Maggasaṁyutta 87

Linked Discourses 45.153

12. Hard Work

Pots

1 “Mendicants, suppose a pot full of water is tipped over, so the water drains out and doesn’t go back in. In the same way, a mendicant who develops and cultivates the noble eightfold path expels bad, unskillful qualities and doesn’t let them back in.

And how does a mendicant who develops the noble eightfold path expel bad, unskillful qualities and not let them back in? It’s when a mendicant develops right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion, which rely on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripen as letting go. That’s how a mendicant who develops and cultivates the noble eightfold path expels bad, unskillful qualities and doesn’t let them back in.”