2.
The Discourse on the Quest
255.
"There are, monks, these four ignoble quests.
What are the four?
Here, monks, someone being himself subject to ageing seeks what is also subject to ageing;
being himself subject to disease seeks what is also subject to disease;
being himself subject to death seeks what is also subject to death;
being himself subject to defilement seeks what is also subject to defilement.
These, monks, are the four ignoble quests.
"There are, monks, these four noble quests. What are the four? Here, monks, someone being himself subject to ageing, having understood the danger in what is subject to ageing, seeks the ageless, the unsurpassed freedom from bondage, Nibbāna; being himself subject to disease, having understood the danger in what is subject to disease, seeks the disease-free, the unsurpassed freedom from bondage, Nibbāna; being himself subject to death, having understood the danger in what is subject to death, seeks the deathless, the unsurpassed freedom from bondage, Nibbāna; being himself subject to defilement, having understood the danger in what is subject to defilement, seeks the undefiled, the unsurpassed freedom from bondage, Nibbāna. These, monks, are the four noble quests." The second.