Snp 5.7 - Sn 5:7 Nanda’s Questions
Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
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Copyright: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017
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5:7 Nanda’s Questions

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 habits & practices,
  describe purity
      in terms of manifold ways:
Have they, dear sir, living there in that way,
crossed over birth & aging?
  I ask you, Blessed One.
  Please tell me.

The Buddha:
Whatever brahmans & contemplatives
  describe purity
      in terms of views & learning,
  describe purity
      in terms of habits & 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 habits & 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, dear sir,
has crossed over birth & aging?
  I ask you, 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,
  habits & practices1
      —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,
  habits & 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.

vv. 1077–1083

Note

1. For a discussion of the abandoning of habits and practices, see The Mind Like Fire Unbound, chapters 3 and 4, and The Paradox of Becoming, chapter 4.