iti93:0.1So It Was Said 93
iti93:0.2The Book of the Threes
iti93:0.3Chapter Five
iti93:0.4Fire
iti93:1.1This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard.
iti93:2.1“Mendicants, there are these three fires.
iti93:2.2What three?
iti93:2.3The fires of greed, hate, and delusion.
iti93:2.4These are the three fires.”
iti93:2.5The Buddha spoke this matter.
iti93:2.6On this it is said:
iti93:3.1“The fire of greed burns a mortal,
iti93:3.2lustful, infatuated by sensual pleasures;
iti93:3.3while, fallen in the fire of hate,
iti93:3.4a person kills living creatures;
iti93:4.1and, bewildered by the fire of delusion,
iti93:4.2they miss the teaching of the noble ones.
iti93:4.3Not recognizing these three fires,
iti93:4.4people are caught up in substantial reality.
iti93:5.1They fill the ranks of hell,
iti93:5.2of birth as an animal,
iti93:5.3or of titans and ghosts,
iti93:5.4not freed from Māra’s bonds.
iti93:6.1But as to those committed day and night
iti93:6.2to the teaching of the Buddha:
iti93:6.3they extinguish the fire of greed,
iti93:6.4always perceiving ugliness;
iti93:7.1while those supreme men
iti93:7.2extinguish the fire of hate with love;
iti93:7.3and the fire of delusion with the wisdom
iti93:7.4that leads to penetration.
iti93:8.1Having extinguished these fires, alert,
iti93:8.2tireless all day and night,
iti93:8.3they become fully extinguished,
iti93:8.4completely transcending suffering.
iti93:9.1Seers of the noble truths, knowledge masters,
iti93:9.2the astute, understanding rightly,
iti93:9.3directly know the ending of rebirth,
iti93:9.4they come not back to future lives.”
iti93:10.1This too is a matter that was spoken by the Blessed One: that is what I heard.