snp.5.19 Suttanipata

Preserving the Way to the Far Shore

“I shall keep reciting the Way to the Far Shore,”
said Venerable Piṅgiya,
“which was taught as it was seen
by the immaculate one of vast intelligence.
He is desireless, unentangled, a spiritual giant:
why would he speak falsely?
Come, let me extol
in sweet words of praise
the one who’s given up stains and delusions,
conceit and contempt.
The Buddha, all-seer, dispeler of darkness,
has gone to world’s end, beyond all rebirths;
he is free of defilements, and has given up all pain,
the rightly-named one, brahmin, is revered by me.
Like a bird that flees a little copse,
to roost in a forest abounding in fruit,
I’ve left the near-sighted behind,
like a swan come to a great river.
Those who explained to me previously,
before I encountered Gotama’s teaching,
said ‘thus it was’ or ‘so it shall be’.
All that was just the testament of hearsay;
all that just fostered speculation.
Alone, the dispeler of darkness
is splendid, a beacon:
Gotama, vast in wisdom,
Gotama, vast in intelligence.
He is the one who taught me Dhamma,
visible in this very life, immediately effective,
the untroubled, the end of craving,
to which there is no compare.”
“Why would you dwell apart from him
even for an hour, Piṅgiya?
From Gotama, vast in wisdom,
from Gotama, vast in intelligence?
He is the one who taught you Dhamma,
visible in this very life, immediately effective,
the untroubled, the end of craving,
to which there is no compare.”
“I never dwell apart from him,
not even for an hour, brahmin.
From Gotama, vast in wisdom,
from Gotama, vast in intelligence.
He is the one who taught me Dhamma,
visible in this very life, immediately effective,
the untroubled, the end of craving,
to which there is no compare.
Being diligent, I see him
in my mind’s eye day and night.
I spend the night in homage to him,
hence I think I dwell with him.
My faith and joy and intent and mindfulness
never stray from Gotama’s teaching.
I bow to whatever direction
the one of vast wisdom heads.
I’m old and feeble,
so my body cannot go there,
but I always travel in my thoughts,
for my mind, brahmin, is bound to him.
Lying floundering in the mud,
I drifted from island to island.
Then I saw the Buddha,
the undefiled one who has crossed the flood.”
“Just as Vakkali was committed to faith—
Bhadrāvudha and Gotama of Āḷavī too—
so too you should commit to faith.
You will go, Piṅgiya, beyond the domain of death.”
“My confidence grows
as I hear the word of the sage,
the Buddha with veil drawn back,
so kind and eloquent.
Having directly known all about the gods,
he understands all top to bottom,
the teacher who settles all questions
for those who admit their doubts.
Unfaltering, unshakable;
that to which there is no compare.
For sure I will go there, I have no doubt of that.
Remember me as one whose mind is made up.”
The Anthology of Discourses is completed.