Majjhima Nikāya
III. Upari-Paṇṇāsa
4. Vibhaṅga Vagga
Sacred Books of the Buddhists
Volume VI
Dialogues of the Buddha
Part V
Further Dialogues of the Buddha
Volume II
Translated from the Pali
by Lord Chalmers, G.C.B.
Sometime Governor of Ceylon
London
Humphrey Milford
Oxford University Press
1927
Public Domain
Sutta 134
Lomasakaṅgiyai Bhadd'Eka-Ratta Suttaɱ
True Saint IV
[1][pts][upal] THUS have I heard:
Once when the Lord was staying at Sāvatthī in Jeta's grove in Anāthapiṇḍika's pleasaunce,
the reverend Lomasakangiya was living in the Sakyan country
at Kapilavatthu
in the Banyan grove.
To him came the god Candana
in his surpassing beauty
who, as night waned,
illumined all the grove.
Standing to one side,
the god Candana asked the venerable Lomasakangiya
whether he knew by heart
the exposition and analysis of the True Saint.
No, sir, I do not.
Do you?
No, Brother.
Do you know the verses?
No, sir, I do not.
Do you?
Yes, I know the verses.
How do they run?
Once, Almsman, when the Lord was staying with the Thirty-Three gods
at the foot of the Coral-tree
by the Gem-throne (of Sakkha),
he gave the exposition and analysis of the True Saint,
repeating the lines -
Let past be past; nor future longings house;
- the past is dead, the morrow not yet born.
Whoso with insight scans his heart to-day,
let him ensue eternal Changelessness!
Toil then to-day. To-morrow death may come,
- who knows? No bargain holds death's hosts at bay.
Whoso, by night and day unceasingly,
lives still to struggle onward, he it is
is called True Saint; - the Perfect Sage is he.
That is my version of the True Saint verses.
Study, learn and master
the exposition and analysis of the True Saint;
it is fruitful for good
and is fundamental for the higher life.
With these words
the god Candana vanished from sight.
When night had passed away,
Lomasakangiya packed up his bedding and set out,
duly robed and bowl in hand,
on an alms-pilgrimage to Sāvatthī,
[201] and in the pleasaunce there found the Lord
to whom, after due salutations,
he related all that had passed between him and the god,
ending with the request
that the Lord would teach him
the exposition and analysis of the True Saint.
[268] Do you know, Almsman,
who the god was?
No, sir.
He was the god Candana,
who listens to the Doctrine
with the closest attention
that his heart and mind can give it.
Listen then with attention
and I will speak.
Yes, sir, was the Almsman's dutiful response;
and the Lord began: -
Let past be past; nor future longings house;
- the past is dead, the morrow not yet born.
Whoso with insight scans his heart to-day,
let him ensue eternal Changelessness!
Toil then to-day. To-morrow death may come,
- who knows? No bargain holds death's hosts at bay.
Whoso, by night and day unceasingly,
lives still to struggle onward, he it is
is called True Saint; - the Perfect Sage is he.
How, Almsmen, does a man hark back to the past? -
By finding delight in remembering
that in a previous birth in the past
such and such was he like,
such and such were his feelings,
his perceptions,
his plastic forces
and his mentality.
How does a man not hark back? -
By not finding delight in such memories.
How does a man have longings for the future? -
By [262] finding delight in the longing
that in later births in the future
he may be such and such,
with such and such feelings and so forth.
How does a man not have longings for the future? -
By not finding delight in any such aspirations.
How is a man swept away by present states of consciousness? -
Take the case of an uninstructed everyday man
who has no vision of the Noble Ones
and is unversed and untrained in their Doctrine,
who has no vision of the Excellent Ones
and is unversed and untrained in their Doctrine; -
such a man either conceives
Form as Self,
or Self as having Form,
or Form in Self,
or Self in Form; -
and so on with feelings,
perceptions,
the plastic forces
[189] and the mind. -
That is how a man is swept away.
How is a man not swept away
by present states of consciousness? -
Take the case of an instructed disciple of the Noble Ones,
who has vision of the Noble
and is versed and trained in their Doctrine,
who has vision of the Excellent
and is versed and trained in their Doctrine; -
such a man neither conceives
Form as Self,
nor Self as having Form,
nor Form in Self,
nor Self in Form;
nor does he entertain like conceptions
about feelings,
perceptions,
the plastic forces,
or the mind. -
That is how a man is not swept away by present States of consciousness.
Let past be past; nor future longings house;
- the past is dead, the morrow not yet born.
Whoso with insight scans his heart to-day,
let him ensue eternal Changelessness!
Toil then to-day. To-morrow death may come,
- who knows? No bargain holds death's hosts at bay.
Whoso, by night and day unceasingly,
lives still to struggle onward, he it is
is called True Saint; - the Perfect Sage is he.
[202] Thus spoke the Lord.
Glad at heart,
the reverend Lomasakangiya rejoiced in what the Lord had said.
