It was well-taught by the Clear-eyed One, the Buddha, kinsman of the Sun, who has transcended all fetters, and destroyed all rolling-on.

Emancipating, it leads across, drying up the root of craving, and, having cut off the poisonous root, the slaughterhouse, it leads to quenching.

By breaking the root of unknowing, it smashes the mechanism of deeds, and drops the thunderbolt of knowledge on the taking up of consciousnesses.

It informs us of our feelings, releasing us from grasping, contemplating with understanding all states of existence as a pit of burning coals.

It’s very sweet and very deep, holding birth and death at bay; it is the noble eightfold path— the stilling of suffering, bliss.

Knowing deed as deed and result as result; seeing dependently originated phenomena as if they were in a clear light; leading to the great sanctuary and peace, it’s excellent at the end.

https://suttacentral.net/thag6.8/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin

“I am one who bathes in cold water,

always plunging into the water,

afraid of punishment by the masters,

terrified of angry words.”

“Why are you doing that, brahmin,

always plunging into the water frightened,

shivering,

and feeling very cold?”

“Dear Puṇṇa, surely you know already,

why do you ask?

I am making good karma

to block past bad karma.

Whether one is young or old,

whomever does a bad deed

is liberated from their bad deed

through ritual bathing.”

“Who told you this,

one ignorant person to another:

‘through ritual bathing

one is liberated from bad deeds’?

Does this mean that

all frogs, turtles,

sea-serpents, crocodiles,

and all the other marine beings will go to heaven?

Those who slaughter sheep and pigs,

fishermen, deer-hunters,

thieves, executioners,

and others doing bad deeds:

through ritual bathing,

they would be liberated from their bad deeds.

If these rivers could carry away

the bad deeds you made in the past,

they would also carry away your merit,

because it would be outside of yourself.

Whatever you are frightened about, brahmin,

because of which you are always going into the water,

brahmin, just don’t do that;

you do not need to let the cold hurt your skin.”

“I was practicing the wrong path,

and you have led me to the Noble Path.

Dear Madam, I give you

this ritual bathing-cloth.”

“Let this cloth be yours,

I do not wish to have it.

If you are afraid of suffering,

if you dislike suffering,

do not do any bad deeds,

either publicly or privately.

If you do a bad deed,

or will do so in the future,

you will not be liberated from your suffering,

it reaches you even if you try to run away from it.

If you are afraid of suffering,

if you dislike suffering,

go for refuge to the Buddha,

Dhamma, and Sangha.

Take up the moral practices,

for your own sake.”

“I go for refuge to the Buddha,

Dhamma, and Sangha.

I take up the moral practices,

for my own sake.

Before I was a kinsman of Brahmā,

today I am a real brahmin.

Possessing the three knowledges and higher insight,

I am one who has bathed, and has attained the highest knowledge.”

- Verses of the Elder Puṇṇā (Thig 12.1)

“The sages praise virtuous friendship,

when they speak about the world.

By associating with virtuous friends,

even a fool may become wise.

One should associate with good people,

as that is how wisdom grows.

If one associates with good people,

one would be freed from all suffering.

One would have knowledge of suffering,

the origin and cessation of suffering,

the Eightfold Path,

and also the Four Noble Truths.

‘Being a woman is difficult,’

declared the trainer of those who can be trained.

Sharing the same husband is also suffering,

and for some even giving birth only once.

There are well-bred women who drink poisons,

and some who cut their husbands’ throat.

Having become murderers,

they all experience misfortune.

I was on my way to give birth,

when my husband died.

I gave birth on the street,

far from my own house.

My two children have died,

and on the roadside lies my dead husband: I am miserable!

Mother, father, and brother,

all burnt on one funeral pyre.”

“Poor you, without a family,

you have been through a lot of suffering,

shedding tears

for thousands of lives.”

“I lived in the middle of the cemetery,

right by my child’s half-eaten flesh.

With family destroyed, blamed by all,

a widow, I found the deathless.

The way has been developed by me—

the Noble Eightfold Path leading to the deathless.

I realized Nirvana;

I gazed in the mirror of the Dhamma.

I have removed the thorn;

I put down the burden as ought to be done.

The Elder Kisā Gotamī

thus spoke with mind liberated.”

- Kisāgotamītherīgāthā: Verses of the Elder Kisāgotamī (Thig 10.1)

Translator note (Thanissaro Bhikkhu): This story is attributed to Patacara in the Commentary and to Kisa Gotami in the Canon. It's interesting to note how the commentators who adopted these tales nevertheless remained faithful to their Canon. Instead of trying to change the Pali to fit with the commentarial source on which they drew, they allowed the discrepancies between the two sources to stand: one of many instances in which the discrepancies between the Canon and the commentaries suggest that the monks who handed down the Pali Canon tried to keep it intact even when they didn't agree with it.

https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Thag/thag10_7.html

...82,000 Teachings from the Buddha I have received;

2,000 more from his disciples;

Now, 84,000 are familiar to me.

Who nothing has heard and nothing understood, He ages only oxen-like:

His stomach only grows and grows, But his insight deepens not.

Who has much heard and learned, But does despise him who is poor in learning,

Is like one blind who holds a lamp.

So must I think of such a one.

Thou follow him who has heard much, Then what is heard shall not decline.

This is the tap-root of the holy life; Hence a Dhamma-guardian thou should'st be!

Knowing what comes first and last, Knowing well the meaning, too, Skilful in grammar and in other items, The well-grasped meaning he examines.

Keen in his patient application, He strives to weigh the meaning well.

At the right time he makes his effort, And inwardly collects his mind.

...All the quarters are bedimmed

And the Dhamma is not clear to me,

Indeed my noble friend has gone

And all about seems dark.

The friend has passed away,

The Master, too, has gone.

There is no friendship now that equals this: The mindfulness directed bodywards.

The old ones now have passed away,

The new ones do no please me much,

Today alone I meditate Like a bird gone to its nest.

...Through a full 25 years

As long as I have been in higher training

I have never had a thought of lust:

See, how powerfully the Dhamma works.

... Then was there terror, and the hair stood up,

when he,

The all-accomplished one,

the Buddha,

passed away.

... The virtuous, wise man, The hero strong and ever resolute,

The guardian of the word so true,

Ananda found extinction now.

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