Sutta Nipāta
5
Sutta 12. Bhadravudha-manava-puccha Sutta
Bhadravudha's Questions
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For free distribution only.
Bhadravudha:
I entreat the one
who is very intelligent,
released, unperturbed --
who has abandoned home,
abandoned delight,
abandoned resemblances,
cut through craving,
crossed over the flood.
Having heard the Great One, they will leave --
the many gathered
from many lands, hero,
in hope of your words.
So tell them, please,
how this Dhamma has
been known to you.
The Buddha:
Subdue craving and clinging -- all --
above, below,
across, in between. [1]
For whatever people cling to in the world,
it's through that
that Mara pursues them.
So a monk, mindful,
seeing these people
clinging to entanglement
as entangled in Death's realm,
should cling to nothing
in all the world,
every world.
[1] For Nd.II's discussion of the various meanings of the objects of craving "above, below, across, in between," see Note [2] to Sn.V.4 (Mettagu's Question).
