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### Sutta Nipata V.14

# Posala-manava-puccha

# Posala's Questions

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

Posala:

> To one who reveals the past
> -- unperturbed,
> his doubts cut through --
> who has gone to the beyond
> of all phenomena,
> I've come with a question.
> I ask the Sakyan about the knowledge [1]
> of one devoid of perception of forms,
> who has abandoned all the body,
> every body,
> who sees, within & without,
> 'There is nothing':
> How is he
> to be led further on?

The Buddha:

> The Tathagata, knowing directly
> all stations of consciousness, [2]
> knows for one stationed in them
> release
> & the steps leading there.

> Knowing directly
> the origin of nothingness
> to be the fetter of delight,
> one then sees there clearly.
> That's his genuine knowledge --
> the brahman who has lived
> to fulfillment.

### Notes

1. Posala's question concerning the knowledge of the person in the dimension of nothingness has a double meaning: He is asking about the Buddha's knowledge about that person, and also what a person in that dimension of attainment should do to develop his/her knowledge even further. The Buddha's answer deals with the question in both its senses. [Go back]

2. On the seven stations of consciousness, see DN 15. The dimension of nothingness, discussed in this dialogue, is the seventh and most refined. [Go back]

Revised: Wed 12 December 2001