also: SN 1:59
