[91] Five kinds of virtue: the abandoning of the destruction of life (pāṇātipāta), of taking what is not given, of sexual misconduct, of false speech, of divisive speech, of harsh speech, of frivolous talk, of covetousness (abhijjhā), of ill will (byāpāda), of wrong view; the abandoning of sensual desire (kāmacchanda) by renunciation (nekkhamma), of ill will by non-ill will, of dullness and drowsiness (thīna-middha) by the perception of light, of restlessness by non-distraction, of doubt (vicikicchā) by the defining of dhammas, of ignorance (avijjā) by knowledge (ñāṇa), of discontent by gladness; the abandoning of the hindrances (nīvaraṇa) by the first jhāna, of thought and examination by the second jhāna, of rapture (pīti) by the third jhāna, of pleasure and pain by the fourth jhāna; the abandoning of perceptions of form, perceptions of resistance, and perceptions of diversity by the attainment of the sphere of the infinity of space; the abandoning of the perception of the sphere of the infinity of space by the attainment of the sphere of the infinity of consciousness; the abandoning of the perception of the sphere of the infinity of consciousness by the attainment of the sphere of nothingness; the abandoning of the perception of the sphere of nothingness by the attainment of the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception; the abandoning of the perception of permanence by the contemplation of impermanence, of the perception of pleasure by the contemplation of suffering (dukkha), of the perception of self by the contemplation of non-self, of delight by the contemplation of disenchantment, of lust by the contemplation of dispassion, of origin (samudaya) by the contemplation of cessation (nirodha), of grasping by the contemplation of relinquishment, of the perception of compactness by the contemplation of destruction, of accumulation by the contemplation of fall, of the perception of stability by the contemplation of change, of the sign by the contemplation of the signless, of wish (paṇidhi) by the contemplation of the wishless, of adherence (abhinivesa) by the contemplation of emptiness, of adherence through grasping at a core by insight into dhammas that is higher wisdom, of adherence through confusion by knowledge and vision as it really is (yathābhūta), of adherence through attachment by the contemplation of danger, of non-reflection by the contemplation with reflection, of adherence through bondage by the contemplation of turning away; the abandoning of the defilements standing in the same place as [wrong] view by the path of stream-entry, of the coarse defilements by the path of once-returning, of the defilements of a subtle degree by the path of non-returning, of all defilements by the path of arahantship — abandoning is virtue, abstinence is virtue, volition is virtue, restraint is virtue, non-transgression is virtue.
Virtues such as these lead to non-remorse of the mind (citta), lead to gladness, lead to rapture, lead to tranquility (passaddhi), lead to joy, lead to repeated practice, lead to development, lead to cultivation, lead to adornment, lead to the requisite, lead to the retinue, lead to fulfillment; they lead to complete disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna.
Of virtues such as these, purity of restraint is higher virtue. The mind established in purity of restraint does not go to distraction: purity of non-distraction is higher mind. One rightly sees purity of restraint; one rightly sees purity of non-distraction: purity of vision is higher wisdom. The meaning of restraint therein is the training in higher virtue; the meaning of non-distraction therein is the training in higher mind; the meaning of seeing therein is the training in higher wisdom. Adverting to these three trainings, one trains; knowing, one trains; seeing, one trains; reviewing, one trains; steadying the mind, one trains; resolving with faith, one trains; exerting energy, one trains; establishing mindfulness (sati), one trains; concentrating the mind, one trains; understanding with wisdom, one trains; directly knowing what is to be directly known, one trains; fully understanding what is to be fully understood, one trains; abandoning what is to be abandoned, one trains; developing what is to be developed, one trains; realizing what is to be realized, one trains.
That is knowledge (ñāṇa) in the sense of what is known, and wisdom in the sense of knowing. Hence it is said: wisdom in restraining, after hearing [the Dhamma], is knowledge consisting in virtue (sīlamaye ñāṇaṃ).
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.