Treasures of the Noble

This is an audiobook of Bodhi Leaves No. 27 by Soma Thera, Treasures of the Noble narrated by Takae Ishizuka. The print edition can be found in the Pariyatti Edition of Collected Bodhi Leaves Vol. 1. The eBook of Bodhi Leaves No. 27 can be downloaded from the BPS website.


Excerpt:


'When confidence in the Buddha’s enlightenment is strong in a person, the hindrances—sensuality, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and anxiety, and uncertainty—are suppressed, the passions are dispersed, and the mind is bright and clear. There is no possibility for a disciple of the Buddha to fall into states of demerit so long as he has confidence in the Master and the truth: it is when uncertainty as regards what is good possess him that a disciple is assailed by influences that lead him away from the right path. The Buddha says that he watches a disciple so long as the disciple fails to produce confidence, but once the disciple produces confidence the Master stops watching the disciple knowing that he is self-warded and incapable of slacking.


...


'In the Dhamma, men are purified finally and completely, not by virtue and concentration, but by right understanding. Virtue and concentration are requisites for preparing the mind for right understanding. Therefore the Buddha praised the life lived with right understanding as the most excellent. How is that life developed? ...'