Snp 5.7 - Nanda-manava-puccha: Nanda's Questions
Translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Source: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.5.07.than.html
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Copyright: ©1994 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
License notice: The text of this page ("Nanda-manava-puccha: Nanda'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 ("Nanda-manava-puccha: Nanda'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): "Nanda-manava-puccha: Nanda's Questions" (Sn 5.7), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.5.07.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.

[Nanda:]

 There are in the world sages, they say — in what way? Do they call one a sage for possessing knowledge or possessing a way of life? 

[The Buddha:]

 Not on account of his views, learning, or knowledge do the skilled here, Nanda, call one a sage. Those who live disarmed, undesiring, untroubled: those, I say, are called sages. 

[Nanda:]

 Whatever brahmans & contemplatives describe purity in terms of views & learning, describe purity in terms of precepts & practices, describe purity in terms of manifold ways: have they, dear sir, living there in that way, crossed over birth & aging? I ask you, O Blessed One. Please tell me. 

[The Buddha:]

 Whatever brahmans & contemplatives describe purity in terms of views & learning, describe purity in terms of precepts & practices, describe purity in terms of manifold ways: none of them, living there in that way, I tell you, have crossed over birth & aging. 

[Nanda:]

 Whatever brahmans & contemplatives describe purity in terms of views & learning, describe purity in terms of precepts & practices, describe purity in terms of manifold ways: if, sage, as you say, they've not crossed over the flood, then who in the world of beings divine & human has crossed over birth & aging? I ask you, O Blessed One. Please tell me. 

[The Buddha:]

 I don't say that all brahmans & contemplatives are shrouded in birth & aging. Those here who've abandoned what's seen, heard, & sensed, precepts & practices [1] — all — who've abandoned their manifold ways — again, all — who, comprehending craving, are effluent-free: they are the ones, I tell you, who've crossed over the flood. 

[Nanda:]

 I relish, Gotama, the Great Seer's words well-expounded, without acquisition. Those here who've abandoned what's seen, heard, & sensed, precepts & practices — all — who've abandoned their manifold ways — again, all — who, comprehending craving, are effluent-free: I, too, say they've crossed over the flood. 

Note

1.

For a discussion of the abandoning of precepts and practices, see The Mind Like Fire Unbound, Chapters 3 and 4.