The Near Shore

“Mendicants, I will teach you the near shore and the far shore.

Listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.”

“Yes, sir,” they replied.

The Buddha said this:

“And what, mendicants, is the near shore? What is the far shore?

Wrong view is the near shore, and right view is the far shore. …

Wrong freedom is the near shore, and right freedom is the far shore.

This is the near shore, and this is the far shore.

Few are those among humans

who cross to the far shore.

The rest just run

around on the near shore.

When the teaching is well explained,

those who practice accordingly

are the ones who will cross over

Death’s dominion so hard to pass.

Rid of dark qualities,

an astute person should develop the bright.

Leaving home behind

for the seclusion so hard to enjoy,

try to find satisfaction there,

having left behind sensual pleasures.

With no possessions, an astute person

should cleanse themselves of mental corruptions.

And those whose minds are rightly developed

in the awakening factors;

letting go of attachments,

they delight in not grasping.

With defilements ended, brilliant,

they are quenched in this world.”