an2.11:2.1 And what, mendicants, is the power of development?
BAGIAN 2
an2.11:2.2 In this context, the power of development is the power of the trainees.
an2.11:2.3 For when you rely on the power of a trainee, you give up greed, hate, and delusion.
an2.11:2.4 Then you don’t do anything unskillful, or practice anything bad.
an2.11:2.5 This is called the power of development.
an2.11:2.6 These are the two powers.”
an2.12:2.1 And what, mendicants, is the power of development?
an2.12:2.2 It’s when a mendicant develops the awakening factors of mindfulness,
an2.12:2.3 investigation of principles,
an2.12:2.4 energy,
an2.12:2.5 rapture,
an2.12:2.6 tranquility,
an2.12:2.7 immersion,
an2.12:2.8 and equanimity, which rely on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripen as letting go.
an2.12:2.9 This is called the power of development.
an2.12:2.10 These are the two powers.”
an2.13:2.1 And what, mendicants, is the power of development?
an2.13:2.2 It’s when a mendicant, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, enters and remains in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected.
an2.13:2.3 As the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, they enter and remain in the second absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one, without placing the mind and keeping it connected.
an2.13:2.4 And with the fading away of rapture, they enter and remain in the third absorption, where they meditate with equanimity, mindful and aware, experiencing for themselves the bliss of which the noble ones declare, ‘Equanimous and mindful, one meditates in bliss.’
an2.13:2.5 With the giving up of pleasure and pain and the disappearance of former happiness and sadness, they enter and remain in the fourth absorption, without pleasure or pain, with pure equanimity and mindfulness.
an2.13:2.6 This is called the power of development.
an2.13:2.7 These are the two powers.”
an2.15:2.1 And how, mendicants, does an offending mendicant carefully check themselves?
an2.15:2.2 An offending mendicant reflects:
an2.15:2.3 ‘I have committed a certain unskillful offense with the body.
an2.15:2.4 That mendicant saw me do this.
an2.15:2.5 If I hadn’t committed that offense, they wouldn’t have seen me.
an2.15:2.6 But since I did commit that offense, they did see me.
an2.15:2.7 When they saw me, they were upset,
an2.15:2.8 and they voiced their unhappiness to me.
an2.15:2.9 Then I also got upset,
an2.15:2.10 so I told others.
an2.15:2.11 So the mistake is mine alone, like someone who owes customs duty on their goods.’
an2.15:2.12 That’s how, mendicants, an offending mendicant carefully checks themselves.
an2.16:2.1 “What is the cause, worthy Gotama, what is the reason why some sentient beings, when their body breaks up, after death, are reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm?”
an2.16:2.2 “Principled and moral conduct is the reason why some sentient beings, when their body breaks up, after death, are reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.”
an2.17:2.1 “Firstly, brahmin, someone has done bad things and not done good things by way of body, speech, and mind.
an2.17:2.4 So what they’ve done and what they’ve not done is why some sentient beings, when their body breaks up, after death, are reborn in a place of loss, a bad place, the underworld, hell.
an2.17:2.5 Furthermore, brahmin, someone has done good things and not done bad things by way of body, speech, and mind.
an2.17:2.8 So what they’ve done and what they’ve not done is why some sentient beings, when their body breaks up, after death, are reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.”
an2.18:2.1 “Ānanda, I absolutely say that you should do good things by way of body, speech, and mind.”
an2.18:2.2 “But, sir, if someone does these things that should be done, what benefits should they expect?”
an2.18:2.3 “They should expect these benefits.
an2.18:2.4 They don’t blame themselves.
an2.18:2.5 After examination, sensible people praise them.
an2.18:2.6 They get a good reputation.
an2.18:2.7 They don’t feel lost when they die.
an2.18:2.8 And when the body breaks up, after death, they are reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.
an2.18:2.9 These are the benefits they should expect.”
an2.19:2.1 Mendicants, develop the skillful.
an2.19:2.2 It is possible to develop the skillful.
an2.19:2.3 If it wasn’t possible, I wouldn’t say:
an2.19:2.4 ‘Develop the skillful.’
an2.19:2.5 But it is possible, and so I say:
an2.19:2.6 ‘Develop the skillful.’
an2.19:2.7 If developing the skillful led to harm and suffering I wouldn’t say:
an2.19:2.8 ‘Develop the skillful.’
an2.19:2.9 But developing the skillful leads to welfare and happiness, so I say:
an2.19:2.10 ‘Develop the skillful.’”
an2.20:2.1 These two things lead to the continuation, persistence, and enduring of the true teaching.
an2.20:2.2 What two?
an2.20:2.3 The words and phrases are well organized, and the meaning is correctly interpreted.
an2.20:2.4 When the words and phrases are well organized, the meaning is correctly interpreted.
an2.20:2.5 These two things lead to the continuation, persistence, and enduring of the true teaching.”