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Sutta Pitaka » Khuddaka Nikaya » Sutta Nipata » Context of this sutta

Sutta Nipata V.5
Dhotaka-manava-puccha
Dhotaka's Questions
For free distribution only, as a gift of Dhamma

Dhotaka:

I ask you, O Blessed One.
Please tell me.
I hope for your words, Great Seer.
Having heard your pronouncement,
I'll train for my own
    Unbinding.

The Buddha:

In that case,
be ardent --
astute & mindful right here.
Then, having heard my pronouncement,
train for your own
    Unbinding.

Dhotaka:

I see in the world of beings
    divine & human,
a brahmin who lives
possessing        nothing.
    I pay homage to him
    the All-around Eye.
From my doubts, O Sakyan, release me!

The Buddha:

No one in the world, Dhotaka,
can I release from doubting.
But knowing the most excellent Dhamma,
you will cross over the flood.

Dhotaka:

Teach with compassion, O brahmin,
the Dhamma of seclusion
so that I may know --
so that I, unafflicted as space,
may live right here,
    independent,
    at peace.

The Buddha:

I will teach you peace
    -- in the here & now,
    not quoted words --
knowing which, living mindfully,
you'll go beyond
entanglement in the world.

Dhotaka:

And I relish, Great Seer,
that peace         supreme,
knowing which, living mindfully,
I'll go beyond
entanglement in the world.

The Buddha:

Whatever you're alert to,
    above, below,
    across, in between:
knowing it as a bond in the world,
    don't create craving
    for becoming or non-.


Note

Craving for becoming and non-becoming (or dis-becoming) are the two most subtle forms of craving that lead to continued existence -- and suffering -- in the round of birth & death.


 


Updated: 1-7-2000

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