buddha daily wisdom image

an.10.48 Aṅguttara Nikāya (Numbered Discourses)

Ten Things

“There are these ten things that a person gone-forth should reflect on often. Which ten?

“‘I have become casteless’: a person gone forth should often reflect on this.

“‘My life is dependent on others’…

“‘My behavior should be different [from that of householders]’…

“‘Can I fault myself with regard to my virtue?’…

“‘Can my knowledgeable fellows in the holy life, on close examination, fault me with regard to my virtue?’…

“‘I will grow different, separate from all that is dear & appealing to me’…

“‘I am the owner of my actions (kamma), heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir’…

“‘What am I becoming as the days & nights fly past?’…

“‘Do I delight in an empty dwelling?’…

“‘Have I attained a superior human attainment, a truly noble distinction of knowledge & vision, such that—when my fellows in the holy life question me in the last days of my life—I won’t feel abashed?’: a person gone forth should often reflect on this.

“These are the ten things that a person gone-forth should reflect on often.”

- Translator: Thanissaro Bhikkhu

- Editor: Gabriel Laera


Ten Regular Reflections for a Renunciate

‘I hope there’s no reason to blame myself when it comes to ethical conduct?’
“Mendicants, one who has gone forth should often review these ten things.
What ten?
One who has gone forth should often review this: ‘I have secured freedom from class.’
‘My livelihood is tied up with others.’
‘My behavior should be different.’
‘I hope that, after examination, sensible spiritual companions don’t reproach any aspect of my ethics?’
‘I must be parted and separated from all I hold dear and beloved.’
‘I am the owner of my deeds and heir to my deeds. Deeds are my womb, my relative, and my refuge.
I shall be the heir of whatever deeds I do, whether good or bad.’
‘As the days and nights flit by, what sort of person am I becoming?’
‘Do I love to stay in empty huts?’
‘Do I have any superhuman distinctions in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones, so that when my spiritual companions question me on my deathbed I will not be embarrassed?’
One who has gone forth should often review these ten things.”