The Related Suttas Collection 45.158

12. Hard Work

A Ship

“Bhikkhus, suppose there was a sea-faring ship bound together with ropes. For six months they deteriorated in the water. Then in the cold season it was hauled up on dry land, where the ropes were weathered by wind and sun. When the clouds soaked it with rain, the ropes would readily collapse and rot away. In the same way, when a bhikkhu develops and cultivates the noble eightfold path their fetters readily collapse and rot away.

And how do they develop and cultivate the noble eightfold path so that their fetters readily collapse and rot away? It’s when a bhikkhu develops right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion, which rely on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripen as letting go. That’s how they develop and cultivate the noble eightfold path so that their fetters readily collapse and rot away.”