Source:: [SuttaCentral.net](https://suttacentral.net/mn107/en/sujato?layout=sidebyside&script=latin) # MN107 Gaṇakamoggallānasutta Tags:: [[Jhana]], [[Nivarana|5 Hindrances]], #dhamma/practice/map ## Notes The [Gaṇakamoggallānasutta](https://suttacentral.net/mn107/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=linebyline&reference=none&notes=none&highlight=false&script=latin) describes the Buddha’s "gradual training" (_anupubbasikkhā_), likening it to an accountant teaching a student or a horse trainer breaking in a thoroughbred. Here are the progressive steps as laid out in the text: - **Ethics and Restraint (_Sīla_):** The practitioner starts by being ethical, restrained by the monastic code, and seeing danger in the slightest faults. - **Guarding the Sense Doors (_Indriyasaṁvara_):** One learns not to get caught up in the "features and details" of what is seen, heard, smelled, tasted, touched, or thought, preventing unskillful qualities like covetousness from taking hold. - **Moderation in Eating (_Bhojane Mattaññutā_):** Reflecting rationally on food—consuming it not for fun or looks, but simply to sustain the body for spiritual practice. - **Commitment to Wakefulness (_Jāgariya_):** Purifying the mind through walking and sitting meditation during the day and most of the night, practicing the "lion's posture" during the middle watch of sleep. - **Mindfulness and Situational Awareness (_Satisampajañña_):** Maintaining clear awareness during all physical activities, from looking and stretching to eating and using the toilet. - **Abandoning the Hindrances:** Retreating to a secluded place to cleanse the mind of the five hindrances: covetousness, ill will, dullness/drowsiness, restlessness/remorse, and doubt. - **The Four Absorptions (_Jhānas_):** Entering and remaining in the four stages of deep meditative immersion, leading to internal clarity and equanimity. The Buddha concludes by noting that while he "shows the way," the final result—Extinguishment (_Nibbāna_)—depends on the individual's own application, much as a traveler must actually walk the road to reach a destination. ## Sutta (Translation by Bhikkhu Sujato)