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The Tripitaka - Southern Transmission 14
Sutra 121, The Lesser Discourse on Emptiness, teaches about emptiness through the process of transforming perception from the perception of the village to the perception of the forest, the perception of earth, the Realm of Infinite Space, the Realm of Infinite Consciousness, the Realm of Nothingness, to the Realm of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception, seeing that this is present because that is absent in order to transcend attachment to conditioned dharmas. Sutra 125 uses the example that a practitioner needs precepts just as a wild elephant needs to be staked to be tamed; seeking liberation without the Noble Eightfold Path is as futile as four things: pressing sand from the Ganges to get oil, milking a cow’s horn, churning cold water to make butter, and rubbing two wet sticks together to make fire. Sutra 129 uses the image of a blind turtle surfacing once every hundred years and encountering a log with a hole floating in the ocean to speak of the difficulty of obtaining a human body. Sutra 130 mentions four divine messengers warning humans of the need to practice: a crying newborn baby, an old person, a sick person, and a dead person.
The theme of The One Who Knows the Better Way to Live Alone (Bhaddekaratta) is emphasized through Sutras 131, 132, 133, and 134, defining living alone as dwelling in the present moment, not pursuing the past, and not losing oneself in the future, in order to attain solidity and freedom. Sutra 135 defines karma as one’s inheritance, womb, kinsman, and refuge, consisting of two types: inferior karma and superior karma. Sutra 140 teaches about the eighteen mental examinations consisting of six of joy, six of grief, and six of equanimity, and the four foundations:
- The foundation of wisdom.
- The foundation of truth.
- The foundation of generosity.
- The foundation of peace.
Sutra 128 teaches the “changing the peg” method to transform minor defilements in meditation. Sutra 141 advises taking refuge in Sariputta as a birth mother and Moggallana as a foster mother. Sutra 142 discusses generosity as an investment for humanity, in which making offerings to virtuous people brings greater benefit.