32. Free of "I"-Making

AN 3:32 Free of "I"-making

Translated from the Pali by Nyanaponika Thera and Bhikkhu Bodhi

On one occasion the Venerable Sariputta approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him and sat down to one side. The Blessed One then said to him:

“Sariputta, whether I teach the Dhamma in brief, or whether I teach it in detail, or whether I teach it both in brief and in detail, those who understand are hard to find.”

“Now, O Blessed One, is the time for it! Now, Sublime One, is the time for the Blessed One to teach the Dhamma in brief, to teach it in detail, and to teach it both in brief and in detail. There will be those who will understand the Dhamma.”

“Well then, Sariputta, thus should one train oneself: ’We shall not entertain any I-making, mine-making or underlying tendency to conceit either in regard to this conscious body or in regard to all external objects; and we shall enter and dwell in the liberation of mind, liberation by wisdom, so that we are no longer subject to I-making, mine-making and the underlying tendency to conceit.’ That is how one should train oneself.

“When, Sariputta, a monk has no more I-making, mine-making and underlying tendency to conceit either in regard to this conscious body or in regard to external objects, and when he thus enters and dwells in the liberation of mind, liberation by wisdom, he is then called a monk who has cut off craving and removed the fetters, one who, by fully breaking through conceit, has made an end of suffering.

“About this, Sariputta, I have spoken in ’The Questions of Udaya’ in ’The Way to the Far Shore’:

“The abandoning of sensual desires Along with the bitter touch of grief; The dispelling of sloth, mental dullness, The warding off of anxious worry; Purified mindfulness and equipoise Preceded by thinking on the Dhamma: This, I declare, is release by knowledge, The breaking apart of ignorance.”