1.
The Discourse on Ambapālī
367.
Thus have I heard -
On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Vesālī in Ambapālī's grove.
There the Blessed One addressed the monks thus:
"Monks."
"Venerable sir," those monks assented to the Blessed One.
The Blessed One said this:
"Monks, this is the one-way path for the purification of beings, for the transcendence of sorrow and lamentation, for the passing away of pain and displeasure, for the achievement of the true method, for the realisation of Nibbāna, that is to say - the four establishments of mindfulness. Which four? Here, monks, a monk dwells observing the body in the body, ardent, fully aware, mindful, having removed covetousness and displeasure regarding the world; he dwells observing feelings in feelings, ardent, fully aware, mindful, having removed covetousness and displeasure regarding the world; he dwells observing mind in mind, ardent, fully aware, mindful, having removed covetousness and displeasure regarding the world; He dwells observing mental phenomena in mental phenomena, ardent, fully aware, mindful, having removed covetousness and displeasure regarding the world. Monks, this is the one-way path for the purification of beings, for the transcendence of sorrow and lamentation, for the passing away of pain and displeasure, for the achievement of the true method, for the realisation of Nibbāna, that is to say - the four establishments of mindfulness."
This is what the Blessed One said. Those monks, delighted, rejoiced in what the Blessed One had said. The first.