Reading guide
The first of a paired discourse, distinguished by timing
This discourse and its own companion, SN 45.157, share the same storm-imagery and the same outcome (dispersing unskillful qualities) but differ in how the process unfolds — here, instantly and all at once, “on the spot.” The companion discourse instead describes a storm settling dust gradually, “as it proceeds.”
Key terms
The text
§1“Mendicants, in the last month of summer, when the dust and dirt is stirred up, a large storm out of season disperses and settles it on the spot. In the same way, a mendicant who develops and cultivates the noble eightfold path disperses and stills bad, unskillful qualities on the spot. How does a mendicant who develops the noble eightfold path disperse and still bad, unskillful qualities on the spot? It’s when a mendicant develops right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion, which rely on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripen as letting go. That’s how a mendicant who develops and cultivates the noble eightfold path disperses and stills bad, unskillful qualities on the spot.”
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