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### Sutta Nipata V.13

# Udaya-manava-puccha

# Udaya's Questions

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

Udaya:

> To the one in jhana
> seated dustless,
> passionless,
> his task done,
> effluent-free,
> gone to the beyond
> of all phenomena,
> I've come with a question.
> Tell me the gnosis of emancipation,
> the breaking open
> of ignorance.

The Buddha:

> The abandoning
> both of sensual desires,
> & of unhappiness,
> the dispelling of sloth,
> the warding off of anxieties,
> equanimity-&-mindfulness purified,
> with inspection of mental qualities
> swift in the forefront:
> That I call the gnosis of emancipation, [1]
> the breaking open
> of ignorance. [2]

Udaya:

> With what
> is the world fettered?
> With what
> is it examined?
> Through the abandoning of what
> is there said to be
> Unbinding?

The Buddha:

> With delight
> the world's fettered.
> With directed thought
> it's examined.
> Through the abandoning of craving
> is there said to be
> Unbinding.

Udaya:

> Living mindful in what way
> does one bring consciousness
> to a halt?
> We've come questioning
> to the Blessed One.
> Let us hear your words.

The Buddha:

> Not relishing feeling,
> inside or out:
> One living mindful in this way
> brings consciousness
> to a halt. [3]

### Notes

1. For a discussion of the "gnosis of emancipation" -- the state of knowledge consisting of mental absorption coupled with an analysis of mental states, see AN IX.36 and Section III.F in The Wings to Awakening. [Go back]

2. AN III.33 contains a discussion of this verse. The Buddha tells Ven. Sariputta that one should train oneself such that "with regard to this conscious body, there will be no 'I'-making or 'mine'-making or obsession of conceit, such that with regard to all external themes [topics of concentration] there will be no 'I'-making or 'mine'-making or obsession of conceit, and that we will enter & remain in the release of awareness & release of discernment in which there is no 'I'-making or 'mine'-making or obsession of conceit." When one has trained in this way, he says, one is called a person who has cut through craving, unraveled the fetter, who has, through the right penetration of conceit, put an end to suffering & stress. He then states that it was in connection to this state that he uttered this verse. [Go back]

3. For a discussion of "bringing consciousness to a halt" -- showing that it is not an annihilation of consciousness, but rather the ending of its proliferating activity -- see SN XXII.53. [Go back]

Revised: Tue 16 April 2002