[434] **A meditator, dustless, seated** (jhāyiṃ virajam āsīnaṃ). **A meditator (jhāyī):** the Blessed One was a meditator by the first jhāna; a meditator by the second jhāna; a meditator by the third jhāna; a meditator by the fourth jhāna; a meditator by the jhāna with thought (vitakka) and examination (vicāra); a meditator by the jhāna without thought but with mere examination; a meditator by the jhāna without thought and without examination; a meditator by the jhāna with rapture (pīti); a meditator by the jhāna without rapture; a meditator by the jhāna accompanied by pleasure; a meditator by the jhāna accompanied by equanimity; a meditator by the emptiness jhāna; a meditator by the signless jhāna; a meditator by the undirected jhāna; a meditator by mundane jhāna; a meditator by supramundane jhāna — delighting in jhāna, devoted to oneness, esteeming his own goal. Hence, "a meditator."
**Dustless (virajaṃ):** lust (rāga) is dust; hatred is dust; delusion is dust; anger is dust; resentment is dust … all unwholesome volitional formations are dusts. Those dusts have been abandoned by the Buddha, the Blessed One, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump deprived of its base, brought to non-existence, no longer subject to arising in the future. Therefore the Buddha is without dust, dustless, gone away from dust, one who has abandoned dust, released from dust.
Lust is dust, but it is not particles of dirt that are meant:
"dust" — this is a designation for lust.
Having abandoned this dust, the One with Vision,
therefore the Victor is called "one rid of dust."
Hatred is dust, but it is not particles of dirt that are meant:
"dust" — this is a designation for hatred.
Having abandoned this dust, the One with Vision,
therefore the Victor is called "one rid of dust."
Delusion is dust, but it is not particles of dirt that are meant:
"dust" — this is a designation for delusion.
Having abandoned this dust, the One with Vision,
therefore the Victor is called "one rid of dust."
Hence, "dustless." **Seated (āsīnaṃ):** the Blessed One was seated at the Pāsāṇaka Shrine; hence, "seated."
The sage, gone beyond suffering (dukkha), seated upon the mountain's side —
the disciples attend upon him, bearers of the threefold knowledge, leavers of death behind.
Thus too the Blessed One was "seated." Or else, the Blessed One was "seated" because all busy endeavor had been stilled in him: he has lived out the dwelling, fulfilled the conduct … for him there is no round of birth, aging, and death, no renewed existence. Thus too the Blessed One was "seated." Hence, "a meditator, dustless, seated."
**Thus the venerable Udaya (iccāyasmā Udayo):** "thus (icca)" is a connective of words … this word "thus" is a matter of the sequence of words. **Venerable (āyasmā):** this is a term of affection, a term of respect; "venerable" is a designation carrying reverence and deference. **Udaya:** this is that brahmin's name … a mode of address. Hence, "thus the venerable Udaya."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.