Section outline
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Lesson 3.6.10 Sīlānisaṃsakathā – What Are the Benefits of a Virtuous Life?
The Sīlānisaṃsakathā, a selection from the Visuddhimaggo, emphasizes the direct benefits of practicing sīla, or moral conduct. It states that a person who lives a moral life in harmony with the environment and other fellow beings will experience a profound sense of mental calm. Even if one were to disregard the concept of kamma and its results, living a wholesome life still ensures happiness, peace, and freedom from enmity and ill will in the present moment. As the Buddha himself said: "If there is no further world nor any fruit or result of any good or evil action performed, still in this very life I surround myself with happiness, without enmity, aversion, ill will. (Sace kho pana natthi paro loko, natthi sukatadukkaṭānaṃ kammānaṃ phalaṃ vipāko, athāhaṃ diṭṭheva dhamme averaṃ abyāpajjhaṃ anīghaṃ sukhiṃ attānaṃ pariharāmī’ti.)"