Faultless,
canopied in white,
the single-spoked chariot rolls along.
See him coming, untroubled:
one whose stream is cut,
free from bonds.2
Notes
1. The Commentary notes that misbehaving monks liked to stroke his hands and catch hold of his ears.
2. In SN 41:5, Citta the householder explains this verse as follows:
“Faultless stands for virtues.
“Canopied in white stands for release.
“Single-spoked stands for mindfulness.
“Rolls along stands for coming and going.
“Chariot stands for this body composed of the four elements….
“Passion is a trouble; aversion is a trouble; delusion is a trouble. These have been abandoned by a monk whose effluents have ended–their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future arising. That’s why the monk whose effluents have ended is said to be untroubled.
“Him coming stands for the arahant.
“Stream stands for craving. That has been abandoned by a monk whose effluents have ended–its root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future arising. That’s why the monk whose effluents have ended is said to be one whose stream is cut.
“Passion is a bond; aversion is a bond; delusion is a bond. These have been abandoned by a monk whose effluents have ended–their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future arising. That’s why the monk whose effluents have ended is said to be free from bonds.”
SN 21:6 starts with the same prose passage as this udāna but ends with a different verse:
Swans, cranes, & peacocks,
elephants & spotted antelope
all fear the lion
(though) in body there’s no comparison.
In the same way, among human beings,
even if one is small
but endowed in discernment,
one is great for that–
not the fool endowed in physique.
Origin URL: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Ud/ud7_5.html