Sutta Nipāta
5
Sutta 10. Kappa-manava-puccha Sutta
Kappa's Question
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For free distribution only.
Kappa:
For one stranded in the middle of the lake,
in the flood of great danger -- birth --
overwhelmed with aging and death:
Tell me the island, dear sir,
and show me the island
so that this may not happen again.
The Buddha:
For one stranded in the middle of the lake,
in the flood of great danger -- birth --
overwhelmed with aging and death,
I will tell you the island, Kappa.
Having nothing,
clinging to no thing:
That is the island,
there is no other.
That's Unbinding, I tell you,
the total ending of aging and death.
Those knowing this, mindful,
fully unbound
in the here and now,
don't serve as Mara's servants,
don't come under Mara's sway.
