4.
The Second Discourse on the Confluence
1124.
"Just as, monks, where these great rivers flow together and meet, as follows -
the Ganges, the Yamunā, the Aciravatī, the Sarabhū, the Mahī - that water would be eliminated and brought to an end, except for two or three drops of water.
What do you think, monks, which is more -
the water at the confluence that has been eliminated and brought to an end, or the two or three drops of water remaining?"
"This indeed, venerable sir, is more, the water at the confluence, that is to say, what has been eliminated and brought to an end;
the two or three drops of water remaining are trifling.
They do not amount to a reckoning, they do not bear comparison, they do not amount to a fraction - compared with the water at the confluence that has been eliminated and brought to an end, the two or three drops of water remaining."
"So too, monks, for a noble disciple, etc.
exertion is to be done."
The fourth.