精進不放逸

All sensuality is one, though it takes many forms; all purity is one. It is the same whether a man eat, or drink, or cohabit, or sleep sensually. They are but one appetite, and we only need to see a person do any one of these things to know how great a sensualist he is. The impure can neither stand nor sit with purity. When the reptile is attacked at one mouth of his burrow, he shows himself at another. If you would be chaste, you must be temperate. What is chastity? How shall a man know if he is chaste? He shall not know it. We have heard of this virtue, but we know not what it is. We speak conformably to the rumor which we have heard. From exertion come wisdom and purity; from sloth ignorance and sensuality. In the student sensuality is a sluggish habit of mind. An unclean person is universally a slothful one, one who sits by a stove, whom the sun shines on prostrate, who reposes without being fatigued. If you would avoid uncleanness, and all the sins, work earnestly, though it be at cleaning a stable. Nature is hard to be overcome, but she must be overcome. What avails it that you are Christian, if you are not purer than the heathen, if you deny yourself no more, if you are not more religious? I know of many systems of religion esteemed heathenish whose precepts fill the reader with shame, and provoke him to new endeavors, though it be to the performance of rites merely.

惡由放逸所致，非心性之本然；欲迴心向善，貴在攝護其心。梭羅說，從精進，得到智慧與純潔；從放逸，得到無明與肉慾。對學習者來說，肉慾即是心靈的懶惰習慣。當我們放逸時，生殖的精力會令我們渙散而污穢下沉；當我們自安時，則會啟發並激勵我們向上。

《法句經》有：

不誦為言垢，不勤為家垢，不嚴為色垢，放逸為事垢。

所以梭羅說，不潔之人大概就是懶惰的人，只剩下一張嘴，就算不累也不想起來動一動的人。


《增一阿含》有：

猶如山河、石壁、百草、五穀，皆依於地而得長大。然復此地最尊、最上。此亦如是。諸善道品之法，住不放逸之地，使諸善法而得長大。

37道品中的四正勤的內容為：

1. 勤於防護眼、耳、鼻、舌、身、意六入處。任何欲念令不生起。
2. 已生起者，速速將之斷絕。
3. 勤於修習七覺支，令善法增廣。
4. 修習不淨觀、多修習，令已生之善法不退。

《經集．大品》精勤經有：

This wind will wither the currents of the rivers, why should not my exertion dry up even the blood? When the blood dries up, the bile and phlegm wither. On the wasting away of the flesh the mind becomes more and more serene and my mindfulness, wisdom and concentration are established more firmly.

溪流既已風乾，血液如何不因我的精勤凝結？
當血液稀薄時，膽汁及惡痰亦隨之乾涸。
肉體愈是消瘦，心靈愈是清明，我的心志、智慧、修行也更為穩固。