Looking for the "Don't Stop"/"Keep Going" Sutta

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AdvaitaJ
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Looking for the "Don't Stop"/"Keep Going" Sutta

Post by AdvaitaJ »

Greetings All,

I've been away for a little over a year, and it's good to quickly spot some of the helpful familiar names I remembered from back when. I'm looking for some help identifying a sutta I have a vague recollection of, but can't even think of good keywords to search for. It was likely in the book "In the Buddha's Words" by Bhikku Bodhi, but I didn't spot anything familiar scanning back through it so it could be anywhere.

Specifically, the sutta I'm thinking of is one where the Buddha was admonishing the Bhikkus to keep working hard at their practice even when they thought they had "arrived" at a good place. There were words to the effect that even though you think this is as good as it can get, it gets better so keep going. I don't recall that the Buddha was encouraging the Bhikkus to press on for nibbana so much as he was cautioning against those who would feel that what they had was "good enough".

Any ideas and suggestions appreciated.

Regards: Jim
The birds have vanished down the sky. Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains.
Li Bai
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mikenz66
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Re: Looking for the "Don't Stop"/"Keep Going" Sutta

Post by mikenz66 »

Welcome back Jim... :hello:

How about:
MN 111 Anupada Sutta: One After Another
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"There was the case where Sariputta — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful qualities — entered & remained in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. Whatever qualities there are in the first jhana — directed thought, evaluation, rapture, pleasure, singleness of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness,[2] desire, decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity, & attention — he ferreted them out one after another. Known to him they arose, known to him they remained, known to him they subsided. He discerned, 'So this is how these qualities, not having been, come into play. Having been, they vanish.' He remained unattracted & unrepelled with regard to those qualities, independent, detached, released, dissociated, with an awareness rid of barriers. He discerned that 'There is a further escape,' and pursuing it there really was for him.
:anjali:
Mike
daverupa
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Re: Looking for the "Don't Stop"/"Keep Going" Sutta

Post by daverupa »

Perhaps this:
MN 29 wrote:
"In the same way, monks, there is the case where a certain son of good family, out of conviction, goes forth from the home life into homelessness, [thinking,] 'I am beset by birth, by aging-&-death, by sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs, beset by stress, overcome with stress. Perhaps the end of this entire mass of stress might be discerned!' Having thus gone forth, he encounters gain, offerings, & fame. He is gratified with that gain, offerings, & fame, his resolve fulfilled. Because of that gain, offerings, & fame he exalts himself and disparages others: 'I am a person with gain, offerings, & fame, but these other monks are unknown & of little influence.' He is intoxicated with that gain, offerings, & fame, heedless about it, and falls into heedlessness. Being heedless, he dwells in suffering & stress. This, monks, is called a monk who grasps the twigs & leaves of the holy life, and with that he falls short....

(In the next case:)...He is not intoxicated with that gain, offerings, & fame, not heedless about it, and does not fall into heedlessness. Being heedful, he achieves consummation in virtue. He is gratified with that consummation in virtue, his resolve fulfilled. Because of that consummation in virtue he exalts himself and disparages others: 'I am a person of virtue, with fine qualities, but these other monks are unvirtuous, with evil qualities.' He is intoxicated with that consummation in virtue, heedless about it, and falls into heedlessness. Being heedless, he dwells in suffering & stress.
The Sutta progresses along these lines, using a heartwood analogy.
"Monks, this holy life doesn't have as its reward gain, offerings, & fame, doesn't have as its reward consummation of virtue, doesn't have as its reward consummation of concentration, doesn't have as its reward knowledge & vision, but the unprovoked awareness-release: That is the purpose of this holy life, that is its heartwood, that its final end."
  • "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.

    "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.

- Sedaka Sutta [SN 47.19]
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Cittasanto
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Re: Looking for the "Don't Stop"/"Keep Going" Sutta

Post by Cittasanto »

AdvaitaJ wrote:Greetings All,

I've been away for a little over a year, and it's good to quickly spot some of the helpful familiar names I remembered from back when. I'm looking for some help identifying a sutta I have a vague recollection of, but can't even think of good keywords to search for. It was likely in the book "In the Buddha's Words" by Bhikku Bodhi, but I didn't spot anything familiar scanning back through it so it could be anywhere.

Specifically, the sutta I'm thinking of is one where the Buddha was admonishing the Bhikkus to keep working hard at their practice even when they thought they had "arrived" at a good place. There were words to the effect that even though you think this is as good as it can get, it gets better so keep going. I don't recall that the Buddha was encouraging the Bhikkus to press on for nibbana so much as he was cautioning against those who would feel that what they had was "good enough".

Any ideas and suggestions appreciated.

Regards: Jim
Hi Jim, (I used to be Manapa untill the begining of the Year)
Are you thinking of DN16 the Parinibbana Sutta?
nothing else springs to mind with your description, appart from strive on with heedfulness, which was to the stream enterers so they wouldn't get complacent about their attainment.

I am sure there are other instances but this is all that comes to mind.
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
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bodom
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Re: Looking for the "Don't Stop"/"Keep Going" Sutta

Post by bodom »

MN 105 Sunakkhatta Sutta comes to mind in which several bhikkus overestimate there attainments:

MN 105 Sunakkhatta Sutta
http://www.palicanon.org/en/sutta-pitak ... hatta.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

:anjali:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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AdvaitaJ
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Re: Looking for the "Don't Stop"/"Keep Going" Sutta

Post by AdvaitaJ »

Well, if there were a prize to give, I think Mike would win it with MN 111. It's not exactly how I was thinking of it, so I reserve the right to be wrong, but it certainly resonates with me for that "keep pushing" aspect. As I'm writing this, I realize that what still seems to be missing was the Buddha almost teasing his audience with the suggestion that no matter how good you think things are at this stage/place, don't stop because it does get better. No matter, the MN was a great suggestion. For some reason, I had previously not considered that in my search but am now.

In case you're curious, what's driving this is a talk I heard a while back by an English scholar/teacher in which he espouses the notion that we should not ascribe supernormal anything to the Buddha or his teachings. In that talk, he recommended a book I've just finished reading called "Basic Teachings of the Buddha" by Glenn Wallis. This book also constrains the teachings to what I'll call the "mundane" which is not meant to diminish the teachings, but rather to remove unwarranted additions subsequent generations have added. So...on the one hand are these very cogent talks and writings that keep the Buddha's teachings on a very pragmatic level. Then -- I hear a recent talk by Joseph Goldstein that clearly says there is more to the teachings than the merely mundane. So I went looking for the sutta where the Buddha describes the circumstance by which someone of the mundane-camp could think "this is good stuff, stop looking for more" but the Buddha says, "no, there is more. Keep working."

Thanks to all for your suggestions!

Regards: Jim
The birds have vanished down the sky. Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains.
Li Bai
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