“Mendicants, all the hard work that gets done depends on the earth and is grounded on the earth. In the same way, a mendicant develops and cultivates the four right efforts depending on and grounded on ethics. How so? It’s when a mendicant generates enthusiasm, tries, makes an effort, exerts the mind, and strives so that bad, unskillful qualities don’t arise. … so that skillful qualities that have arisen remain, are not lost, but increase, mature, and are fully developed. That’s how a mendicant develops and cultivates the four right efforts depending on and grounded on ethics.” (Tell in full as in SN 45.149–160.)

Hard work, seeds, and dragons, a tree, a pot, and a spike, the atmosphere, and two on clouds, a ship, a guest house, and a river.

Linked Discourses 49.35–44 4. Searches Ten Discourses on Searches, Etc.