an3.40:3.1 And what, mendicants, is putting the teaching in charge?
an3.40:3.2 It’s when a mendicant has gone to a wilderness, or to the root of a tree, or to an empty hut, and reflects like this:
an3.40:3.3 ‘I didn’t go forth from the lay life to homelessness for the sake of a robe,
an3.40:3.4 almsfood, lodgings, or rebirth in this or that state.
an3.40:3.5 But I was swamped by rebirth, old age, and death, by sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress. I was swamped by suffering, mired in suffering.
an3.40:3.6 And I thought, “Hopefully I can make an end to this entire mass of suffering.”
an3.40:3.7 The teaching is well explained by the Buddha—apparent in the present life, immediately effective, inviting inspection, relevant, so that sensible people can know it for themselves.
an3.40:3.8 I have spiritual companions who live knowing and seeing.
an3.40:3.9 Now that I’ve gone forth in this well explained teaching and training, it would not be appropriate for me to live lazy and heedless.’
an3.40:3.10 Then they reflect:
an3.40:3.11 ‘My energy shall be roused up and unflagging, mindfulness shall be established and lucid, my body shall be tranquil and undisturbed, and my mind shall be immersed in samādhi.’
an3.40:3.12 Putting the teaching in charge, they give up the unskillful and develop the skillful, they give up the blameworthy and develop the blameless, and they keep themselves pure.
an3.40:3.13 This is called putting the teaching in charge.
an3.40:3.14 These are the three things to put in charge.
