The Related Suttas Collection 45.153

12. Hard Work

Pots

“Bhikkhus, suppose a pot full of water is tipped over, so the water drains out and doesn’t go back in. In the same way, a bhikkhu who develops and cultivates the noble eightfold path expels bad, unskillful qualities and doesn’t let them back in.

And how does a bhikkhu who develops the noble eightfold path expel bad, unskillful qualities and not let them back in? It’s when a bhikkhu develops right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right samādhi, which rely on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripen as letting go. That’s how a bhikkhu who develops and cultivates the noble eightfold path expels bad, unskillful qualities and doesn’t let them back in.”