Snp 2.9 - Sn 2:9 With What Virtue?
Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
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Copyright: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017
License notice: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.
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Publisher references (not part of the sutta): See also: MN 29–30; AN 5:151; AN 5:202; AN 6:86; AN 8:53; AN 10:58; Thag 5:10
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2:9 With What Virtue?

This sutta mentions the metaphorical notion of “heartwood” (sāra) three times. Although sāra as a metaphor is often translated as “essence,” this misses some of the metaphor’s implications. When x is said to have y as its heartwood, that means that the proper development of x yields y, and that y is the most valuable part of x—just as a tree, as it matures, develops heartwood, and the heartwood is the most valuable part of the tree.

“With what virtue,
  what behavior,
nurturing what actions,
would a person become rightly based
and attain the ultimate goal?”

“One should be respectful
  of one’s superiors1
  & not envious;
should have a sense of the time
  for seeing teachers;2
should value the opportunity
  when a talk on Dhamma’s in progress;
should listen intently
  to well-spoken words;
should go at the proper time,
  humbly, casting off arrogance,
  to one’s teacher’s presence;
should both recollect & follow
  the Dhamma, its meaning,
  restraint, & the holy life.

Delighting in Dhamma,
savoring Dhamma,
established in Dhamma,
with a sense of how
to investigate Dhamma,
one should not speak in ways
destructive of Dhamma,3
should guide oneself
with true, well-spoken words.

  Shedding
laughter,chattering,
lamentation, hatred,
deception, deviousness,
greed, pride,
confrontation, roughness,
astringency, infatuation,
one should go about free
of intoxication,
with steadfast mind.

Understanding’s the heartwood
of well-spoken words;
concentration, the heartwood
of learning & understanding.

When a person is hasty & heedless
his discernment & learning
  don’t grow.
While those who delight
in the Dhamma taught by the noble ones,
  are unsurpassed
in word, action, & mind.
They, established in
      calm,
      composure, &
      concentration,
have reached
what discernment & learning
have as their heartwood.”4

vv. 324–330

Notes

1. According to SnA, one’s superiors include those who have more wisdom than oneself, more skill in concentration and other aspects of the path than oneself, and those senior to oneself.

2. SnA says that the right time to see a teacher is when one is overcome with passion, aversion, and delusion, and cannot find a way out on one’s own. This echoes a passage in AN 6:26, in which Ven. Mahā Kaccāna says that the right time to visit a “monk worthy of esteem” is when one needs help in overcoming any of the five hindrances or when one doesn’t yet have an appropriate theme to focus on to put an end to the mind’s effluents.

3. SnA equates “words destructive of the Dhamma” with “animal talk.” See the discussion under Pācittiya 85 in The Buddhist Monastic Code.

4. The heartwood of learning & discernment is release. See MN 29 and 30.