[416] 9. "Having seen Taṇhā, Arati, and Rāgā [the daughters of Māra],
there was no desire even for sexual intercourse.
What indeed is this, full of urine and excrement?
I would not wish to touch it even with my foot."
[Māgandiya:]
"If you do not desire such a jewel,
a woman coveted by many lords of men,
what manner of view, of virtue and vows (sīlavata), of life,
and of arising in existence do you profess?"
"'I assert this' — no such thought occurs to him, Māgandiya," (said the Blessed One,)
"with regard to anything judged among dhammas and tightly grasped.
Seeing among views, without grasping,
while searching, I saw inner peace (ajjhattasanti)."
"Whatever judgments have been formulated," (said Māgandiya,)
"those indeed, O sage, you declare without grasping them.
As for this matter called 'inner peace' —
how, pray, has it been proclaimed by the wise?"
"Not by view, not by learning, not by knowledge (ñāṇa), Māgandiya," (said the Blessed One,)
"nor yet by virtue and vows does one declare purity;
nor by absence of view, absence of learning, absence of knowledge,
absence of virtue, absence of vows — not by that either.
Having relinquished these, without grasping,
at peace, not dependent, one would not hanker for existence."
"If, as you say, one declares purity neither by view, nor by learning, nor by knowledge," (said Māgandiya,)
"nor yet by virtue and vows;
nor by absence of view, absence of learning, absence of knowledge,
absence of virtue, absence of vows — not by that either —
then I deem this teaching sheer bewilderment,
for some do believe in purity by means of view."
"Inquiring again and again in dependence on view, Māgandiya," (said the Blessed One,)
"you have fallen into confusion amid the things you have grasped,
and of this [inner peace] you have not seen even the slightest perception (saññā);
therefore you regard it as sheer bewilderment.
Whoever conceives 'equal,' 'superior,' or 'inferior' —
he would dispute on that account;
but for one unshaken amid the three modes,
'equal' and 'superior' do not occur.
Of what would that brahmin say, 'It is true'?
Or with whom would he dispute, saying, 'It is false'?
In whom there is neither 'equal' nor 'unequal,'
with whom would he join in debate?
Having abandoned home, wandering without abode,
the sage forming no intimacies in the village,
rid of sensual pleasures, without preferences,
would not engage with people in contentious talk.
Those things detached from which he would wander in the world —
the nāga would not take them up and assert them.
As the water-born lotus with its thorny stem
is unstained by water and by mud,
so the sage, a speaker of peace, free from greed,
is unstained by sensuality and by the world.
One attained to knowledge (vedagū) does not through view,
nor through what is sensed, come to conceit (māna),
for he is not made of these;
he is not to be led by deed, nor yet by learning:
he is not drawn into fixed abodes (nivesana).
For one detached from perception there are no knots (gantha);
for one liberated by wisdom (paññāvimutta) there are no delusions.
But those who have grasped perception and view
wander in the world causing friction."
The Māgandiya Sutta, the ninth.
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In the Suttanipāta: the Purābheda Sutta, the tenth sutta of the fourth chapter, the Aṭṭhakavagga.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.