snp.4.10 Suttanipata

Before the Breakup

or given to slander.
Not swept up in pleasures,
or given to arrogance,
“Seeing how, behaving how,
is one said to be at peace?
When asked, Gotama, please tell me
about the ultimate person.”
“Rid of craving before the breakup,”
said the Buddha,
“not dependent on the past,
unfathomable in the middle,
they are not governed by anything.
Unangry, unafraid,
not boastful or regretful,
thoughtful in counsel, and stable—
truly that sage is controlled in speech.
Rid of attachment to the future,
they don’t grieve for the past.
A seer of seclusion in the midst of contacts
is not led astray among views.
Withdrawn, free of deceit,
they’re not envious or stingy,
nor rude or disgusting,
they’re gentle and articulate,
neither hungering nor growing dispassionate.
They don’t train out of desire for profit,
nor get annoyed at lack of profit.
Not hostile due to craving,
nor greedy for flavors,
they are equanimous, ever mindful.
They never conceive themselves in the world
as equal, special, or less than;
for them there is no pride.
They have no dependencies,
understanding the teaching, they are independent.
No craving is found in them
to continue existence or to end it.
I declare them to be at peace,
unconcerned for sensual pleasures.
No ties are found in them,
they have crossed over clinging.
They have no sons or cattle,
nor possess fields or lands.
No picking up or putting down
is to be found in them.
That by which one might describe
an ordinary person or ascetics and brahmins
has no importance to them,
which is why they’re unaffected by words.
Freed of greed, not stingy,
a sage doesn’t speak of themselves as being
among superiors, inferiors, or equals.
One not prone to creation does not return to creation.
They who have nothing in the world of their own
do not grieve for that which is not,
or drift among the teachings;
that’s who is said to be at peace.”