SN36.6 — Sallasutta
Disciples, an unlearned ordinary person feels pleasant feelings, painful feelings, and neither-painful-nor-pleasant feelings. A learned noble disciple also feels pleasant feelings, painful feelings, and neither-painful-nor-pleasant feelings. What is the difference, the distinction, the variance between the learned noble disciple and the unlearned ordinary person?
Disciples, when touched by a painful feeling, the unlearned ordinary person mourns, becomes distressed, laments, weeps beating his breast, and becomes confused. He feels two kinds of feelings: physical and mental. Just as if a man were pierced by an arrow and, following the first arrow, he were pierced by a second arrow, so that person would feel feelings caused by two arrows.
In the same way, when touched by a painful feeling, the unlearned ordinary person mourns... He feels two kinds of feelings: physical and mental. Being touched by that same painful feeling, he harbors aversion towards it. When he harbors aversion towards painful feeling, the underlying tendency to aversion lies within him. Being touched by painful feeling, he delights in sensual pleasure.
Why is that? Because the unlearned ordinary person does not know of any escape from painful feeling other than sensual pleasure. As he delights in sensual pleasure, the underlying tendency to lust lies within him. He does not understand as they actually are the origin and passing away, the gratification, danger, and escape in regard to these feelings.
Because he does not understand these things, the underlying tendency to ignorance lies within him. If he feels a pleasant feeling, he feels it attached. If he feels a painful feeling, he feels it attached. If he feels a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he feels it attached. This is called an unlearned ordinary person who is attached to birth, aging, death, sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, and despairs, attached to suffering, I say.
However when touched by a painful feeling, the learned noble disciple does not mourn, does not become distressed, does not lament, does not weep beating his breast, and does not become confused. He feels one kind of feeling: physical, not mental.
Just as if a man were pierced by an arrow, but he was not pierced by a second arrow following the first one, so that person would feel feelings caused by one arrow. In the same way, when touched by a painful feeling, the learned noble disciple does not mourn... He feels one kind of feeling: physical, not mental.
Being touched by that same painful feeling, he does not harbor aversion towards it. When he does not harbor aversion towards painful feeling, the underlying tendency to aversion does not lie within him. Being touched by painful feeling, he does not delight in sensual pleasure.
Why is that? Because the learned noble disciple knows of an escape from painful feeling other than sensual pleasure. As he does not delight in sensual pleasure, the underlying tendency to lust does not lie within him. He understands as they actually are the origin and passing away, the gratification, danger, and escape in regard to these feelings.
Because he understands these things, the underlying tendency to ignorance does not lie within him. If he feels a pleasant feeling, he feels it detached. If he feels a painful feeling, he feels it detached. If he feels a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he feels it detached.
This is called a learned noble disciple who is detached from birth, aging, death, sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, and despairs, detached from suffering, I say.
This is the difference, the distinction, the variance between the learned noble disciple and the unlearned ordinary person.
A wise person does not feel the feeling.
Whether it's pleasant or painful, even with much learning.
This indeed is a great difference.
Between a wise person and an ordinary one.
For one well-versed in the Dhamma.
Seeing this world and the next.
Desirable things do not stir the mind.
Nor is it agitated by the undesirable.
Because of conformity or opposition.
They are not agitated; they do not linger.
Having crossed over, he understands without dust, without sorrow. Rightly understands the far shore of existence.