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### Sutta Nipata IV.15

# Attadanda Sutta

# The Rod Embraced

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

Read an alternate translation by John D. Ireland

> "When embraced,
> the rod of violence[1]
> breeds danger & fear:
> Look at people quarreling.
> I will tell of how
> I experienced
> dismay.
> Seeing people floundering
> like fish in small puddles,
> competing with one another --
> as I saw this,
> fear came into me.
> The world was entirely
> without substance.
> All the directions
> were knocked out of line.
> Wanting a haven for myself,
> I saw nothing that wasn't laid claim to.
> Seeing nothing in the end
> but competition,
> I felt discontent.
> And then I saw
> an arrow here,
> so very hard to see,
> embedded in the heart.
> Overcome by this arrow
> you run in all directions.
> But simply on pulling it out
> you don't run,
> you don't sink.[2]

> [Here the trainings are recited.] [3]

> Whatever things are tied down in the world,
> you shouldn't be set on them.
> Having totally penetrated
> sensual pleasures,
> sensual passions,[4]
> you should train for your own
> Unbinding.
> Be truthful, not insolent,
> not deceptive, rid
> of divisiveness.
> Without anger, the sage
> should cross over the evil
> of greed & avarice.
> He should conquer laziness,
> weariness,
> sloth;
> shouldn't consort with heedlessness,
> shouldn't stand firm in his pride --
> the man with his heart set
> on Unbinding.
> He shouldn't engage in lying,
> shouldn't create a sense of allure in form,
> should fully fathom conceit,
> and live refraining from impulsiveness;
> shouldn't delight in what's old,
> prefer what's new,[5]
> grieve over decline,
> get entangled in
> what's dazzling & bright.[6]

> I call greed
> a 'great flood';
> hunger, a swift current.
> Preoccupations are ripples;
> sensuality, a bog
> hard to cross over.
> Not deviating from truth,
> a sage stands on high ground
> : a brahman.

> Having renounced All,[7]
> he is said to be at peace;
> having clearly known, he
> is an attainer-of-wisdom;
> knowing the Dhamma, he's
> independent.
> Moving rightly through the world,
> he doesn't envy
> anyone here.

> Whoever here has gone over & beyond
> sensual passions --
> an attachment hard
> to transcend in the world,
> doesn't sorrow,
> doesn't fret.
> He, his stream cut, is free
> from bonds.

> Burn up what's before,
> and have nothing for after.
> If you don't grasp
> at what's in between,[8]
> you will go about, calm.

> For whom, in name & form,
> in every way,
> there's no sense of mine,
> and who doesn't grieve
> over what is not:
> he, in the world,
> isn't defeated,
> suffers no loss.[9]

> To whom there doesn't occur
> 'This is mine,'
> for whom nothing is others',
> feeling no sense of mine-ness,
> doesn't grieve at the thought
> 'I have nothing.'

> Not harsh,
> not greedy, not
> perturbed,
> everywhere
> in tune:
> this is the reward
> -- I say when asked --
> for those who are free
> from pre-
> conceptions.

> For one unperturbed
> -- who knows --
> there's no accumulating.
> Abstaining, unaroused,
> he everywhere sees
> security.[10]
> The sage
> doesn't speak of himself
> as among those who are higher,
> equal,
> or lower.
> At peace, free of selfishness,
> he doesn't embrace, doesn't
> reject,"

> the Blessed One said.

### Notes

1. Nd.I: The rod of violence takes three forms: physical violence (the three forms of bodily misconduct), verbal violence (the four forms of verbal misconduct), and mental violence (the three forms of mental misconduct). See AN X.176. [Go back]

2. Nd.I: "One doesn't run" to any of the destinations of rebirth; "one doesn't sink" into any of the four floods of sensuality, views, becoming, and ignorance (see SN XLV.171 and AN IV.10). [Go back]

3. This phrase, a kind of stage direction, seems to indicate that this poem had a ritual use, as part of a ceremony for giving the precepts. [Go back]

4. "Sensual pleasure, sensual passions": two meanings of the word kama. [Go back]

5. Nd.I: "Old" and "new" mean past and present aggregates. [Go back]

6. Nd.I: "what's dazzling & bright" = craving and other defilements. [Go back]

7. For the definition of All, see the discussion in The Mind Like Fire Unbound, pp. 31-32. [Go back]

8. Nd.I: "Before," "after," and "in between" = past, future, and present. [Go back]

9. "Isn't defeated, suffers no loss" -- two meanings of the Pali phrase, na jiyyati. [Go back]

10. See Ud. II.10. [Go back]

See also: AN III.39

Revised: Tue 16 April 2002