Itivuttaka 80
This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard: “Monks, there are these three kinds of unskillful thinking. Which three? Thinking concerned with not wanting to be despised;1 thinking concerned with gains, offerings, & tribute; thinking concerned with an empathy for others.2 There are three kinds of unskillful thinking.”
Fettered
to not wanting to be despised;
to gains, offerings, respect;
to delight in companions:
you’re far from the ending of fetters.
But whoever here,
having abandoned
sons,
cattle,
marriage,
intimates:
he’s capable
–a monk like this–
of touching superlative
self-awakening.
Notes
1. See AN 3:102.
2. According to the Commentary, this refers to a monk’s tendency to be overly intimate with lay people, overly susceptible to the rises and falls in their fortunes, “happy when they are happy, sad when they are sad, busying himself with their affairs.”
