Thag 17.2 - Thag 17:2 Sāriputta Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu Source: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Thag/thag17_2.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. Thag 17:2 Sāriputta This is not a single, unified poem. Instead, it is a compilation of verses that—apparently over the course of many years—became associated with Ven. Sāriputta’s name. Some of them may have been his original compositions. Others are verses that other people spoke about him. One in particular is also found in Ud 3:4, where the Buddha is said to have exclaimed it on seeing Sāriputta meditating. Some of the verses that make no mention of Sāriputta are, in other parts of the Canon, attributed to the Buddha, suggesting that they might have been those that Sāriputta’s liked to repeat. One of the verses, toward the end of the collection, makes reference to the perfection of discernment. The teaching on the perfections is elsewhere found only in later additions to the Canon, suggesting that this compilation as a whole was also late. This, however, does not rule out the possibility that some of the individual verses were early. Also, it should be noted that a large number of the verses here are also found in Thag 14:1. This pattern of borrowing that occurs from one poem to another is a common occurrence in the Theragāthā, suggesting that the compilers of the collection felt no qualms about standardizing the sentiments of the great elders. Mindful, heedful, his mind well-centered, absorbed with restrained resolves,1 inwardly delighting in his conduct, his mindfulness, alone, content: He’s called a monk. Eating moist or dry food, he shouldn’t be heavily sated. With unfilled belly, with measured food, the monk should wander mindfully. Leaving four or five mouthfuls uneaten, he should drink water: This is enough for the easeful abiding of a resolute monk. And he covers himself with a proper robe enough for that purpose: This is enough for the easeful abiding of a resolute monk. As he sits cross-legged, it doesn’t rain on his knees: This is enough for the easeful abiding of a resolute monk. Whoever sees pleasure as pain, and pain as an arrow, and that there’s nothing between the two: With what will he be what in the world? “May I never have anything to do with a person of evil desires, lazy, lowly in his persistence, with little learning, disrespectful”: With what will he be what in the world? But one who is learned, wise, well-centered in virtues, devoted to tranquility of awareness: Let him stand at the head. One who is devoted to objectification,2 his heart delighting in objectification, attains no unbinding, the unexcelled rest from the yoke. But whoever, abandoning objectification, delighting in the path of non-objectification, attains unbinding, the unexcelled rest from the yoke. In village or wilds, valley, plateau: that place is delightful where arahants dwell. Delightful wilds where the crowds don’t delight, those free from passion delight, for they’re not searching for sensual pleasures.3 Regard him as one who points out treasure, the wise one who seeing your faults rebukes you. Stay with this sort of sage. For the one who stays with a sage of this sort, things get better, not worse. Let him admonish, instruct, deflect you away from poor manners. To the good, he’s endearing; to the bad, he’s not.4 He, the Blessed One, the One Awakened, the One with Eyes, was teaching Dhamma to another. And while the Dhamma was being taught, I, desiring the Dhamma, turned an attentive ear. My listening was not in vain: I’m released, effluent-free.5 Not for knowledge of previous lifetimes, nor for the divine eye, nor for knowledge of others’ minds, nor for psychic power, nor for knowledge of beings dying & being reborn, nor for purifying the divine ear did I have any aspiration. Sitting at the root of a tree, with shaven head, wrapped in an outer robe, the elder foremost in discernment: Upatissa does jhāna.6 Attaining no-thinking, the disciple of the Rightly Self-Awakened One is endowed with noble silence straightaway.7 As a mountain of rock is unwavering, well-settled, so a monk whose delusion is ended doesn’t quiver— just like a mountain.8 To a person without blemish, in constant quest of what’s pure, a hair-tip of evil seems a storm cloud. I don’t delight in death, don’t delight in living. I await my time like a worker his wage. I don’t delight in death, don’t delight in living. I await my time, mindful, alert. On either side is death, it’s not non-death, ahead or behind. Practice, don’t perish. Don’t let the moment pass you by. As a frontier fortress is guarded within & without, you should safeguard yourselves. Don’t let the moment pass you by. Those for whom the moment is past grieve, consigned to hell.9 Calmed, restrained, giving counsel unruffled, he shakes off evil qualities— as the breeze, a leaf from a tree.10 Calmed, restrained, giving counsel unruffled, he removed evil qualities— as the breeze, a leaf from a tree. You shouldn’t trust in this way some householders or those gone forth. Having been good, they become bad. Having been bad, they become good. Sensual desire, ill will, sloth & torpor, restlessness & uncertainty: These, for a monk, are the five defilements. The concentration of one dwelling in heedfulness doesn’t waver, whether he is honored or not. Doing jhāna, persevering, having subtle insight into subtle views, delighting in the ending of clinging: He’s called a man of integrity. The great ocean, the Earth, a mountain, even the wind aren’t fitting as a comparison for the Teacher’s foremost release. Keeping the (Dhamma) wheel going, the elder of great knowledge, centered, being like earth, fire, & water, is neither impassioned nor angered.11 Having attained perfection in discernment,12 greatly intelligent, a great sage, not dull, though seemingly dull, he always wanders unbound. The Teacher has been served by me; the Awakened One’s bidding, done; the heavy load, laid down; the guide to becoming, uprooted. Attain consummation through heedfulness: That is my message. So then, I’m about to unbind. I’m released everywhere.13 Notes 1. Reading yatasaṅkappajjhāyi with the Burmese edition. The Thai edition has yathāsaṅkappacariyāya, “in line with the conduct of his resolves.” 2. Papañca. On the topic of objectification, see the introduction to MN 18. 3. These two verses = Dhp 98–99. 4. These two verses = Dhp 76–77. 5. See MN 74. 6. Upatissa was Ven. Sāriputta’s personal name. 7. Noble silence is the second jhāna. See SN 21:1. 8. In Ud 3:4, the Buddha uses this verse to describe Ven. Sāriputta. 9. This verse = Dhp 315. 10. This verse = Thag 1:2. 11. See MN 141. 12. The reference to the perfection (pāramita) of discernment suggests that this verse, at least, is a later composition. 13. See Thag 14:1, note 3.