Ud 2.1 - Muccalinda Sutta: About Muccalinda
Translated by John D. Ireland
Source: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.2.01.irel.html
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Copyright: ©1997 Buddhist Publication Society.
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Attribution: ©1997 Buddhist Publication Society. You may copy, reformat, reprint, republish, and redistribute this work in any medium whatsoever, provided that: (1) you only make such copies, etc. available free of charge and, in the case of reprinting, only in quantities of no more than 50 copies; (2) you clearly indicate that any derivatives of this work (including translations) are derived from this source document; and (3) you include the full text of this license in any copies or derivatives of this work. Otherwise, all rights reserved. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. From The Udana: Inspired Utterances of the Buddha, translated from the Pali by John D. Ireland (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1997). Copyright © 1997 Buddhist Publication Society. Used with permission. Last revised for Access to Insight on 13 June 2010. How to cite this document (a suggested style): "Muccalinda Sutta: About Muccalinda" (Ud 2.1), translated from the Pali by John D. Ireland. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 13 June 2010, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.2.01.irel.html .
Changes: Presentation only: original HTML markup reflowed into plain text; wording, numbering and source repetitions retained. No repetitions expanded.
Completeness: UNKNOWN. Entire protected source unit, including notes and verses, preserved; canonical completeness has not been independently established.

Thus have I heard. At one time the Lord was staying at Uruvela beside the river Nerañjara at the foot of the Mucalinda Tree, having just realized full enlightenment.

At that time the Lord sat cross-legged for seven days experiencing the bliss of liberation. Now it happened that there occurred, out of season, a great rainstorm and for seven days there were rain clouds, cold winds, and unsettled weather. Then Mucalinda the naga-king left his dwelling place and having encircled the Lord's body seven times with his coils, he stood with his great hood spread over the Lord's head (thinking) to protect the Lord from cold and heat, from gadflies, mosquitoes, wind, sun, and the touch of creeping things.

At the end of those seven days the Lord emerged from that concentration. Then Mucalinda the naga-king, seeing that the sky had cleared and the rain clouds had gone, removed his coils from the Lord's body. Changing his own appearance and assuming the appearance of a youth, he stood in front of the Lord with his hands folded together venerating him.

Then, on realizing its significance, the Lord uttered on that occasion this inspired utterance:

Blissful is detachment for one who is content, For one who has learned Dhamma and who sees; Blissful is non-affliction in the world, Restraint towards living creatures; Blissful is passionlessness in the world, The overcoming of sensual desires; But the abolition of the conceit "I am" — That is truly the supreme bliss.