Page last updated on 8 October, 2020
Sallekha Sutta
The eighth sutta of the Majjhimanikāya. Mahā-Cunda visits the Buddha at Jetavana and asks him how to get rid of the various false views current about self and the universe. The Buddha answers that it is by right comprehension of the fact that there is no “mine,” “I” or “self.” He then goes on to explain how false views can be expunged, how the will ma y be developed, and how emancipation can be found (M.i.40 ff).
The Sallekha Sutta is given (DA.i.178; MA.i.275) as an example of a discourse where the holy-life (brahmacariya) is defined as abstention from sexual intercourse (methunavirati). It is also sometimes (e.g., SA.ii.169) described as pālivasena gambhīro.