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### Sutta Nipata V.7

# Nanda-manava-puccha

# Nanda's Questions

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

Nanda:

> There are in the world
> sages, they say
> -- in what way?
> Do they call one a sage
> for possessing knowledge
> or possessing a way of life?

The Buddha:

> Not on account of his views,
> learning,
> or knowledge
> do the skilled here, Nanda,
> call one a sage.
> Those who live
> disarmed,
> undesiring,
> untroubled:
> those, I say, are called sages.

Nanda:

> Whatever priests & contemplatives
> describe purity
> in terms of views & learning,
> describe purity
> in terms of precepts & practices,
> describe purity
> in terms of manifold ways:
> have they, dear sir, living there in that way,
> crossed over birth & aging?
> I ask you, O Blessed One.
> Please tell me.

The Buddha:

> Whatever priests & contemplatives
> describe purity
> in terms of views & learning,
> describe purity
> in terms of precepts & practices,
> describe purity
> in terms of manifold ways:
> none of them, living there in that way,
> I tell you, have crossed over birth & aging.

Nanda:

> Whatever priests & contemplatives
> describe purity
> in terms of views & learning,
> describe purity
> in terms of precepts & practices,
> describe purity
> in terms of manifold ways:
> if, sage, as you say,
> they've not crossed over the flood,
> then who in the world
> of beings divine & human
> has crossed over birth & aging?
> I ask you, O Blessed One.
> Please tell me.

The Buddha:

> I don't say that all priests & contemplatives
> are shrouded in birth & aging.
> Those here who've abandoned
> what's seen, heard, & sensed,
> precepts & practices [1]
> -- all --
> who've abandoned their manifold ways
> -- again, all --
> who, comprehending craving,
> are effluent-free:
> they are the ones, I tell you,
> who've crossed over the flood.

Nanda:

> I relish, Gotama, the Great Seer's words
> well-expounded, without acquisition.
> Those here who've abandoned
> what's seen, heard, & sensed,
> precepts & practices
> -- all --
> who've abandoned their manifold ways
> -- again, all --
> who, comprehending craving,
> are effluent-free:
> I, too, say they've crossed over the flood.

### Note

1. For a discussion of the abandoning of precepts and practices, see The Mind Like Fire Unbound, Chapters 3 and 4. [Go back]

Revised: Tue 16 April 2002