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Saṁyutta Nikāya — The Connected Discourses

SN17: Connected Discourses on Gains and Honour

SN17:37–43 Mother Sutta, Etc.

At Sāvatthī. "Bhikkhus, dreadful are gain, honour, and praise, bitter, vile, obstructive to achieving the unsurpassed security from bondage. sn.ii.243 Bhikkhus, I have known of a certain person here, whose mind I have encompassed with my own mind: ‘This venerable one would not tell a deliberate lie even for the sake of his mother … even for the sake of his father … even for the sake of his brother … his sister … his son … his daughter … his wife.’[n.336] Spk: When bandits grab hold of his mother in the wilderness and say they will release her only if he tells a deliberate lie, even then he won’t tell a deliberate lie. The same method in the other cases. Yet some time later I see him, his mind overcome and obsessed by gain, honour, and praise, telling a deliberate lie. So dreadful, bhikkhus, are gain, honour, and praise, so bitter, vile, obstructive to achieving the unsurpassed security from bondage. Therefore, bhikkhus, you should train yourselves thus: sn.ii.244 ‘We will abandon the arisen gain, honour, and praise, and we will not let the arisen gain, honour, and praise persist obsessing our minds.’ Thus should you train yourselves."