{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/snp/snp5-7.htm","path":"bud/snp/snp5-7.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/snp/snp5-7.htm","text":"There are in the world\nsages, they say\n-- in what way?\nDo they call one a sage\nfor possessing knowledge\nor possessing a way of life?\nNot for what he has seen,\nheard,\nor known\ndo the skilled here, Nanda,\ncall one a sage.\nThose who live\ndisarmed,\nundesiring,\nuntroubled:\nthose, I say, are called sages.\nWhatever priests & contemplatives\nsay that purity's found\nthrough what's seen & heard,\nsay that purity's found\nthrough precepts & practices,\nsay that purity's found\nin manifold ways:\nhave they, dear sir, living there in that way,\ncrossed over birth & aging?\nI ask you, O Blessed One.\nPlease tell me.\nWhatever priests & contemplatives\nsay that purity's found\nthrough what's seen & heard,\nsay that purity's found\nthrough precepts & practices,\nsay that purity's found\nin manifold ways:\nnone of them, living there in that way,\nI tell you, have crossed over birth & aging.\nWhatever priests & contemplatives\nsay that purity's found\nthrough what's seen & heard,\nsay that purity's found\nthrough precepts & practices,\nsay that purity's found\nin manifold ways:\nif, sage, as you say,\nthey've not crossed over the flood,\nthen who in the world\nof beings divine & human\nhas crossed over birth & aging?\nI ask you, O Blessed One.\nPlease tell me.\nI don't say that all priests & contemplatives\nare shrouded in birth & aging.\nThose here who've abandoned\nwhat's seen, heard, & sensed,\nprecepts & practices [1]\n-- all --\nwho've abandoned their manifold ways\n-- again, all --\nwho, comprehending craving,\nare effluent-free:\nthey are the ones, I tell you,\nwho've crossed over the flood.\nI relish, Gotama, the Great Seer's words\nwell-expounded, without acquisition.\nThose here who've abandoned\nwhat's seen, heard, & sensed,\nprecepts & practices\n-- all --\nwho've abandoned their manifold ways\n-- again, all --\nwho, comprehending craving,\nare effluent-free:\nI, too, say they've crossed over the flood.\n1. For a discussion of the abandoning of precepts and practices, see The Mind Like Fire Unbound, Chapters 3 and 4. [Go back]","title":"Sn V.7: Nanda-manava-puccha","type":"page"}