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- Sutta Nipata V.13
- Udaya-manava-puccha
- Udaya's Questions
- For free distribution only, as a gift of Dhamma
Udaya:
To the one in jhana
seated dustless,
passionless,
his task done,
effluent-free,
gone to the beyond
of all phenomena,
I've come with a question.
Tell me the gnosis of emancipation,
the breaking open
of ignorance.
The Buddha:
The abandoning
both of sensual desires,
& of unhappiness,
the dispelling of sloth,
the warding off of anxieties,
equanimity-&-mindfulness purified,
with inspection of mental qualities
swift in the forefront:
That I call the gnosis of emancipation, [1]
the breaking open
of ignorance. [2]
Udaya:
With what
is the world fettered?
With what
is it examined?
Through the abandoning of what
is there said to be
Unbinding?
The Buddha:
With delight
the world's fettered.
With directed thought
it's examined.
Through the abandoning of craving
is there said to be
Unbinding.
Udaya:
Living mindful in what way
does one bring consciousness
to a halt?
We've come questioning
to the Blessed One.
Let us hear your words.
The Buddha:
Not relishing feeling,
inside or out:
One living mindful in this way
brings consciousness
to a halt. [3]
Notes
1. For a discussion of the "gnosis of emancipation"
-- the state of knowledge consisting of mental absorption coupled with an analysis of
mental states, see AN IX.36 and Section III.F in The Wings to Awakening.
[Go back]
2. AN III.33 contains a discussion of this verse. The Buddha
tells Ven. Sariputta that one should train oneself such that "with regard to this
conscious body, there will be no 'I'-making or 'mine'-making or underlying tendency to
conceit, such that with regard to all external themes [topics of concentration] there will
be no 'I'-making or 'mine'-making or underlying tendency to conceit, and that we will
enter & remain in the release of awareness & release of discernment in which there
is no 'I'-making or 'mine'-making or underlying tendency to conceit." When one has
trained in this way, he says, one is called a person who has cut through craving,
unraveled the fetter, who has, through the right penetration of conceit, put an end to
suffering & stress. He then states that it was in connection to this state that he
uttered this verse. [Go back]
3. For a discussion of "bringing consciousness to a
halt" -- showing that it is not an annihilation of consciousness, but rather the
ending of its proliferating activity -- see SN
XXII.53. [Go back]