Snp 5.5 - Sn 5:5 Dhotaka’s Questions
Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
Source: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp5_5.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.

5:5 Dhotaka’s Questions

I ask you, Blessed One.
Please tell me.
I hope for your words, Great Seer.
Having heard your pronouncement,
I’ll train for my own
  unbinding.

The Buddha:
In that case,
be ardent—
astute & mindful right here.
Then, having heard my pronouncement,
train for your own
  unbinding.

Dhotaka:
I see in the world of beings
  divine & human,
a brahman who lives
possessing nothing.
  I pay homage to him,
  the All-around Eye.1
From my perplexities, Sakyan, release me!

The Buddha:
No one in the world, Dhotaka,
can I release from perplexity.
But knowing the most excellent Dhamma,
you will cross over this flood.

Dhotaka:
Teach with compassion, brahman,
the Dhamma of seclusion
so that I may know—
so that I, unafflicted as space,
may go about right here,
  independent,
  at peace.

The Buddha:
I will expound to you peace
  —here-&-now,
  not quoted words—
knowing which, living mindfully,
you’ll go beyond
entanglement in the world.

Dhotaka:
And I relish, Great Seer,
that peace supreme,
knowing which, living mindfully,
I’ll go beyond
entanglement in the world.

The Buddha:
Whatever you’re alert to,
  above, below,
  across, in between:
Knowing it as a bond in the world,
  don’t create craving
  for becoming or non-.2

vv. 1061–1068

Notes

1. See Sn 2:12, note 2.

2. Craving for becoming and non-becoming are the two most subtle forms of craving that lead to continued existence—and suffering—in the round of birth and death. See Sn 5:4, note 5.