[330] "We ask the Teacher of unsurpassed wisdom:
the bhikkhu who in this very life was a cutter of doubts (vicikicchā)
has died at Aggāḷava —
well known, famous, one whose self was fully quenched.
'Nigrodhakappa' — such was the name
made for that brahmin (brāhmaṇa) by you, Blessed One;
revering you he went about, yearning for release,
with energy aroused, a seer of the steadfast Dhamma.
O Sakyan, All-seeing One (samantacakkhu),
we all likewise desire to know of that disciple;
our ears are well attuned for hearing:
you are our Teacher; you are unsurpassed.
Cut off, indeed, our doubt; tell me this;
make known to us the one fully quenched (parinibbuta), O you of vast wisdom;
and speak in our midst, All-seeing One,
as thousand-eyed Sakka speaks amid the gods.
Whatever knots (gantha) there are here — pathways of delusion,
ranged on the side of unknowing, grounds of doubt —
reaching the Tathāgata, they exist no more,
for he is the supreme eye of men.
For if no man were ever to dispel the defilements (kilesa),
as the wind dispels a massed cloud,
the whole world, enshrouded, would be darkness itself,
and even men endowed with light would not shine.
But the wise are makers of light:
therefore, O wise one, just such a one I deem you;
knowing you as one endowed with insight, we have come:
here amid the assemblies, reveal Kappa to us.
Quickly send forth your lovely voice, O lovely one —
as geese, stretching up [their necks], softly cry —
with a rounded voice, well modulated:
all of us, sitting upright, shall listen to you.
Pressing the cleansed one (dhona), who has abandoned
birth and death (jāti-maraṇa) without remainder,
I shall have him speak the Dhamma;
for there is no acting merely at will for worldlings (puthujjana),
but there is acting upon due reckoning for Tathāgatas.
This consummate declaration of yours,
one of upwelling wisdom, has been rightly grasped;
this final añjali is well raised in homage:
knowing [the truth], do not bewilder us, O you of unsurpassed wisdom.
Having understood the noble Dhamma from high to low,
do not, knowing [it], bewilder us, O hero unsurpassed;
as one scorched by heat in the hot season [longs for] water,
so do I long for your speech: let fall the rain of the heard [word].
The holy life (brahmacariya) that Kappāyana lived for its goal —
was it not in vain for him in any respect?
Did he attain Nibbāna, or was he one with a residue remaining (sa-upādisesa)?
How he was liberated — that let us hear."
[The Blessed One answered in verse:]
"He cut off craving (taṇhā) here for name-and-form (nāmarūpa),"
— so said the Blessed One —
"the stream of Kaṇha [the Dark One], long lain latent;
he has crossed beyond birth and death without remainder."
Thus spoke the Blessed One, the foremost of the five (pañcaseṭṭha).
[Venerable Vaṅgīsa said:]
"Having heard your word, O seventh of seers (isisattama),
I am filled with confidence;
not in vain, indeed, was my question:
the brahmin did not deceive me.
As he spoke, so he acted:
he was a disciple of the Buddha;
he cut through that strong net
of Death (Maccu) the deceiver.
O Blessed One, Kappiya saw
the beginning of clinging (upādāna);
Kappāyana indeed has passed beyond
the realm of Death (maccudheyya), so hard to cross."
The Vaṅgīsa Sutta, the twelfth.
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In the Suttanipāta, the thirteenth [discourse] of the second [chapter], the Cūḷavagga: the Sammāparibbājaniya Sutta.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.