Friends:

Neglect Looses All, while Careful Alertness Wins All!


At Savatthi the Blessed One once said this:
I will teach you, friends, about the one who lives negligent, and about
the one who lives alert. Listen cautiously, and pay full attention to it!

How, friends, does one live Negligently?
In him, friends, who lives with an uncontrolled ability to see, the mind is
agitated, and warped by the objects recognizable by the eye. In him whose
mind is agitated and warped, there is no satisfaction! Without satisfaction,
there is no joy! Where there is no joy, there is no contentment, no calm, no
tranquillity, and no mental peace! Without this calm, one just lives in sorrow,
frustrated, urging, and searching! Such a sorrowful person's mind is neither
composed, nor collected, nor confident. When the mind is not composed, one
has neither any clarity, nor any certainty! By not having any clear thinking,
one is reckoned as one, who lives negligently. One is regarded as confused...
So also it is for one who lives without any control over the ability to hear,
smell, taste, touch, and without any control over the ability to think...

And how, friends, does one live Alertly?
In him, who lives with a fully controlled ability to see, the mind is neither
agitated, nor warped by any object recognizable by the eye. In one, whose
mind is neither agitated, nor warped, satisfaction is born! In one satisfied,
joy is born. When one is joyful, the body is calmed down. He, whose body is
calmed, feels at ease. Composed is the mind of one, who is at ease. When mind is
composed, one's ideas are clear. One gains certainty and assured confidence! 
By having clear ideas and thinking, one is reckoned as one who lives alertly, and
as one, who is alert! So also it is for any one, who lives with full control over
the ability to hear, smell, taste, touch, or controlling the ability to think.
Thus, friends, is one, who lives ready, and aware in alertness.
 


Comments: 
Not seduced by the mere glitter of sensation of any kind, not running after fancy dreams,
driven by hopes or compelled by longing. By not yearning after pleasant sensations, satisfied
by whatever there is present, thus at ease, stilled, one remains just calm, cleared and cooled...
Like a Smiling Mountain :-)

The Sense Sources (The 12 Ayatana):
The_Source_of_All, Sour_Sense_Sources, Hands_and_Feet, Wild_Horses
Mistaken_Reference, The_Fisherman's_Hook, Source_of_What,
Things_that_can_be_clung_to, Guarding_the_Sense_Door,
Guarding_the_Senses.

The Smiling Mountain :-)