Snp 5.13 - Udaya-manava-puccha: Udaya's Questions
Translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Source: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.5.13.than.html
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Copyright: ©1994 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
License notice: The text of this page ("Udaya-manava-puccha: Udaya's Questions", by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions.
Attribution: ©1994 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The text of this page ("Udaya-manava-puccha: Udaya's Questions", by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. Transcribed from a file provided by the translator. Last revised for Access to Insight on 30 November 2013. How to cite this document (a suggested style): "Udaya-manava-puccha: Udaya's Questions" (Sn 5.13), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.5.13.than.html .
Changes: Presentation only: original HTML markup reflowed into plain text; wording, numbering and source repetitions retained. No repetitions expanded.
Completeness: ABBREVIATED. Every source-unit character is preserved, including introductions, notes and verse structure. Thanissaro's collection-level note explicitly states that repetitions were cut: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/about.html. This is evidence about the translation method, not an assertion that every individual unit contains an omission; no repetitions reconstructed.

[Udaya:]

 To the one in jhana seated dustless, passionless, his task done, effluent-free, gone to the beyond of all phenomena, I've come with a question. Tell me the gnosis of emancipation, the breaking open of ignorance. 

[The Buddha:]

 The abandoning both of sensual desires, & of unhappiness, the dispelling of sloth, the warding off of anxieties, equanimity-&-mindfulness purified, with inspection of mental qualities swift in the forefront: That I call the gnosis of emancipation, [1] the breaking open of ignorance. [2]

[Udaya:]

 With what is the world fettered? With what is it examined? Through the abandoning of what is there said to be Unbinding? 

[The Buddha:]

 With delight the world's fettered. With directed thought it's examined. Through the abandoning of craving is there said to be Unbinding. 

[Udaya:]

 Living mindful in what way does one bring consciousness to a halt? We've come questioning to the Blessed One. Let us hear your words. 

[The Buddha:]

 Not relishing feeling, inside or out: One living mindful in this way brings consciousness to a halt. [3]

Notes

1.

For a discussion of the "gnosis of emancipation" — the state of knowledge consisting of mental absorption coupled with an analysis of mental states, see AN 9.36 and Section III.F in The Wings to Awakening.

2.

AN 3.32 contains a discussion of this verse. The Buddha tells Ven. Sariputta that one should train oneself such that "with regard to this conscious body, there will be no 'I'-making or 'mine'-making or obsession of conceit, such that with regard to all external themes [topics of concentration] there will be no 'I'-making or 'mine'-making or obsession of conceit, and that we will enter & remain in the awareness-release & discernment-release in which there is no 'I'-making or 'mine'-making or obsession of conceit." When one has trained in this way, he says, one is called a person who has cut through craving, unraveled the fetter, who has, through the right penetration of conceit, put an end to suffering & stress. He then states that it was in connection to this state that he uttered this verse.

3.

For a discussion of "bringing consciousness to a halt" — showing that it is not an annihilation of consciousness, but rather the ending of its proliferating activity — see SN 22.53.