The Sutta Nipata
The "Sutta Collection"
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Sutta Nipata IV.15
Attadanda Sutta
The Training
Translated from the Pali by John D. Ireland.
Read an alternate translation by Thanissaro
Bhikkhu
"Violence breeds misery; [1]
look at people quarreling. I will relate the emotion agitating me.
"Having seen people struggling and contending with each
other like fish in a small amount of water, fear entered me.
The world is everywhere insecure, every direction is in turmoil; desiring an
abode for myself I did not find one uninhabited. [2]
When I saw contention as the sole outcome, aversion increased in me; but then I
saw an arrow [3] here, difficult
to see, set in the heart. Pierced by it, once runs in every direction, but
having pulled it out one does not run nor does one sink. [4]
"Here follows the (rule of) training:
"Whatever are worldly fetters, may you not be bound by
them! Completely break down sensual desires and practice so as to realize
Nibbana for yourself!
"A sage should be truthful, not arrogant, not deceitful,
not given to slandering others, and should be without anger. He should remove
the evil of attachment and wrongly directed longing; he should conquer
drowsiness, lassitude and sloth, and not dwell in indolence. A man whose mind is
set on Nibbana should not be arrogant. He should not lapse into untruth nor
generate love for sense objects. He should thoroughly understand (the nature of)
conceit and abstain from violence. He should not delight in what is past, nor be
fond of what is new, nor sorrow for what is disappearing, nor crave for the
attractive.
"Greed, I say, is a great flood; it is a whirlpool
sucking one down, a constant yearning, seeking a hold, continually in movement;
[5] difficult to cross is the morass of sensual
desire. A sage does not deviate from truth, a brahmana [6]
stands on firm ground; renouncing all, he is truly called 'calmed.'
"Having actually experienced and understood the Dhamma
he has realized the highest knowledge and is independent. [7]
He comports himself correctly in the world and does not envy anyone here. He who
has left behind sensual pleasures, an attachment difficult to leave behind, does
not grieve nor have any longing; has cut across the stream and is unfettered.
"Dry out that which is past, [8]
let there be nothing for you in the future. [9] If
you do not grasp at anything in the present you will go about at peace. One who,
in regard to this entire mindbody complex, has no cherishing of it as 'mine,'
and who does not grieve for what is non-existent truly suffers no loss in the
world. For him there is no thought of anything as 'this is mine' or 'this is
another's'; not finding any state of ownership, and realizing, 'nothing is
mine,' he does not grieve.
"To be not callous, not greedy, at rest and unruffled by
circumstances -- that is the profitable result I proclaim when asked about one
who does not waver. For one who does not crave, who has understanding, there is
no production (of new kamma). [10] Refraining from
initiating (new kamma) he sees security everywhere. A sage does not speak in
terms of being equal, lower or higher. Calmed and without selfishness he neither
grasps nor rejects."
-- vv. 935-954
Notes
1. Attadanda bhayam jatam:
"Violence" (attadanda, lit.: "seizing a stick" or
"weapons") includes in it all wrong conduct in deeds, words and
thoughts. Bhaya is either a subjective state of mind, "fear,"
or the objective condition of "fearfulness," danger, misery; and so it
is explained in the Comy. as the evil consequences of wrong conduct, in this
life and in future existence.
[Go back]
2. Uninhabited by decay and death,
etc. (Comy).
[Go back]
3. The arrow of lust, hate, delusion
and (wrong) views.
[Go back]
4. That is, sink into the four
"floods" of sensual desire, continual becoming, wrong views and
ignorance. These are the two contrasting dangers of Samsara, i.e., restless running,
ever seeking after sensual delights, and sinking, or passively clinging
to the defilements, whereby one is overwhelmed by the "flood." In the
first discourse of the Samyutta-nikaya the Buddha says: "If I stood still,
I sank; if I struggled, I was carried away. Thus by neither standing still nor
struggling, I crossed the flood."
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5. According to the commentary these
four phrases, beginning with a "whirlpool sucking down," are all
synonyms for craving (tanha) or greed (gedha) called the
"great flood."
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6. In Buddhism the title
"Brahmana" is sometimes used for one who has reached final
deliverance. The Buddha himself is sometimes called "the Brahmana."
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7. Independent of craving and views.
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8. "Dry out" (visodehi)
your former, and not your matured kamma, i.e., make it unproductive, by not
giving room to passions that may grow out of the past actions.
[Go back]
9. Do not rouse in kamma-productive
passions concerning the future.
[Go back]
10. Volitional acts, good or bad,
manifesting in deeds of body, speech and mind leading to a future result.
[Go back]
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