Sn V.7: Nanda-manava-puccha

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? Not for what he has seen, heard, or known do the skilled here, Nanda, call one a sage. Those who live disarmed, undesiring, untroubled: those, I say, are called sages. Whatever priests & contemplatives say that purity's found through what's seen & heard, say that purity's found through precepts & practices, say that purity's found in manifold ways: have they, dear sir, living there in that way, crossed over birth & aging? I ask you, O Blessed One. Please tell me. Whatever priests & contemplatives say that purity's found through what's seen & heard, say that purity's found through precepts & practices, say that purity's found in manifold ways: none of them, living there in that way, I tell you, have crossed over birth & aging. Whatever priests & contemplatives say that purity's found through what's seen & heard, say that purity's found through precepts & practices, say that purity's found in manifold ways: if, sage, as you say, they've not crossed over the flood, then who in the world of beings divine & human has crossed over birth & aging? I ask you, O Blessed One. Please tell me. I don't say that all priests & contemplatives are shrouded in birth & aging. Those here who've abandoned what's seen, heard, & sensed, precepts & practices [1] -- 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. I relish, Gotama, the Great Seer's words well-expounded, without acquisition. Those here who've abandoned what's seen, heard, & sensed, precepts & 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. 1. For a discussion of the abandoning of precepts and practices, see The Mind Like Fire Unbound, Chapters 3 and 4. [Go back]