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### Sutta Nipata V.1

# Ajita-manava-puccha

# Ajita's Questions

Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For free distribution only.

Read an alternate translation by John D. Ireland

Ajita:

> With what
> is the world shrouded?
> Because of what
> doesn't it shine?
> With what
> is it smeared? Tell me.
> What
> is its great danger & fear?

The Buddha:

> With ignorance
> the world is shrouded.
> Because of stinginess,
> heedlessness,
> it doesn't shine.
> With longing
> it's smeared -- I tell you.
> Suffering-stress:
> its great danger & fear.

Ajita:

> They flow every which way,
> the streams.
> What is their blocking,
> what their restraint -- tell me --
> with what are they finally stopped?

The Buddha:

> Whatever streams
> there are in the world:
> their blocking is
> mindfulness, mindfulness
> is their restraint -- I tell you --
> with discernment
> they're finally stopped.

Ajita:

> Discernment & mindfulness,
> name & form, dear sir:
> Tell me, when asked this,
> where are they brought to a halt?

The Buddha:

> This question you've asked, Ajita,
> I'll answer it for you --
> where name & form
> are brought to a halt
> without trace:
> With the cessation of consciousness
> they're brought
> to a halt.

Ajita:

> Those here who have fathomed the Dhamma,
> those who are learners,
> those who are run-of-the-mill:
> When you, dear sir, astute,
> are asked this,
> tell me their manner of life.

The Buddha:

> He should not hanker
> for sensual pleasures,
> should be limpid in mind.
> Skilled in all mental qualities,
> he, the monk, should live his life
> mindfully.

### Note

According to the Culaniddesa (Nd.II), the streams that "flow every which way" are the streams of craving, views, conceit, defilement, corruption, and ignorance that flow out the six sense media. The first two lines in Ven. Ajita's second set of questions (the first half-line in the Pali) is identical to the first half-line in Dhp. 340.

For a more detailed answer to Ajita's last set of questions, see SN XII.31.

Revised: Wed 16 May 2001