Pārāyanatthutigāthā and Pārāyanānugītigāthā

Ajita, Tissametteyya,
Puṇṇako and Mettagū,
Dhotaka and Upasīva,
Nanda and Hemaka,
Todeyya and Kappa both,
Jatukaṇṇī the wise,
Bhadrāvudha and Udaya,
Posāla the brahmin, too,
Mogharājā the incisive,
and Piṅgiya the great sage.
These approached the Awakened One,
the seer accomplished in conduct.
Asking subtle questions,
they approached the best of the awakened.
Upon being asked, the Awakened One
answered their questions as it is.
With his answer to their questions,
the sage satisfied the brahmins.
They, satisfied with the sighted one,
the awakened kinsman of the sun,
lived the celibate life
in the presence of the one of prime understanding.
As the Awakened One taught
each question —
he who would practice thus,
would go to the far from the near.
Developing the supreme path,
one would go to the far from the near.
That path is for going beyond,
hence: ‘The Way to the Beyond.’

“I will celebrate the Way to the Beyond,”
said the venerable Piṅgiya.
“As he saw, so he told —
the stainless one of vast intelligence,
the desireless, wishless bull —
what could impel him to tell lies?
The one who has left behind the stain of delusion,
the one who has given up the smear of conceit
let me now laud,
with speech concerned with praise.
Dispeller of the dark, all-seeing one,
gone to the world’s end, transcended all existence,
without inundations, having left behind all unease,
truthfully so-named, brahmin, by me revered.

Like a bird twice-born, leaving behind a trifling copse,
would settle in a forest brimming with fruit,
so too have I left behind those who see little,
like a swan who reached the great ocean.
They who explained to me in the past,
outside of Gotama’s teaching:
‘So it was,’ ‘So will it be,’
all that is hearsay,
all that is the growth of speculation.
He who sits alone, dispelling the dark,
he, radiant light-maker,
Gotama of vast understanding,
Gotama of vast intelligence,
he who taught me the order —
experiential, not temporal,
the wasting away of craving, free from calamity —
of whom there is no likeness anywhere.”

“Why do you live apart from him,
even for a moment, Piṅgiya?
From Gotama of vast understanding,
from Gotama of vast intelligence?
He who taught you the order —
experiential, not temporal,
the wasting away of craving, free from calamity —
of whom there is no likeness anywhere?”

“I do not live apart from him,
even for a moment, brahmin.
From Gotama of vast understanding,
from Gotama of vast intelligence.
He who taught me the order —
experiential, not temporal,
the wasting away of craving, free from calamity —
of whom there is no likeness anywhere.
I see him in my mind's eye, in fact,
night and day, brahmin, heedful.
Honouring him I pass the night —
because of that I don't consider it living apart.
Faith, joy, mind, and recollection,
these do not part from Gotama’s teaching.
Whichever direction that one of vast understanding turns,
there I incline.
It is because I am old, feeble, and depleted
that my body does not run there.
In thought I go always,
for my mind, brahmin, is tied to him.
Lying quivering in the mire,
I floated from island to island —
then I saw the one fully awakened,
who crossed the flood, without inundations.”

“Just as Vakkali was faithful in liberation,
as well as Bhadrāvudha and Ālavigotama,
so should you release yourself towards faith.
You will go beyond the sphere of death, Piṅgiya.”

“Now I am all the more inspired,
hearing the sage’s word,
the Awakened One who rolled back the veil,
unobstructed, eloquent.
Understanding what is above the divine,
he has come to know everything, best and beyond;
the teacher, end-maker of questions,
for those who admit their doubts,
unmoveable, unshakable,
of whom there is no likeness anywhere.
Certainly I shall go, there are no doubts for me here.
Thus remember me as one with mind set.”