Numbered Discourses 9.2

1. Awakening

Supported

Then a bhikkhu went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him:

“Sir, they speak of being ‘supported’. How is a bhikkhu who is supported defined?”

“Bhikkhu, if a bhikkhu supported by faith gives up the unskillful and develops the skillful, the unskillful is actually given up by them.

If a bhikkhu supported by conscience …

If a bhikkhu supported by prudence …

If a bhikkhu supported by energy …

If a bhikkhu supported by wisdom gives up the unskillful and develops the skillful, the unskillful is actually given up by them. What’s been given up is completely given up when it has been given up by seeing with noble wisdom.

But then, a bhikkhu grounded on these five things should rely on four things. What four? After appraisal, a bhikkhu uses some things, endures some things, avoids some things, and gets rid of some things. That’s how a bhikkhu is supported.”