Understanding
Anubuddha Sutta (AN 4:1)
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying among the Vajjians at Bhaṇḍa Village. There he addressed the monks, “Monks!”
“Yes, lord,” the monks responded to him.
The Blessed One said: “It’s because of not understanding and not penetrating four things that we have transmigrated & wandered on for such a long, long time, you & I. Which four?
“It’s because of not understanding and not penetrating noble virtue that we have transmigrated & wandered on for such a long, long time, you & I.
“It’s because of not understanding and not penetrating noble concentration that we have transmigrated & wandered on for such a long, long time, you & I.
“It’s because of not understanding and not penetrating noble discernment that we have transmigrated & wandered on for such a long, long time, you & I.
“It’s because of not understanding and not penetrating noble release that we have transmigrated & wandered on for such a long, long time, you & I.
“But now that noble virtue is understood & penetrated, noble concentration… noble discernment… noble release is understood & penetrated, craving for becoming is destroyed, the guide to becoming [craving] is ended, there is now no further becoming.”
That is what the Blessed One said. When the One Well-Gone had said that, he—the Teacher—said further:
Unexcelled virtue, concentration,
discernment, & release
have been understood
by Gotama of glorious stature.
Having known them directly,
he taught the Dhamma to the monks—
he, the Awakened One
the Teacher who has put an end
to suffering & stress,
the One with vision
totally unbound.
See also: DN 16
