THE FOUNDATION OF THE KINGDOM OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
DHAMMA-KAKKA-PPAVATTANA-SUTTA
Reverence to the Blessed One, the Holy One, the Fully-Enlightened One.
1. Thus have I heard. The Blessed One was once staying at Benares, at the hermitage called Migadâya. And there the Blessed One addressed the company of the five Bhikkhus[1], and said:
2. ‘There are two extremes, O Bhikkhus, which the man who has given up the world[2] ought not to follow–the habitual practice, on the one hand of those things whose attraction depends upon the passions, and especially of sensuality–a low and pagan[3] way (of seeking satisfaction) unworthy, unprofitable, and fit only for the worldly-minded–
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and the habitual practice, on the other hand, of asceticism (or self-mortification), which is painful, unworthy, and unprofitable.
3. ‘There is a middle path, O Bhikkhus, avoiding these two extremes, discovered by the Tathâgata[1]–a path which opens the eyes, and bestows understanding, which leads to peace of mind, to the higher wisdom, to full enlightenment, to Nirvâna!
4. ‘What is that middle path, O Bhikkhus, avoiding these two extremes, discovered by the Tathâgata–that path which opens the eyes, and bestows understanding, which ‘leads to peace of mind, to the higher wisdom, to full enlightenment, to Nirvâna? Verily! it is this noble eightfold path that is to say
‘Right views;
Right aspirations;
Right speech;
Right conduct;
Right livelihood;
Right effort;
Right mindfulness;
and Right contemplation.
‘This, O Bhikkhus, is that middle path, avoiding these two extremes, discovered by the Tathâgata–that path which opens the eyes, and bestows understanding, which leads to peace of mind, to the higher wisdom, to full enlightenment, to Nirvâna!
[1. The Tathâgata is an epithet of a Buddha. It is interpreted by Buddhaghosa, in the Samangala Vilâsinî, to mean that he came to earth for the same purposes, after having passed through the same training in former births, as all the supposed former Buddhas; and that, when he had so come, all his actions corresponded with theirs.
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This translation is made from a transcript of the text as found in the very beautiful Ceylon MS. on silver plates, now in the British Museum[1]…. This text belongs to the Anguttara Nikâya. M. Léon Feer has lithographed the Samyutta treatment in his ‘Textes tirés du Kandjour[2],’ together with the text of the corresponding passage in the Lalita Vistara, and the Tibetan translation from that poem.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe11/sbe1104.htm