[51] 1. Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Uruvelā, on the bank of the river Nerañjarā, at the foot of the Mucalinda tree, newly attained to full awakening. Now on that occasion the Blessed One had been sitting for seven days in a single cross-legged posture, experiencing the bliss of liberation (vimuttisukha). And on that occasion a great unseasonal storm-cloud arose, and for seven days there was rainy weather, cold winds, and days of gloom. Then Mucalinda the nāga king came forth from his own abode and, encircling the Blessed One's body seven times with his coils, stood with his great hood spread out above the Blessed One's head, thinking: "Let no cold touch the Blessed One; let no heat touch the Blessed One; let no contact of gadflies, mosquitoes, wind, the sun's heat, or creeping things touch the Blessed One."
Then, with the passing of those seven days, the Blessed One emerged from that concentration (samādhi). And Mucalinda the nāga king, seeing that the sky had become clear and free of clouds, unwound his coils from the Blessed One's body and, fashioning his own form, stood right in front of the Blessed One, venerating the Blessed One with joined palms.
Then the Blessed One, understanding the meaning of this, on that occasion uttered this inspired utterance (udāna):
Blissful is seclusion (viveka) for one who is content,
who has heard the Dhamma, who sees;
blissful is harmlessness (abyāpajja) in the world —
restraint (saññama) toward living beings.
Blissful is dispassion (virāgatā) in the world —
the transcending of sensual pleasures;
but the removal of the conceit "I am" (asmimāna) —
this truly is the supreme bliss.
The First.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.