Catukkanipāta 49

Numbered Discourses 4.49

5. With Rohitassa

1 “Mendicants, there are these four perversions of perception, thought, and view. What four?

Taking impermanence as permanence.

Taking suffering as happiness.

Taking not-self as self.

Taking ugliness as beauty.

These are the four perversions of perception, thought, and view.

2 There are these four corrections of perception, thought, and view. What four?

Taking impermanence as impermanence.

Taking suffering as suffering.

Taking not-self as not-self.

Taking ugliness as ugliness.

These are the four corrections of perception, thought, and view.

3 Perceiving impermanence as permanence,

suffering as happiness,

not-self as self,

and ugliness as beauty—

sentient beings are ruined by wrong view,

deranged, out of their minds.

4 Yoked by Māra’s yoke, these people

find no sanctuary from the yoke.

Sentient beings continue to transmigrate,

with ongoing birth and death.

5 But when the Buddhas arise

in the world, those beacons

reveal this teaching,

that leads to the stilling of suffering.

6 When a wise person hears them,

they get their mind back.

Seeing impermanence as impermanence,

suffering as suffering,

7 not-self as not-self,

and ugliness as ugliness—

taking up right view,

they’ve risen above all suffering.”