This discourse was taught by the Blessed One, taught by the Arahant, the fully enlightened Supreme Buddha. This is as I heard:
“Monks, the monk who is not ardent and who has no fear of wrongdoing is incapable of attaining enlightenment, incapable of attaining ultimate freedom, and incapable of attaining the supreme security from bondage, Nibbāna. But the monk who is ardent and is afraid of wrongdoing is capable of attaining enlightenment, capable of attaining ultimate freedom, and capable of attaining the supreme security from bondage, Nibbāna.
This is the meaning of what the Blessed One said. So, with regard to this, it was said:
One who is not ardent, who has no fear of wrongdoing, is lazy and has sluggish effort full of sloth and drowsiness, not ashamed of wrongdoing, and without respectful intensions of attaining the highest goal, Nibbāna—such a monk is incapable of attaining supreme enlightenment.
But the monk who is mindful, tactful, meditative, ardent, diligent, and who is afraid of wrongdoing, experiences supreme enlightenment by cutting off the fetters of birth and aging.
This, too, is the meaning of what was said by the Blessed One. This is exactly as I heard. .
