sn22.101:3.1 Suppose there was a chicken with eight or ten or twelve eggs.
sn22.101:3.2 But she had not properly sat on them to keep them warm and incubated.
sn22.101:3.3 That chicken might wish:
sn22.101:3.4 ‘If only my chicks could break out of the eggshell with their claws and beak and hatch safely!’
sn22.101:3.5 But they can’t break out and hatch safely.
sn22.101:3.6 Why is that?
sn22.101:3.7 Because that chicken with eight or ten or twelve eggs
sn22.101:3.8 has not properly sat on them to keep them warm and incubated.
sn22.101:3.9 In the same way, when a mendicant is not committed to development, they might wish:
sn22.101:3.10 ‘If only my mind were freed from the defilements by not grasping!’ Even so, their mind is not freed from defilements by not grasping.
sn22.101:3.11 Why is that?
sn22.101:3.12 You should say: ‘It’s because they’re undeveloped.’
sn22.101:3.13 Undeveloped in what?
sn22.101:3.14 Undeveloped in the four kinds of mindfulness meditation, the four right efforts, the four bases of psychic power, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven awakening factors, and the noble eightfold path.