Summary of the Themes of These Discourses
Those who are inflamed with the passion of becoming, who dwell on past states of existence and long for future states of existence, have not crossed over aging and death. Aging and death surround us. They are Mara’s realm, the very nature of the stream of becoming. One who takes a stance in becoming, who clings to it, who dwells in hope and regret, in the three divisions of past, present and future, wears aging and death like a shroud. With the extinction of desire and clinging, one crosses over the stream of becoming, reaches The Island, and dwells in the undying state of unbinding … release. With no more entanglement in the phenomena that arise and pass in consciousness, one has abandoned the sense of mine. There is no longer a sense of self. Nothing that passes is in the world of becoming is thus lost when it passes, and thus there is no longer any lamentation or sorrow. Consciousness itself ceases.
It is not based on what has been learned, known or believed that the liberated wanderer is a sage, or on account of rituals and habitual practices, but by virtue of a desire-free way of living, without material, personal or intellectual acquisitions of any kind. Those who have crossed over, and who are no longer shrouded in birth and death, have abandoned all. Such people are fully unbound, in the here and now.
Whether one who has reached the end of suffering exists, or does not exist, cannot be said. Without any phenomena belonging to that person, as a cognizable basis by which the identity of such a person can be staked, posited or grasped, there is no longer any means of speaking of the one who is released.
The Selections:
5:3 Puṇṇaka’s Questions
…
These many human seers
—noble warriors, brahmans—
who have offered sacrifices to devas
here in the world:
Have they, Blessed One,
heeding the path of sacrifice, dear sir,
crossed over birth & aging?
I ask you, Blessed One.
Please tell me.
The Buddha:
They hoped for, liked,
longed for,
so they sacrificed—
they longed for sensuality,
dependent on gain.
I tell you:
Those who take on the yoke
of sacrifice,
impassioned with
the passion for becoming,
have not crossed over birth & aging.
Puṇṇaka:
If those who take on the yoke of sacrifice
haven’t crossed over birth & aging,
then who in the world, dear sir,
of beings divine & human
has crossed over birth & aging?
I ask you, Blessed One.
Please tell me.
The Buddha:
He who has fathomed
the high & low in the world,
for whom there is nothing
perturbing in the world—
evaporated,
undesiring,
untroubled, at peace—
he, I tell you, has crossed over birth
& aging.
5:4 Mettagū’s Questions
…
Mettagū:
What we asked, you’ve expounded.
Now we ask something else.
Please tell us.
How do the enlightened
cross over the flood of
birth & aging,
lamentation & sorrow?
Please, sage, declare this to me
as this Dhamma has
been known by you.
The Buddha:
I will expound to you Dhamma
—here-&-now,
not quoted words—
knowing which, living mindfully,
you’ll cross over beyond
entanglement in the world.
Mettagū:
And I relish, Great Seer,
that Dhamma supreme,
knowing which, living mindfully,
I’ll cross over beyond
entanglement in the world.
The Buddha:
Whatever you’re alert to,
above, below,
across, in between
Dispelling any delight,
any entrenchment
in those things,
consciousness should not take a stance
in becoming.
The monk who dwells thus
—mindful, heedful—
letting go of his sense of mine,
knowing right here would abandon
birth & aging,
lamentation & sorrow,
stress.
5:6 Upasīva’s Questions
…
Upasīva:
One who has reached the end:
Does he not exist,
or is he for eternity
free from dis-ease?
Please, sage, declare this to me
as this phenomenon has been known by you.
The Buddha:
One who has reached the end
has no criterion
by which anyone would say that—
for him it doesn’t exist.
When all phenomena are done away with,
all means of speaking
are done away with as well.
5:7 Nanda’s Questions
There are in the world
sages, they say
—in what way?
Do they call one a sage
for possessing knowledge
or possessing a way of life?
The Buddha:
Not on account of his views,
learning,
or knowledge
do the skilled here, Nanda,
call one a sage.
Those who live
disarmed,
undesiring,
untroubled:
Those, I say, are called sages.
Nanda:
Whatever brahmans & contemplatives
describe purity
in terms of views & learning,
describe purity
in terms of habits & practices,
describe purity
in terms of manifold ways:
Have they, dear sir, living there in that way,
crossed over birth & aging?
I ask you, Blessed One.
Please tell me.
The Buddha:
Whatever brahmans & contemplatives
describe purity
in terms of views & learning,
describe purity
in terms of habits & practices,
describe purity
in terms of manifold ways:
None of them, living there in that way,
I tell you, have crossed over birth & aging.
Nanda:
Whatever brahmans & contemplatives
describe purity
in terms of views & learning,
describe purity
in terms of habits & practices,
describe purity
in terms of manifold ways:
If, sage, as you say,
they’ve not crossed over the flood,
then who in the world
of beings divine & human, dear sir,
has crossed over birth & aging?
I ask you, Blessed One.
Please tell me.
The Buddha:
I don’t say that all brahmans & contemplatives
are shrouded in birth & aging.
Those here who’ve abandoned
what’s seen, heard, & sensed,
habits & practices
—all—
who’ve abandoned their manifold ways
—again, all—
who, comprehending craving,
are effluent-free:
They are the ones, I tell you,
who’ve crossed over the flood.
5:8 Hemaka’s Question
In the past,
before hearing Gotama’s message,
when anyone explained ‘It is,’ ‘It will be,’
all that was hearsay,
quotation marks.
All that promoted conjecture
and gave me no pleasure.
Now, sage, teach me the Dhamma
demolishing craving,
knowing which, living mindfully,
one would cross over beyond
entanglement in the world.
The Buddha:
Here, Hemaka,
with regard to things dear
—seen, heard, sensed, & cognized—
there is:
the dispelling of passion & desire,
the unfallen, undying state of unbinding.
Those knowing this, mindful,
fully unbound
in the here-&-now,
are always
calmed,
have crossed over beyond
entanglement in the world.
5:9 Todeyya’s Questions
…
Is he without desire,
or desiring?
Discerning or
still acquiring discernment?
Describe the sage to me, Sakyan,
All-around Eye,
so that I may recognize
what he is like.
The Buddha:
He’s without desire,
not desiring;
discerning,
not still acquiring discernment.
Recognize the sage, Todeyya,
as having nothing,
unentangled
in sensuality
& becoming.
5:10 Kappa’s Question
For one stranded in the middle of the lake,
in the flood of great danger—birth—
overwhelmed with aging & death:
Tell me the island, dear sir,
and show me the island
so that this may not happen again.
The Buddha:
For one stranded in the middle of the lake,
in the flood of great danger—birth—
overwhelmed with aging & death,
Kappa, I will tell you the island.
Having nothing, free
of clinging:
That is the island,
there is no other.
That’s unbinding, I tell you,
the total ending of aging & death.
Those knowing this, mindful,
fully unbound
in the here-&-now,
don’t serve as Māra’s servants,
don’t come under Māra’s sway.
5:11 Jatukaṇṇin’s Question
Hearing, hero,
of one with no desire for sensuality,
I’ve come to ask
the one gone beyond the flood,
sensuality-free:
Tell me the state of peace,
Blessed One, Simultaneous Eye.
Tell me
as it actually is.
For the Blessed One lives
having conquered sensuality,
as the radiant sun, in its radiance,
the earth.
Limited my discernment,
O Deeply Discerning.
Teach me to know the Dhamma,
the abandoning here
of birth
& aging.
The Buddha:
Subdue greed for sensuality,
& see renunciation as rest.
Let there be nothing grasped
or rejected by you.
Burn up what’s before,
and have nothing for after.
If you don’t grasp
at what’s in between,
you will go about, calm.
One completely devoid of greed
for name-&-form, brahman,
has
no effluents
by which he would go
under Māra’s sway.
5:12 Bhadrāvudha’s Question
I entreat the one who has
abandoned home—cutting through craving, unperturbed;
abandoned delight—crossed over the flood, released;
abandoned theory—very intelligent:
Having heard the Nāga, they will leave—
the many gathered
from many lands, hero,
in hopes of your words.
So tell them, please,
how this Dhamma has
been known to you.
The Buddha:
Subdue craving & grasping—all—
above, below,
across, in between.
For whatever people cling to in the world,
it’s through that
that Māra pursues them.
So a monk, mindful,
seeing these people
entangled in grasping
as entangled in Death’s realm,
should cling to nothing
in all the world,
every world.
5:15 Mogharāja’s Question
Twice now, Sakyan,
I’ve asked you,
but you, One with Eyes,
haven’t answered me.
“When asked the third time,
the divine seer answers”:
So I have heard.
This world, the next world,
the Brahmā world with its devas:
I don’t know how they’re viewed
by the prestigious Gotama.
So to the one who has seen
to the far extreme,
I’ve come with a desire for a question:
One who regards the world in what way
isn’t seen by Death’s King?
The Buddha:
Always mindful, Mogharāja,
regard the world as
empty,
having removed any view
in terms of self.
This way
one is above & beyond death.
One who regards the world
in this way
isn’t seen by Death’s King.
5:16 Piṅgiya’s Questions
I’m old & weak,
my complexion dull,
I’ve blurry eyes
and trouble hearing—
but may I not perish
while still deluded,
confused!
Teach me the Dhamma
so that I may know
the abandoning here
of birth & aging.
The Buddha:
Seeing people suffering
on account of their bodies—
heedless people are afflicted
on account of their bodies—
then heedful, Piṅgiya,
let go of the body
for the sake of no further becoming.
Piṅgiya:
In the four cardinal directions,
the four intermediate,
above & below
—these ten directions—
there is nothing in the world
unseen, unheard,
unsensed, uncognized by you.
Teach me the Dhamma
so that I may know
the abandoning here
of birth & aging.
The Buddha:
Seeing people,
victims of craving—
inflamed, overwhelmed with aging—
then heedful, Piṅgiya,
let go of craving
for the sake of no further becoming.