6. Acchara Sutta
Discourse Concerning the Celestial Park
Aditta Vagga, Devata Samyutta
Sagatha Vagga Samyutta, Samyutta Nikaya, Suttanta Pitaka

6. Acchara Sutta
Discourse Concerning the Celestial Park

      46. (The deva said:)

      "That pleasure Garden called 'Delusion,' 'Mohana' (due to its deluding attractions), resounding with the music of a multitude of celestial maidens, the resort of a multitude of demons,¹ Oh! how could one escape from it."

      (The Bhagava said:)

      "That Ariya Path is called the Straight Path. That direction (Nibbana) is called ' Direction out-of-harm's-reach.' That vehicle (of the Ariya Path of Eight constituents) fitted with the wheels of mental and physical effort is called the Silent Vehicle.² "Shame (and moral dread) are its protective railing. Mindfulness is its panelling. The Ariya Path of Eight Constituents headed by Right View, I declare, is the charioteer.

      "That woman or that man who possesses such a vehicle (the Ariya Path) can certainly get to Nibbana by that vehicle"

End of the Acchara Sutta,

the sixth in this vagga

      1. demons: pisaca The deva who was making these remarks used this word to refer to the celestial maidens. He had been a bhikkhu in his previous existence. He died due to exhaustion while meditating day and night. At first he did not realize that he had become a deva. But on finding out that he was a deva, he felt frustrated because his principal aim had been to attain arahatship and not devahood. So the celestial maidens were to his mind demons

      2. The Silent Vehicle: The Ariya Path of Eight Constituents is the silent vehicle in the sense that it works smoothly towards Insight.