Linked Discourses 48.71–82

1. Abbreviated Texts on the Ganges

Slanting East, Etc.

“Mendicants, the Ganges river slants, slopes, and inclines to the east.

In the same way, a mendicant developing and cultivating the five faculties slants, slopes, and inclines to extinguishment.

How so?

It’s when a mendicant develops the faculties of faith,

energy,

mindfulness,

immersion,

and wisdom, which rely on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripen as letting go.

That’s how a mendicant developing and cultivating the five faculties slants, slopes, and inclines to extinguishment.”

Six on slanting to the east,

and six on slanting to the ocean;

these two sixes make twelve,

and that’s how this chapter is recited.