The Buddha //
Bojjhaṅgasaṃyutta, Pali Canon
(Connected Discourses on The Factors of Enlightenment)
Based upon the Himalayas, the kind of the
mountains, the nāgas nurture their bodies and acquire strength.
When they have nurtured their bodies and acquired strength, they
then enter the pools. From the pools they enter the lakes, then the
streams, then the rivers, and finally they enter the ocean. There
they achieve greatness and expansiveness of body. So too, wise
ones, based upon virtue, established upon virtue, a wise one
develops and cultivates the seven factors of enlightenment, and
thereby achieves greatness and expansiveness. And how does a wise
one, based and established upon virtue, develop the seven factors
of enlightenment? Here, based upon seclusion, dispassion, and
cessation, and maturing in release, a wise one develops the
enlightenment factors : 1. mindfulness
(mindfulness of 1. body, 2.
sensations/feelings, 3. mind, 4. mental
phenomenon/thoughts
) 2.
discrimination (between
wholesome/unwholesome states,
blameable/blameless states,
inferior/superior states,
dark/bright states and their counterparts) 3.
energy (the elements of
arousal, endeavor, and
exertion) 4.
rapture
(arises with the arousal of
energy) 5.
tranquility (tranquility of
body, tranquility of
mind) 6.
concentration (the signs of
serenity, and
non-dispersal)
7. equanimity (arises with the
development of concentration)
In this way, a wise one, based upon virtue,
established upon virtue, develops the seven factors of
enlightenment, and thereby achieves greatness and
expansiveness.