SN 45.7

Dutiyaaññatarabhikkhusutta

Sāvatthinidānaṁ. Atha kho aññataro bhikkhu yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami …pe… ekamantaṁ nisinno kho so bhikkhu bhagavantaṁ etadavoca:

A Mendicant (2nd)

At Sāvatthī. Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha … and said to him:

“‘Rāgavinayo dosavinayo mohavinayo’ti, bhante, vuccati. Kissa nu kho etaṁ, bhante, adhivacanaṁ: ‘rāgavinayo dosavinayo mohavinayo’”ti? “Nibbānadhātuyā kho etaṁ, bhikkhu, adhivacanaṁ: ‘rāgavinayo dosavinayo mohavinayo’ti. Āsavānaṁ khayo tena vuccatī”ti.

“Sir, they speak of ‘the removal of greed, hate, and delusion’. What is this a term for?” “Mendicant, the removal of greed, hate, and delusion is a term for an element of extinguishment. It’s used to speak of the ending of defilements.”

Evaṁ vutte, so bhikkhu bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: “‘amataṁ, amatan’ti, bhante, vuccati. Katamaṁ nu kho, bhante, amataṁ, katamo amatagāmimaggo”ti? “Yo kho, bhikkhu, rāgakkhayo dosakkhayo mohakkhayo— idaṁ vuccati amataṁ. Ayameva ariyo aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo amatagāmimaggo, seyyathidaṁ— sammādiṭṭhi …pe… sammāsamādhī”ti.

When he said this, the mendicant said to the Buddha: “Sir, they speak of ‘freedom from death’. What is freedom from death? And what is the path that leads to freedom from death?” “The ending of greed, hate, and delusion. This is called freedom from death. The path that leads to freedom from death is simply this noble eightfold path, that is: right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion.”