The Sutta Nipata
The "Sutta Collection"
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Sutta Nipata III.12
Dvayatanupassana Sutta
The Noble One's Happiness
(excerpt)
Translated from the Pali by John D. Ireland.
Read an alternate translation (complete) by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
"See how the world together with the devas has
self-conceit for what is not-self. Enclosed by mind-and-body it imagines, 'This
is real.' Whatever they imagine it to be, it is quite different from that. It is
unreal, of a false nature and perishable. Nibbana, not false in nature, that the
Noble Ones[1] know as true. Indeed, by the
penetration of the true, they are completely stilled and realize final
deliverance.
"Forms, sounds, tastes, scents, bodily contacts and
ideas which are agreeable, pleasant and charming, all these, while they last,
are deemed to be happiness by the world with its devas. But when they cease that
is agreed by all to be unsatisfactory. By the Noble Ones, the cessation of the
existing body[2] is seen as happiness. This is the
reverse of the outlook of the whole world.
"What others call happiness, that the Noble Ones declare
to be suffering. What others call suffering, that the Noble Ones have found to
be happiness. See how difficult it is to understand the Dhamma! Herein those
without insight have completely gone astray. For those under the veil (of
ignorance) it is obscured, for those who cannot see it is utter darkness. But
for the good and the wise it is as obvious as the light for those who can see.
Even though close to it, the witless who do not know the Dhamma, do not
comprehend it.
"By those overcome by attachment to existence, those who
drift with the stream of existence, those in the realm of Mara,
this Dhamma is not properly understood. Who other than the Noble Ones, are fit
to fully understand that state, by perfect knowledge of which they realize final
deliverance, free from defilements?[3]
-- vv. 756-765
Notes
1. The Noble Ones or ariya are
the Buddhas and their disciples.
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2. The "existing body" (sakkaya)
is a term for the five aggregates as objects of grasping.
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3. Anusava; the defilements or
asava, literally "out-flows," are dissipations of energy in the
form of sensual desire, becoming (the perpetuation of existence), views and
ignorance and are the same as the four "floods" mentioned earlier. One
who has destroyed the defilements (khinasava) is another name for an
Arahant or Perfected One.
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Contents
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ChV
