Of the enlightened, devoid-of–delusion, barrenness-broken winner of victory—
free from oppression, harmonious-minded, advanced in virtue,5 excellent in discernment,
poisons-crossed-over,6 stainless:
Of that Blessed One, I’m a disciple.
Of the perplexity-free, contented, baits-of-the-world-disgorged, empathetic,
completed-contemplative person; the bearing-his-last-body man—
incomparable, spotless:
Of that Blessed One, I’m a disciple.
Of the free-from-doubt, skillful discipliner; the foremost leader;
the unexcelled, splendid-in-qualities, free-from-incertitude maker of light;
the conceit-cut-through hero:
Of that Blessed One, I’m a disciple.
Of the bull—immeasurable, deep, attained to sagacity;
the provider-of-safety knower—Dhamma-established, well-restrained in mind,
gone beyond bonds, released:
Of that Blessed One, I’m a disciple.
Of the nāga living in remote dwellings; the fetters-ended, released,
amiable speaker—purifed,7 banner laid down, devoid of passion,
tamed, objectification-free:
Of that Blessed One, I’m a disciple.
Of the truest seer;8 the free-from-deceit, triple-knowledge, attained-to-Brahmā,9
cleansed, well versed,10 calm, knowledge-discoverer;
Sakka, the ancient giver:11
Of that Blessed One, I’m a disciple.
Of the noble, developed-in-mind, attainment-attained explainer—
mindful, clear-seeing, not bent forward, not bent back,
unperturbed, mastery-attained:
Of that Blessed One, I’m a disciple.
Of the path-completed, absorbed-in-jhāna, uninfluenced-within, pure,
independent, fearless, living-secluded, attained-to-the-summit,
crossed-over one leading others across:
Of that Blessed One, I’m a disciple.
Of the peaceful, deeply-discerning, greatly-discerning, free-from-greed,
One Truly Gone—well-gone, without rival, without peer,
mature, subtle:
Of that Blessed One, I’m a disciple.
Of the craving-cut-through, awakened, unsmoky, unsmeared,
worthy-of-gifts spirit,12 the highest person without equal—
great, attained to the summit of prestige:
Of that Blessed One, I’m a disciple.
Notes
1. This simile was apparently common among Nigaṇṭhas and their followers. Saccaka, another Nigaṇṭha debater, uses it in MN 35.
2. See SN 3:24.
3. The Thai edition here has Upāli using the insulting expression “Bhante gahapati,”—“Venerable householder.”
4. The following verses are among the few in the Canon composed in the musical gaṇacchanda meter called gīti. Other examples of gaṇacchanda poems in the Canon include Sn 1:8 and Sn 4:14. On this meter, see A. K. Warder, Pali Metre, and also the Introduction to Sutta Nipāta: The Discourse Group. Upāli’s poem here is also unusual in that, for the most part, it consists of strings of epithets in the genitive case. Much of its music, which cannot be reproduced in English, consists of the rhythmic, almost obsessive, repetition of the genitive ending: -assa.
5. Reading vuḍḍha-sīlassa with the Sinhalese edition. The Thai edition has buddha-sīlassa, awakened-virtue.
6. Reading vessantarassa with the Sinhalese and PTS editions. The Thai reading, vesamantarassa, does not fit the meter. This word, or a variant of it—vissantarassa—also appears in Iti 38.
7. Reading dhonassa with the PTS edition. The Thai edition has monassa, sagacity.
8. Isisattamassa: In Vedic culture, this term would mean “seventh seer,” referring to the seventh of the seven great Vedic seers. Here it is adopted into the Buddhist tradition and turned into a piece of wordplay that could either mean “seventh seer,” referring to the tradition that the Buddha is the seventh Buddha, counting from the Buddha Vipassin, or “truest seer,” as above.
9. Here again, a Vedic term is borrowed and given a Buddhist meaning: attained to nibbāna. For another example of the use of this epithet with this meaning, see SN 7:9 (cited in Sn 3:4, note 8).
10. Reading padakassa with the Thai edition. This term has been borrowed from the Vedic tradition, where it means well versed in the Vedas. Here it means that the Buddha knows many instructive verses.
11. Sakka is the king of the devas of the Thirty-three, a level of heaven that contains many of the old Vedic devas. “Ancient giver” (purindada) is the Pali transformation of the Vedic epithet for Sakka, puraṁdara, “fort-shatterer.” This transformation reflects the more peaceful role that Sakka assumes as a disciple of the Buddha in the Pali Canon (see DN 21). For another instance of this new epithet, see DN 20.
12. Yakkha. See Sn 3:4, note 17, and Sn 4:11, note 5.
13. This is a pun on the word vaṇṇa, which means both “praise” and “beauty/splendor.”
Origin URL: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/MN/MN56.html