Parisā Sutta

 

“There are three kinds of company monks.

What three?

(1) The highest company,

(2) The dissentious company,

(3) The harmonious company.[1]

 

[1. The Highest Company]

 

What is the highest company?

 

Here monks,

The company where elder monks,

Are not living in abundance, 

Are not lazy,

And walk the path, unburdened,

Take the lead in solitude,[2]

Arouse energy for 

Attaining the unattained,

Arriving at the unarrived,

Realizing the unrealized,[3]

 

And those who follow afterwards 

Also practice along the same lines of understanding.[4]

 

They too are not living in abundance, 

Not lazy,

Walking the path unburdened,

Taking the lead in solitude,

Arousing energy for 

Attaining the unattained,

Arriving at the unarrived,

Realizing the unrealized,

 

This is called the highest company.

 

 

[2. The Dissentious Company]

 

What is the dissentious company?

 

Here monks, that company

Where monks live, 

Given to dispute, 

Contention and strife,

Attacking each other with words like swords.[5]

 

This is called the dissentious company.

 

 

[3. The Harmonious Company]

 

What is the harmonious company?

 

Here monks,

That company where monks live in harmony,

Rejoicing together, 

Without strife, 

[Blending] like milk and water,

Seeing each other with kindly eyes,[6]

 

This is called the harmonious company.

 

At that time monks,

When monks live in harmony,

Rejoicing together, 

Without strife, 

[Blending] like milk and water,

Seeing each other with loving eyes,

 

Those monks generate abundant goodness.[7]

 

At that time, 

Those monks are living with Brahma,

That is the Liberation of the heart by compassion.[8]

 

 

[Natural Samādhi]

 

From that gladness, joy arises,

Joyful at heart, the body becomes calm,

With a calm body, one experiences happiness,

And the happy mind becomes collected.[9]

 

 

[Analogy of the Mountain Rain]

 

Just as when it pours down heavily on the mountain tops,

 

That water rushes down, filling the main valleys and gorges;

The main valleys and gorges being full, they fill the streams;

The streams being full, they fill the creeks;

The creeks being full, they fill the rivers;

The rivers being full, they fill the estuaries;

The estuaries being full, they fill the great ocean.

 

In the same way, at that time,

When monks live in harmony,

Rejoicing together, 

Without strife, 

Blending like milk and water,

Seeing each other with loving eyes,

 

Those monks generate abundant goodness.

 

At that time, 

Those monks are living with Brahma,

That is the Liberation of the heart by compassion.

 

 

[Natural Samādhi]

 

From that gladness, joy arises,

Joyful at heart, the body become calm,

With a calm body, ease is experienced,

The happy mind becomes collected.

 

 

These are the three companies.