2: The Book of the Twos
11
- © Translated from the Pali by Bhante Sujato. (More copyright information)
1“There are, mendicants, these two powers. What two? The power of reflection and the power of development. And what, mendicants, is the power of reflection? It’s when someone reflects: ‘Bad conduct of body, speech, or mind has a bad, painful result in both this life and the next.’ Reflecting like this, they give up bad conduct by way of body, speech, and mind, and develop good conduct by way of body, speech, and mind, keeping themselves pure. This is called the power of reflection.
2And what, mendicants, is the power of development? In this context, the power of development is the power of the trainees. For when you rely on the power of a trainee, you give up greed, hate, and delusion. Then you don’t do anything unskillful, or practice anything bad. This is called the power of development.
These are the two powers.”
1"Dvemāni, bhikkhave, balāni. Katamāni dve? Paṭisaṅkhānabalañca bhāvanābalañca. Katamañca, bhikkhave, paṭisaṅkhānabalaṁ? Idha, bhikkhave, ekacco iti paṭisañcikkhati: ‘kāyaduccaritassa kho pāpako vipāko diṭṭhe ceva dhamme abhisamparāyañca, vacīduccaritassa pāpako vipāko diṭṭhe ceva dhamme abhisamparāyañca, manoduccaritassa pāpako vipāko diṭṭhe ceva dhamme abhisamparāyañcā’ti. So iti paṭisaṅkhāya kāyaduccaritaṁ pahāya kāyasucaritaṁ bhāveti, vacīduccaritaṁ pahāya vacīsucaritaṁ bhāveti, manoduccaritaṁ pahāya manosucaritaṁ bhāveti, suddhaṁ attānaṁ pariharati. Idaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, paṭisaṅkhānabalaṁ.
2Katamañca, bhikkhave, bhāvanābalaṁ. Tatra, bhikkhave, yamidaṁ bhāvanābalaṁ sekhānametaṁ balaṁ. Sekhañhi so, bhikkhave, balaṁ āgamma rāgaṁ pajahati, dosaṁ pajahati, mohaṁ pajahati. Rāgaṁ pahāya, dosaṁ pahāya, mohaṁ pahāya yaṁ akusalaṁ na taṁ karoti, yaṁ pāpaṁ na taṁ sevati. Idaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, bhāvanābalaṁ.
Imāni kho, bhikkhave, dve balānī"ti.