Wednesday, December 28, 2016

The Eightfold Discourse on the Ultimate


Having views about what is "ultimate"
     A person makes these the best in the world
     And calls all other [views] "inferior."
     As such they have not gone beyond quarreling.

Seeing benefit in the Self,
     Or in things seen, heard, and thought
     Or in precepts and religious practices,
     And then grasping at this,
     A person [then] sees all else as inferior.

What one relies on in order to see all else as inferior
     Is an entanglement, say those who are skilled.
     Monastics should, therefore,
     Not depend on things seen, heard, or thought out
     Or on virtue and [religious] observances.

Nor should they make up views in the world
     By means of knowledge, precepts, and [religious] observances.

Nor would they think of themselves
     Inferior or superior [to others]
     And they shouldn't take themselves as equal.

Letting go of what is taken up,
     The person free of grasping
          Doesn't depend on knowledge
          Or take sides when factions disagree,
          Or fall back on any kind of view.

One not inclined to either side—
          to becoming or nonbecoming,
          to here or the next world—
     There exists nothing to get entrenched in
     When considering the doctrines others grasp.

Here, one does not conceive the slightest concept
     In regard to what is seen, heard, or thought.
     How, in this word, could one categorize the brahmin
     Who does not take hold of views?

One does not construct, prefer, or take up any doctrine.
     A [true] brahmin not led by precepts or religious practices,
     Who has gone beyond
     Does not fall back [on belief],
     Is one who is Thus.

----The Sutta Nipata (Translated by Gil Fronsdal)---

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