Snp 1.1 - Sn 1:1 The Snake Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu Source: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp1_1.html License: CC-BY-NC-4.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Copyright: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 License notice: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA. Attribution: From Handful of Leaves, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu; https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/Ebooks/SuttaPitaka_251113.epub. Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA. 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. I : The Snake Chapter (Uraga Vagga) 1:1 The Snake Alternative versions of this poem—a Sanskrit version included in the Udānavarga, and a Gāndhārī version included in the Gāndhārī Dharmapada—have many of the same verses included here, but arranged in a different order. This suggests that the verses originally may have been separate poems, spoken on separate occasions, and that they were gathered together because they share the same refrain. The monk who subdues his arisen anger as, with herbs, snake-venom once it has spread, sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. The monk who has cut off passion without leaving a trace, as he would, plunging into a lake, a lotus, sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. The monk who has cut off craving without leaving a trace, drying up the swift-flowing flood,1 sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. The monk who has uprooted conceit without leaving a trace, as a great flood, a very weak bridge made of reeds, sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. The monk seeing in states of becoming no essence, as he would, when examining fig trees, no flowers, sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. The monk with no inner anger, who has thus gone beyond becoming & not-, sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. The monk whose discursive thoughts are dispersed, well-dealt with inside without leaving a trace, sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. The monk who hasn’t slipped past or held back,2 transcending all this objectification,3 sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. The monk who hasn’t slipped past or held back, knowing with regard to the world that “All this is unreal,” sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. The monk who hasn’t slipped past or held back, without greed, as “All this is unreal,” sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. The monk who hasn’t slipped past or held back, without aversion, as “All this is unreal,” sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. The monk who hasn’t slipped past or turned back, without delusion, as “All this is unreal,” sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. The monk in whom there are no obsessions4 —the roots of unskillfulness totally destroyed— sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. The monk in whom there’s nothing born of disturbance5 that would lead him back to this shore, sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. The monk in whom there’s nothing born of the underbrush6 that would act as a cause for binding him to becoming, sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. The monk who’s abandoned five hindrances, who, untroubled, de-arrowed,7 has crossed over doubt, sloughs off the near shore & far— as a snake, its decrepit old skin. vv. 1–17 Notes 1. On craving as a flooding river, see Dhp 251, 337, 339–340, and 347. 2. See Iti 49. 3. On objectification, see Sn 4:11, note 4, and the introduction to MN 18. 4. The seven obsessions, listed in AN 7:11, are: sensual passion, resistance, views, uncertainty, conceit, passion for becoming, and ignorance. The relationship of three of these obsessions—the first two and the last—to the three types of feeling is discussed in MN 44. 5. Daratha. For a detailed description of the subtleties of disturbance, see MN 121. 6. Underbrush stands for desire. See Dhp 344. 7. The arrow can stand for becoming, craving, or grief. See SN 36:6, Sn 3:8, Sn 4:15, Dhp 351, Thag 6:13, Thig 3:5, and Thig 6:1.