“But at what point, sir, does the mortification in disgust of sin reach the peak and the pith? Please help me reach the peak and the pith!”

“Nigrodha, take a mortifier who is restrained in the fourfold restraint. They give up these five hindrances, corruptions of the heart that weaken wisdom. Then they meditate spreading a heart full of love … equanimity … They recollect many kinds of past lives, with features and details.

With clairvoyance that is purified and superhuman, they see sentient beings passing away and being reborn—inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, in a good place or a bad place. They understand how sentient beings are reborn according to their deeds: ‘These dear beings did bad things by way of body, speech, and mind. They spoke ill of the noble ones; they had wrong view; and they chose to act out of that wrong view. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a place of loss, a bad place, the underworld, hell. These dear beings, however, did good things by way of body, speech, and mind. They never spoke ill of the noble ones; they had right view; and they chose to act out of that right view. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.’ And so, with clairvoyance that is purified and superhuman, they see sentient beings passing away and being reborn—inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, in a good place or a bad place. They understand how sentient beings are reborn according to their deeds.

What do you think, Nigrodha? If this is so, is the mortification in disgust of sin purified or not?”

“Clearly, sir, it is purified. It has reached the peak and the pith.”

“Nigrodha, at this point the mortification in disgust of sin has reached the peak and the pith. Nigrodha, remember you said this to me: ‘Sir, what teaching do you use to guide your disciples, through which they claim solace in the fundamental purpose of the spiritual life?’ Well, there is something better and finer than this. That’s what I use to guide my disciples, through which they claim solace in the fundamental purpose of the spiritual life.”

When he said this, those wanderers made an uproar, “In that case, we’re lost, and so is our tradition! We don’t know anything better or finer than that!”