Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Good intentions and solitude are not enough on their own — the Buddha names five conditions that ripen a heart whose release is not yet mature, explains that the first of these (good friendship) makes the other four likely to follow, and then adds four further qualities to be developed once a mendicant is grounded on all five.
An attendant insists
Meghiya, the Buddha’s attendant at the time, returns from alms in Jantu village and finds a lovely mango grove by the Kimikālā river. Certain it is “good enough for striving,” he asks the Buddha’s permission to go meditate there. Twice the Buddha replies with the same plain request: “We’re alone, Meghiya. Wait until another mendicant comes.” Meghiya, unmoved, repeats his request a third time, pointing out that the Buddha himself “has nothing more to do,” while he, Meghiya, still does. Only then does the Buddha yield, with a line that reads almost like a shrug: “Since you speak of meditation, what can I say? Please, Meghiya, go at your convenience.”
Three kinds of thoughts
Meghiya sits at the root of a tree in the grove for the day’s meditation — and is “beset mostly by three kinds of bad, unskillful thoughts: sensual, malicious, and cruel thoughts.” His own reaction is startled and candid: “Oh lord, how incredible, how amazing! I’ve gone forth out of faith from the lay life to homelessness, but I’m still harassed by these three kinds of bad, unskillful thoughts.” He returns to the Buddha in the late afternoon and reports exactly this.
Five things that ripen an unripe heart’s release
The Buddha’s answer is systematic: “When the heart’s release is not ripe, five things help it ripen.” They are, in order: good friends, companions, and associates; being ethical and restrained in the monastic code; having ready access to talk that helps open the heart — on fewness of wishes, contentment, seclusion, aloofness, energy, ethics, immersion, wisdom, freedom, and the knowledge and vision of freedom; living with energy roused up for giving up what is unskillful and embracing what is skillful; and wisdom that sees the arising and passing away of things. The text then circles back to make the structure explicit: a mendicant with good friends, companions, and associates can be expected to develop each of the other four. Good friendship is not simply one item on the list — it is the ground the other four grow from.
Four further things to develop
Only once a mendicant is grounded on these five does the Buddha add a second, shorter list: “four further things” to be developed. The perception of ugliness, to give up greed. Love, to give up hate. Mindfulness of breathing, to cut off discursive thinking. And the perception of impermanence, to uproot the conceit “I am.” The text then traces a chain through that last one specifically: perceiving impermanence stabilizes the perception of not-self; perceiving not-self uproots the conceit “I am”; and that uprooting is itself described as attaining extinguishment in this very life.
The closing verse
The Buddha’s heartfelt saying names the very problem Meghiya just lived through: “Lesser thoughts and subtle thoughts arise, springing up in the mind. Not understanding these thoughts, one with mind astray runs from one thing to the next.” The second half describes the alternative — not the absence of thoughts, but their being understood: “Having understood these thoughts that arise, springing up in the mind, an awakened one — keen, restrained, and mindful — has given them up without remainder.” Solitude alone did not protect Meghiya from those thoughts; understanding them, backed by the conditions the Buddha has just listed, is what allows them to be let go.
Key terms
The text
§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Cālikā, on the Cālikā mountain. Now, at that time Venerable Meghiya was the Buddha’s attendant. Then Venerable Meghiya went up to the Buddha, bowed, stood to one side, and said to him, “Sir, I’d like to enter Jantu village for alms.” “Please, Meghiya, go at your convenience.”
§2Then Meghiya robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, entered Jantu village for alms. After the meal, on his return from almsround in Jantu village, he went to the shore of Kimikālā river. As he was going for a walk along the shore of the river he saw a lovely and delightful mango grove. When he saw this he thought, “Oh, this mango grove is lovely and delightful! This is good enough for striving for a gentleman wanting to strive. If the Buddha allows me, I’ll come back to this mango grove to meditate.”
§3Then Venerable Meghiya went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and told him what had happened, adding,
§4“If the Buddha allows me, I’ll go back to that mango grove to meditate.”
§5When he had spoken, the Buddha said to him, “We’re alone, Meghiya. Wait until another mendicant comes.”
§6For a second time Meghiya said to the Buddha, “Sir, the Buddha has nothing more to do, and nothing that needs improvement. But I have. If you allow me, I’ll go back to that mango grove to meditate.” For a second time the Buddha said, “We’re alone, Meghiya. Wait until another mendicant comes.”
§7For a third time Meghiya said to the Buddha, “Sir, the Buddha has nothing more to do, and nothing that needs improvement. But I have. If you allow me, I’ll go back to that mango grove to meditate.” “Meghiya, since you speak of meditation, what can I say? Please, Meghiya, go at your convenience.”
§8Then Meghiya rose from his seat, bowed, and respectfully circled the Buddha, keeping him on his right. Then he went to that mango grove, and, having plunged deep into it, sat at the root of a certain tree for the day’s meditation. But while Meghiya was meditating in that mango grove he was beset mostly by three kinds of bad, unskillful thoughts, namely, sensual, malicious, and cruel thoughts.
§9Then he thought, “Oh lord, how incredible, how amazing! I’ve gone forth out of faith from the lay life to homelessness, but I’m still harassed by these three kinds of bad, unskillful thoughts: sensual, malicious, and cruel thoughts.”
§10Then in the late afternoon, Venerable Meghiya came out of retreat and went to the Buddha. He bowed, sat down to one side, and told the Buddha what had happened.
§11“Meghiya, when the heart’s release is not ripe, five things help it ripen. What five?
§12Firstly, a mendicant has good friends, companions, and associates. This is the first thing …
§13Furthermore, a mendicant is ethical, restrained in the monastic code, conducting themselves well and resorting for alms in suitable places. Seeing danger in the slightest fault, they keep the rules they’ve undertaken. This is the second thing …
§14Furthermore, a mendicant gets to take part in talk about self-effacement that helps open the heart and leads solely to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment when they want, without trouble or difficulty. That is, talk about fewness of wishes, contentment, seclusion, aloofness, arousing energy, ethics, immersion, wisdom, freedom, and the knowledge and vision of freedom.’ This is the third thing …
§15Furthermore, a mendicant lives with energy roused up for giving up unskillful qualities and embracing skillful qualities. They are strong, staunchly vigorous, not slacking off when it comes to developing skillful qualities. This is the fourth thing …
§16Furthermore, a mendicant is wise. They have the wisdom of arising and passing away which is noble, penetrative, and leads to the complete ending of suffering. This is the fifth thing that, when the heart’s release is not ripe, helps it ripen. These are the five things that, when the heart’s release is not ripe, help it ripen.
§17A mendicant with good friends, companions, and associates can expect to be ethical …
§18A mendicant with good friends, companions, and associates can expect to take part in talk about self-effacement that helps open the heart …
§19A mendicant with good friends, companions, and associates can expect to be energetic …
§20A mendicant with good friends, companions, and associates can expect to be wise …
§21But then, a mendicant grounded on these five things should develop four further things. They should develop the perception of ugliness to give up greed, love to give up hate, mindfulness of breathing to cut off thinking, and perception of impermanence to uproot the conceit ‘I am’. When you perceive impermanence, the perception of not-self becomes stabilized. Perceiving not-self, you uproot the conceit ‘I am’ and attain extinguishment in this very life.”
§22Then, understanding this matter, on that occasion the Buddha expressed this heartfelt sentiment:
§23“Lesser thoughts and subtle thoughts arise, springing up in the mind. Not understanding these thoughts, one with mind astray runs from one thing to the next.
§24Having understood these thoughts that arise, springing up in the mind, an awakened one—keen, restrained, and mindful— has given them up without remainder.”
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