PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN
Canto I.
Psalms of Single Verses
LXVII
Ekadhamma Savanīya
Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.
Public Domain
[Pali]
He was reborn in this Buddha-age at Setavyā,[1] in the family of a councillor. When the Exalted One visited Setavyā, and stayed in the Singsapa Wood, he went to listen [68] to him, saluting, and sitting down at one side. The Master contemplated his inclinations, and taught him the Norm in the verse:
Impermanent indeed are all component things[2]
And he, influenced by his past resolve (to leave the world when the Norm was revived), discerned the truth more plainly, left the world, and studying the notions of ill and of the absence of soul, acquired insight and won arahantship. And because, by one hearing of the Norm alone, his destiny was fulfilled, he acquired the name of Once-Norm-hearer (Ekadhammāsavanīya). His aññā he confessed in this verse:
[67] Burnt up in me is all that doth defile,
And rooted out all life's continuance;
Slain utterly the cycle of re-birth:
Now is there no more coming back to be.[3]
[1] In Kosala. Cf. Dialogues, ii. 349; Sutta Nipāita, verse 1012; Ang., ii. 37.
[2] See Dialogues, ii. 175: 'They're transient all,' etc.
[3] This phrase and that of 'life's continuance' are in the Pali both bhava, first plural, then singular with prefix of puna, 'again'; lit., 'becomings' and 'becoming-again.' By the plural form the three chief modes of rebirth are understood - kāma-, rūpa and arūpa-bhava - as well as both kammabhava, or that continuity of action or character which determines future bhava, and the uppatti-bhava, or resultant rebirth itself (so the Commentary). This doctrine is explained in the Compendium of Philosophy, especially pp. 262-264.
