When the Awakened One, through direct knowledge,
—the Teacher, the person with no peer
in the world with its devas—
sets the Dhamma wheel rolling:
the cessation of self-identification,
& the cause of self-identification,
& the noble eightfold path,
leading to the stilling of suffering,
long-lived devas—beautiful, prestigious—
become fearful & frightened,
like deer at a lion’s roar.
‘We’re not beyond self-identification.
It seems we’re inconstant,’ [they say,]
on hearing the word of the Worthy One,
the one fully released,
the one who is Such.
Notes
1. See MN 44.
Origin URL: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN4_33.html