Reading guide
A one-to-one correspondence, not a loose analogy
Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse names five specific metals (iron, copper, tin, lead, silver) as corrupting gold in the identical way the five hindrances corrupt the mind, using the identical descriptive terms (“not pliable, workable, or radiant... brittle”) for both — a precise, symmetrical simile rather than a loose comparison.
A well-known image beyond this discourse alone
The gold-and-impurities simile for mental purification recurs elsewhere in the canon (notably in accounts of purifying concentration through progressive removal of defilements) — this discourse applies it specifically to the five hindrances as what keeps the mind from being “rightly immersed in samādhi for the ending of defilements.”
Key terms
The text
§1 — the five corruptions of gold“Mendicants, there are these five corruptions of native gold. When native gold is corrupted by these it’s not pliable, workable, or radiant, but is brittle and not completely ready for working. What five? Iron, copper, tin, lead, and silver. When native gold is corrupted by these five corruptions it’s not pliable, workable, or radiant, but is brittle and not completely ready for working.
§2 — the five corruptions of the mindIn the same way, there are these five corruptions of the mind. When the mind is corrupted by these it’s not pliable, workable, or radiant. It’s brittle, and not rightly immersed in samādhi for the ending of defilements. What five? Sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and remorse, and doubt. These are the five corruptions of the mind. When the mind is corrupted by these it’s not pliable, workable, or radiant. It’s brittle, and not rightly immersed in samādhi for the ending of defilements.”
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