Reading guide
Completing the pair: gradual, not instant
Where SN 45.156's own storm settled dust “on the spot,” this discourse's own strong wind settles a storm “as it proceeds” — the two discourses together present both an instantaneous and a gradual mode of stilling unskillful qualities, not a contradiction but two facets of the same process, confirmed by direct comparison of their own Pāli.
Key terms
The text
§1“Mendicants, when a large storm has blown up, a strong wind disperses and settles it as it proceeds. In the same way, a mendicant who develops and cultivates the noble eightfold path disperses and stills bad, unskillful qualities as they proceed. And how does a mendicant who develops the noble eightfold path disperse and still bad, unskillful qualities as they proceed? 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 as they proceed.”
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