I ask you, 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 brahman who lives
possessing nothing.
I pay homage to him,
the All-around Eye.1
From my perplexities, Sakyan, release me!
The Buddha:
No one in the world, Dhotaka,
can I release from perplexity.
But knowing the most excellent Dhamma,
you will cross over this flood.
Dhotaka:
Teach with compassion, brahman,
the Dhamma of seclusion
so that I may know—
so that I, unafflicted as space,
may go about right here,
independent,
at peace.
The Buddha:
I will expound to you peace
—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-.2
Notes
1. See Sn 2:12, note 2.
2. Craving for becoming and non-becoming are the two most subtle forms of craving that lead to continued existence—and suffering—in the round of birth and death. See Sn 5:4, note 5.
Origin URL: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp5_5.html