[178] 10. Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Sāvatthī, in the Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍika's Park. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus: "Bhikkhus." "Venerable sir," those bhikkhus replied to the Blessed One. The Blessed One said this:
"Bhikkhus, when Dabba Mallaputta had risen up into the air and, sitting cross-legged in the sky, in the air, had entered upon the fire element (tejodhātu), emerged from it, and attained final Nibbāna, then, as his body blazed and burned, no ash was to be discerned, nor soot. Just as, when ghee or [oil] blazes and burns, no ash is to be discerned, nor soot, even so, bhikkhus, when Dabba Mallaputta had risen up into the air and, sitting cross-legged in the sky, in the air, had entered upon the fire element and attained final Nibbāna, then, as his body blazed and burned, no ash was to be discerned, nor soot."
Then the Blessed One, having understood this matter, on that occasion uttered this inspired utterance (udāna):
"Just as, when a blazing fire (jātaveda) is struck by the iron hammer
and gradually grows still, its destination cannot be known,
even so, for those rightly liberated,
who have crossed the flood (ogha) of the bonds of sensual pleasure,
there is no destination to be pointed out:
they have attained unshakable happiness."
[Edition notes: (1) The commentary reads "vedanā sītibhaviṃsu" (pertaining to the preceding discourse). (2) The Burmese edition reads "jātavedaso."]
The Tenth.
The Pāṭaligāmiya Chapter, the Eighth.
Its summary (uddāna):
Four on Nibbāna were spoken; Cunda; the Pāṭaligāmiya [discourse];
the Forked Path and Visākhā; and together with Dabba these are ten.
This first chapter is the excellent Bodhi;
this second chapter is Mucalinda;
the excellent Nandaka chapter is the third;
the excellent Meghiya chapter is the fourth;
Soṇa is the excellent fifth chapter;
Jaccandha [the Man Born Blind] is the excellent sixth chapter;
and Cūḷa [the Minor] is the excellent seventh chapter;
the excellent eighth chapter is Pāṭaligāmiya.
With its excellent discourses, a full eighty,
this eighth chapter, well divided,
has been shown by the One with Vision, the Stainless One;
the faithful indeed have called this "the Udāna."
The Udāna is concluded.
[Edition notes: (1) The Burmese edition reads "asītim anūnakasuttavaraṃ." (2) The Burmese edition reads "addhā" ("surely") for "saddhā" ("the faithful").]
IN THE SUTTANTA PIṬAKA
THE ITIVUTTAKA OF THE KHUDDAKA NIKĀYA
Homage to that Blessed One, the Arahant, the Fully Self-Enlightened One.
The First Chapter of the Book of Ones (Ekanipāta)
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.