At Savatthī. Then a certain bhikkhu approached the Blessed One…. Sitting to one side, that bhikkhu said to the Blessed One:

“Venerable sir, it is said, ‘the holy life, the holy life.’ What, venerable sir, is the holy life? What is the final goal of the holy life?”

“This Noble Eightfold Path, bhikkhu, is the holy life; that is, right view … right concentration. The destruction of lust, the destruction of hatred, the destruction of delusion: this is the final goal of the holy life.”