“Mendicants, there are places where the great rivers—the Ganges, Yamunā, Aciravatī, Sarabhū, and Mahī—join together and converge. Suppose a person was to draw two or three drops of water from such a place.
What do you think, mendicants? Which is more: the two or three drops drawn out or the water in the confluence?”
2 “Sir, the water in the confluence is certainly more. The two or three drops drawn out are tiny. Compared to the water in the confluence, it’s not nearly a hundredth, a thousandth, or a hundred thousandth part.”
“In the same way, for a noble disciple, the suffering that’s over and done with is more …”