Snp 5.11 - Sn 5:11 Jatukaṇṇin’s Question
Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
Source: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp5_11.html
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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.
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5:11 Jatukaṇṇin’s Question

Hearing, hero,
  of one with no desire for sensuality,
I’ve come to ask
  the one gone beyond the flood,
  sensuality-free:
  Tell me the state of peace,
  Blessed One, Simultaneous Eye.1
      Tell me
      as it actually is.
For the Blessed One lives
  having conquered sensuality,
  as the radiant sun, in its radiance,
      the earth.
Limited my discernment,
  O Deeply Discerning.
Teach me to know the Dhamma,
  the abandoning here
      of birth
      & aging.

The Buddha:
Subdue greed for sensuality,
  & see renunciation as rest.
Let there be nothing grasped
  or rejected by you.
Burn up what’s before,
and have nothing for after.
If you don’t grasp
at what’s in between,2
  you will go about, calm.

One completely devoid of greed
for name-&-form, brahman,
has
no effluents
  by which he would go
  under Māra’s sway.

vv. 1096–1100

Notes

1. According to Nd II, the Buddha is called the Simultaneous Eye because the Eye of his omniscience arose simultaneously with his awakening to Buddhahood. It’s hardly likely, though, that Jatukaṇṇin would have this idea in mind when speaking to the Buddha for the first time. More likely, he might be alluding to the idea that the Buddha is able to see things, and to understand them for what they are, the moment they arise.

2. According to Nd II, ‘before’ stands for defilements related to the past, ‘after’ for defilements related to the future, and ‘in between’ for the five aggregates—form, feeling, perception, thought-fabrications, sensory consciousness—in the present.