“Great king, there are four Dhamma summaries stated by the Blessed One who knows & sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened. Having known & seen & heard them, I went forth from the home life into homelessness. Which four?
“‘The world is swept away. It does not endure’: This is the first Dhamma summary stated by the Blessed One who knows & sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened. Having known & seen & heard it, I went forth from the home life into homelessness.
“‘The world is without shelter, without protector’: This is the second Dhamma summary…
“‘The world is without ownership. One has to pass on, leaving everything behind’: This is the third Dhamma summary…
“‘The world is insufficient, insatiable, a slave to craving’: This is the fourth Dhamma summary…
“These, great king, are the four Dhamma summaries stated by the Blessed One who knows & sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened. Having known & seen & heard them, I went forth from the home life into homelessness.”
©2006 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. “Ratthapala Sutta: About Ratthapala” (MN 82), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.082.than.html .