[422] 15. From violence taken up by oneself fear is born —
behold the people in strife!
I shall relate the sense of urgency (saṃvega),
how I myself was stirred by it.
Having seen people floundering
like fish where the water is scant,
having seen them set against one another,
fear entered into me.
The world all around is without substance;
all the quarters are in commotion.
Desiring an abode for myself,
I saw no place unoccupied.
But seeing them at strife even at the very end,
discontent arose in me.
Then I saw here the dart,
hard to see, lodged in the heart.
Pierced by that dart,
one runs about in every direction;
but having drawn out that very dart,
one neither runs about nor sinks down.
Therein the trainings are recited …
(the things in the world to which men are bound);
one should not be intent upon them.
Having become disenchanted with sensual pleasures (kāmā) in every way,
one should train for one's own Nibbāna (nibbāna).
One should be truthful, not impudent,
without deceit, rid of divisive speech (pesuṇa);
free from anger, a sage (muni) should cross over
evil greed¹ and avarice.
One should vanquish sleep, lassitude, and dullness;
one should not dwell together with heedlessness;
one should not persist in contempt —
the person whose mind is set on Nibbāna.
One should not be led into false speech,
nor conceive affection for form;
one should fully understand conceit,
and fare abstaining from rashness.
One should not delight in the old,
nor form a liking for the new;
one should not sorrow over what is dwindling away,
nor be dependent on attraction (ākāsa).
Greed I call "the great flood";
hankering I call the onrush,
the basis, the [mind's] fixation;
the mire of sensuality is hard to pass beyond.
Not deviating from truth, a sage,
a brahmin, stands upon dry land;
having relinquished everything,
he truly is called "peaceful."
He truly is a knower², he a master of knowledge (vedagū);
having known the Dhamma (dhamma), he is independent;
faring rightly in the world,
he yearns after nothing here.
¹ Yu.: lobhapāpaṃ. ² Po.: viddhā.
Whoever here has crossed beyond¹ sensual pleasures,
the tie in the world so hard to pass beyond,
he neither sorrows nor broods;
his stream is cut, he is free from bonds.
What was before — let that wither away;
let there be nothing of yours afterward;
if you will not grasp at what is in between,
you shall fare at peace.
He for whom there is no cherishing as "mine"
with regard to name-and-form (nāmarūpa) in any way,
and who does not sorrow over what is not —
he truly suffers no loss in the world.
He for whom there is nothing [held] as "this is mine,"
nor² anything [as] "belonging to others,"
finding no state of "mine,"
does not sorrow, [thinking] "there is nothing of mine."
Not envious³, not greedy,
unstirred (aneja), everywhere the same —
asked about the one who does not waver,
I declare that to be the benefit.
For one unstirred, who understands,
there is no fabricating of anything whatsoever (nisaṅkhati)⁴;
abstaining from instigation,
he sees security everywhere.
Not among equals, not among inferiors,
not among superiors does the sage speak [of himself];
at peace, rid of avarice,
he neither takes up nor casts away —
thus said the Blessed One.
The Attadaṇḍa Sutta, the fifteenth [is ended].
______________
¹ Po.: accattari; Yu.: accatari. ² Yu.: vāpi. ³ Po.: anuṭṭhari; Yu.: aniṭṭhuri. ⁴ Po.: kācini saṅkhiti.
In the Suttanipāta, the sixteenth [discourse] of the fourth chapter, the Aṭṭhakavagga:
The Sāriputta Sutta
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.