an.10.118 Aṅguttara Nikāya (Numbered Discourses)

The Near Shore

“Mendicants, I will teach you the near shore and the far shore.
Listen and pay close attention, I will speak.”
“Yes, sir,” they replied.
The Buddha said this:
“And what, mendicants, is the near shore? What is the far shore?
Wrong view is the near shore, and right view is the far shore. …
Wrong freedom is the near shore, and right freedom is the far shore.
This is the near shore, and this is the far shore.
Few are those among humans
who cross to the far shore.
The rest just run
around on the near shore.
When the teaching is well explained,
those who practice accordingly
are the ones who will cross over
Death’s domain so hard to pass.
Rid of dark qualities,
an astute person should develop the bright.
Leaving home behind
for the seclusion so hard to enjoy,
you should try to find delight there,
having left behind sensual pleasures.
With no possessions, an astute person
should cleanse themselves of mental corruptions.
And those whose minds are rightly developed
in the awakening factors;
letting go of attachments,
they delight in not grasping.
With defilements ended, brilliant,
they are extinguished in this world.”