SN47.8 — Sūdasutta

Just as a foolish, incompetent, and unskilled cook might present a king or a royal minister with soups of various kinds: sour, bitter, pungent, sweet, solid, non-solid, salty, and unsalty.

That foolish, incompetent, and unskilled cook does not pick up on his master's preference:

Today my master prefers this kind of soup, he favors this, he takes a lot of this, he praises the flavor of this.

Today my master prefers sour soup, he favors sour, he takes a lot of sour, he praises the flavor of sour. Or bitter... pungent... sweet... solid... non-solid... salty... unsalty soup my master prefers today, he favors unsalty, he takes a lot of unsalty, he praises the flavor of unsalty.

That foolish, incompetent, and unskilled cook neither gains clothes, nor wages, nor gifts. Why is that? Because that foolish, incompetent, and unskilled cook does not pick up on his master's preference.

Similarly a certain foolish, incompetent, and unskilled disciple dwells contemplating the body in the body, ardent, fully aware, mindful, having put away covetousness and grief for the world.

While he dwells contemplating the body in the body, his mind does not become concentrated, his defilements are not abandoned. He does not pick up on that sign.

Contemplating feelings in feelings... mind in mind... phenomena in phenomena, ardent, fully aware, mindful, having put away covetousness and grief for the world.

While he dwells contemplating phenomena in phenomena, his mind does not become concentrated, his defilements are not abandoned. He does not pick up on that sign.

That foolish, incompetent, and unskilled disciple neither gains happiness in the present life nor does he gain mindfulness and full awareness. Why is that? Because that foolish, incompetent, and unskilled disciple does not pick up on the sign of his own mind.

Just as a wise, competent, and skilled cook might present a king or a royal minister with soups of various kinds: sour, bitter, pungent, sweet, solid, non-solid, salty, and unsalty. That wise, competent, and skilled cook picks up on his master's preference:

Today my master prefers this kind of soup, he favors this, he takes a lot of this, he praises the flavor of this.

Because that wise, competent, and skilled cook picks up on his master's preference. Similarly a certain wise, competent, and skilled disciple dwells contemplating the body in the body, ardent, fully aware, mindful, having put away covetousness and grief for the world.

While he dwells contemplating the body in the body, his mind becomes concentrated, his defilements are abandoned. He picks up on that sign.

Contemplating feelings in feelings... mind in mind... phenomena in phenomena, ardent, fully aware, mindful, having put away covetousness and grief for the world. While he dwells contemplating phenomena in phenomena, his mind becomes concentrated, his defilements are abandoned.

He picks up on that sign. That wise, competent, and skilled disciple gains happiness in the present life and gains mindfulness and full awareness. Why is that?

Because that wise, competent, and skilled disciple picks up on the sign of his own mind.