False Values Bar Spiritual Progress
Right Thought Leads to Realisation
11. Asāre sāramatino, sāre cāsāradassino
Te sāraṃ nādhigacchanti, micchāsaṅkappagocarā.
අසාරෙ සාරමතිනො
සාරෙ චා'සාරදසසිනො
තෙ සාරං නාධිගචඡනති
මිචඡාසංකපපගොචරා
In the unreal they imagine the real, in the real they see the unreal —
they who entertain (such) wrong thoughts never realise the essence.
යම් කෙනෙක් වැදගත් නොවූ නිසරු අදහස්වල හරයක් ඇතැයි සිතත් ද සාරවත් ධර්මයන් නිසරුකොට සලකත් ද, වැරදි අදහස් වලට ගොදුරු වූ ඔවුහූ මාර්ග ඵලාදී සාරය නොලබත්.
12. Sāranca sārato natvā, asāranca asārato
Te sāraṃ adhigacchanti, sammā saṅkappagocarā.
සාරං ච සාරතො ඤතවා
අසාරං ච අසාරතො
තෙ සාරං අධිගචඡනති
සම්මාසංකප්පගොචරා
What is real they regard as real, what is unreal they regard as unreal —
they who entertain right thoughts realise the essence.
Conceiving the real in unreality
while seeing unreal the truly real,
roaming fields of thoughts ill-formed:
never they at the real arrive.
යහපත් අදහස් ඇති යම් කෙනෙක් සාරවත් දෙය සාරවත් යැයි දැනගනිත් ද, ඔවුහූ මාර්ග ඵලාදී සාරය ලබා ගනිත්.
Explanation: A person interested in spiritual progress must be aware of spiritual values. It is true that material things are also necessary. But they are not the values to be sought after for spiritual progress. If people were to give prominence to material values they cannot attain any spiritual heights.
The Elders Sāriputta and Moggallāna
The Elder Sāriputta and Moggallāna could not persuade Sañcaya, their former
teacher, to meet the Buddha. The Buddha explained that different results were
inevitable for those who think rightly and those who think wrongly.
