Text
5:10 Kappa’s Question
For one stranded in the middle of the lake,
in the flood of great danger—birth—
overwhelmed with aging & death:
Tell me the island, dear sir,
and show me the island
so that this may not happen again.
The Buddha:
For one stranded in the middle of the lake,
in the flood of great danger—birth—
overwhelmed with aging & death,
Kappa, I will tell you the island.1
Having nothing, free
of clinging:
That is the island,
there is no other.
That’s unbinding, I tell you,
the total ending of aging & death.
Those knowing this, mindful,
fully unbound
in the here-&-now,
don’t serve as Māra’s servants,
don’t come under Māra’s sway.2
vv. 1092–1095
Notes
1. On the Dhamma as an island, see DN 16.
2. On Māra’s sway, see SN 4:19, SN 35:115, SN 35:189, and SN 35:199.