PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN

Canto I.
Psalms of Single Verses

LXXXV
Sunāga

Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.

[idx][pali][than]

Public Domain

 

He was reborn in this Buddha-age in the village of Nālaka as the son of a brahmin, and was a friend of Sāriputta before the latter left the world. Hearing the General of the Norm preach, he too left the world, being established on the plane of insight.^[1] Anon he won arahantship. Thereupon, in course of teaching the bhikkhus, he confessed aññā in this verse:

[85] Expert to grasp the image conjured up,^[2]
Versed in the secret of the life detached,
Practised in contemplation, clear in mind: -
Well may he win to rapture unalloyed.

 

---

^[1] Dassanabhūmiyan patiṭṭhito, a divergence from the usual phrases.

^[2] In the self-hypnosis of jhāna. See Compendium, p. 54.