[389] "This word of Asita has been understood to be exactly true;
therefore, Gotama, I ask you,
who have gone to the far shore of all dhammas:
being asked, declare to me the sage (muni)
and sagehood (moneyya), the supreme state,
for one who has entered upon the homeless life
and seeks the wandering for alms."
"I shall make known to you sagehood," (the Blessed One,)
"a thing hard to do, hard to master.
Come then, I shall declare it to you:
steady yourself; be firm.
One should maintain an even attitude
toward abuse and homage in the village;
one should guard against corruption of mind;
one should live at peace, ranging without arrogance.
Things high and low flash forth,
like crests of flame in a grove;
women seduce the sage —
let them not seduce you.
Refraining from the sexual act,
having abandoned sensual pleasures high and low,
neither hostile nor attached
toward living beings, the frail and the firm —
'As I am, so are these;
as these are, so am I':
making of oneself the comparison,
one should neither kill nor cause to kill.
Having abandoned wishing and greed,
wherein the worldling (puthujjana) is stuck fast,
one with vision should enter upon the way:
one should cross over this hell.
Let him be of unfilled belly, measured in food,
of few wishes, free from avarice;
ever unhungering through desire,
one without wishes is quenched (nibbuta).
Having walked his round for alms,
the sage should repair to the forest's edge;
stationed at the foot of a tree,
the sage should take his seat.
That steadfast one, intent on meditation (jhāna),
should find his delight at the forest's edge;
he should meditate at the foot of a tree,
bringing contentment to himself.
Then, when the night has passed,
he should betake himself to the village outskirts;
he should not delight in an invitation,
nor in what is brought out from the village.
The sage, having come to a village,
should not move hastily among the families;
cutting off talk while seeking food,
he should not utter insinuating speech.
'That I have gained — it is well;
that I have gained not — it is good':
thinking thus, he is such (tādī) toward both alike,
and he passes on by, as (one passes by) a tree.
Wandering with bowl in hand,
not dumb, though reckoned as dumb,
he should not despise a small gift,
nor should he look down upon its giver.
For high and low is the practice (paṭipadā)
proclaimed by the ascetic:
they do not go twice to the far shore;
nor yet is this experienced but once.
And for the bhikkhu in whom is no diffuseness (visatā),
who has cut across the stream,
who has abandoned duties and non-duties,
no fever is found."
"I shall make known to you sagehood," (the Blessed One,)
"one should be as the razor's edge:
pressing the palate with the tongue,
one should be restrained with regard to the belly.
And he should be of unsluggish mind (citta),
nor yet should he ponder overmuch —
free of the raw stench (āmagandha), unattached,
having the holy life as his final goal.
One should train in solitary sitting
and in the practice of ascetics:
solitude is declared to be sagehood.
Alone, truly, you will find delight —
(then you will shine forth in the ten directions).
Having heard the acclaim of the wise —
of the meditators who have given up sensual pleasures —
one devoted to me (māmako) should thereafter
cultivate moral shame (hiri) and faith (saddhā) all the more.
Understand this from the rivers,
in the clefts and in the crevices:
noisily go the little streams;
silent go the great waters.
Whatever is not full makes noise;
whatever is full is silent indeed.
The fool is like a pot half-filled;
the wise man is like a pool that is full.
When the ascetic speaks much,
it is apt and connected with the goal:
knowing, he teaches the Dhamma;
knowing, he speaks much.
But he who, knowing, is inwardly restrained,
who, knowing, does not speak much —
that sage is worthy of sagehood;
that sage has attained sagehood."
The Nālaka Sutta, the eleventh.
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In the Suttanipāta, the third [chapter], the Great Chapter (Mahāvagga):
the twelfth [discourse], the Dvayatānupassanā Sutta.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.