The Serpent

snp1.1:1 When anger surges, they drive it out, as with medicine a cobra’s spreading venom. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:2 They’ve cut off greed entirely, like a lotus plucked flower and stalk. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:3 They’ve cut off craving entirely, drying up that swift-flowing stream. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:4 They’ve swept away conceit entirely, as a fragile bridge of reeds by a great flood. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:5 In the hereafter they find no worth, as an inspector of fig trees finds no flower. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:6 They hide no anger within, passed beyond any kind of existence. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:7 Their mental vibrations are cleared away, internally clipped off entirely. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:8 They have not run too far nor run back, but have gone beyond all this proliferation. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:9 They have not run too far nor run back, for they know that nothing in the world <j>is what it seems. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:10 They have not run too far nor run back, knowing nothing is what it seems, free of greed. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:11 They have not run too far nor run back, knowing nothing is what it seems, free of lust. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:12 They have not run too far nor run back, knowing nothing is what it seems, free of hate. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:13 They have not run too far nor run back, knowing nothing is what it seems, free of delusion. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:14 They have no underlying tendencies at all, and are rid of unskillful roots, Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:15 They have nothing born of distress at all to make them to return to the near shore. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:16 No snarl grows in them at all, that would shackle them to a new life. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

snp1.1:17 They’ve given up the five hindrances, untroubled, rid of indecision, free of thorns. Such a mendicant sheds the near shore and the far, as a serpent its old worn-out skin.

The Wealthy Rancher

snp1.2:1 “I’ve boiled my rice and drawn my milk,” said Dhaniya the rancher, “I stay with my family along the bank of the Mahī. My hut is roofed, my sacred fire kindled: so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”

snp1.2:2 “I boil not with anger <j>and have drawn out hard-heartedness,” said the Buddha, “I stay for one night along the bank of the Mahī. My hut is wide open, my fire is quenched: so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”

snp1.2:3 “No gadflies or mosquitoes are found,” said Dhaniya, “cows graze on the lush meadow grass. They get by even when the rain comes: so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”

snp1.2:4 “I bound a raft and prepared it well,” said the Buddha, “and with it I crossed over, went to the far shore, <j>and dispelled the flood. Now I have no need for a raft: so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”

snp1.2:5 “My wife is obedient, not wanton,” said Dhaniya, “long have we lived together happily. I hear nothing bad about her: so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”

snp1.2:6 “My mind is obedient and freed,” said the Buddha, “long nurtured and well-tamed. Nothing bad is found in me: so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”

snp1.2:7 “I am self-employed,” said Dhaniya, “and my healthy children likewise. I hear nothing bad about them: so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”

snp1.2:8 “I am no one’s lackey,” said the Buddha, “with what I have earned I wander the world. I have no need for wages: so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”

snp1.2:9 “I have heifers and sucklings,” said Dhaniya, “cows in calf and breeding cows. I’ve also got a bull, captain of the herd here: so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”

snp1.2:10 “I have no heifers or sucklings,” said the Buddha, “no cows in calf or breeding cows. I haven’t got a bull, captain of the herd here: so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”

snp1.2:11 “The stakes are driven in, unshakable,” said Dhaniya, “The grass halters are new and well-woven, not even the sucklings can break them: so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”

snp1.2:12 “Like a bull I broke the bonds,” said the Buddha, “like an elephant I snapped the vine. I will be bound by them no more: so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”

snp1.2:13 Right then a vast cloud rained forth, soaking the uplands and valleys. Hearing the heavens rain down, Dhaniya said this:

snp1.2:14 “It is no small gain for us that we have seen the Buddha. We come to you for refuge, Clear-eyed One. O great sage, please be our Teacher.

snp1.2:15 My wife and I, obedient, shall lead the spiritual life under the Holy One. Gone beyond death, we shall make an end of suffering.”

snp1.2:16 “Children bring you delight!” said Satan the Wicked, “Cattle also bring you delight! For attachments are a man’s delight; without attachments there’s no delight.”

snp1.2:17 “Your children bring you sorrow,” said the Buddha, “Your cattle also bring you sorrow. For attachments are a man’s sorrow; without attachments there are no sorrows.”

The Horned Rhino

snp1.3:1 When you’ve laid down violence toward all creatures, not harming even a single one, don’t wish for a child, let alone a companion: live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:2 Those with close relationships have affection, following which this pain arises. Seeing this danger born of affection, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:3 When feelings for friends and loved ones are tied up in selfish love, you miss out on the goal. Seeing this peril in intimacy, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:4 As a spreading bamboo gets entangled, so does concern for partners and children. Like a bamboo shoot unobstructed, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:5 As a wild deer loose in the forest grazes wherever it wants, a smart person looking for freedom would live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:6 When among friends, whether staying in place or going on a journey, you’re always on call. Looking for the uncoveted freedom, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:7 Among friends you have fun and games, and for children you are full of fondness. Though loathe to depart from those you hold dear, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:8 At ease in any quarter, unresisting, content with whatever comes your way; prevailing over adversities, dauntless, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:9 Even some renunciates are hard to please, as are some layfolk dwelling at home. Don’t worry about others’ children, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:10 Having shed the marks of the home life, like the fallen leaves of the Shady Orchid Tree; having cut the bonds of the home life, a hero would live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:11 If you find an alert companion, an attentive friend to live happily together, then, overcoming all adversities, wander with them, joyful and mindful.

snp1.3:12 If you find no alert companion, an attentive friend to live happily together, then, like a king who flees his conquered realm, wander alone like a tusker in the wilds.

snp1.3:13 Clearly we praise the blessing of a friend, it’s good to be with friends your equal or better. But failing to find them, eating blamelessly, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:14 Though made of shining gold, <j>well-finished by a smith, when two bracelets share the same arm they clash up against each other. Seeing this, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:15 Thinking, “So too, if I had a partner, there’d be flattery or curses.” Seeing this peril in the future, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:16 Sensual pleasures are diverse, sweet, delightful; appearing in disguise they disturb the mind. Seeing danger in sensual stimulations, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:17 This is a calamity, a boil, a disaster, an illness, a dart, and a danger for me. Seeing this peril in sensuality, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:18 Heat and cold, hunger and thirst, wind and sun, flies and reptiles: having put up with all these things, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:19 As a full-grown elephant, lotus-fond, magnificent, forsaking the herd, stays as it pleases in the forest, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:20 It’s impossible for one who delights in company to experience even temporary freedom. Heeding the speech of the Kinsman of the Sun, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:21 Thinking, “I have left twisted views behind, reached the sure way, and gained the path; I’ve given rise to knowledge, <j>and need no one to guide me”, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:22 No greed, no guile, no thirst, no slur, dross and delusion is smelted off; free of hoping for anything in the world, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:23 Avoid a wicked companion, blind to the good, habitually immoral. Don’t befriend the heedless and the hankering, but live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:24 Spend time with the learned <j>who have memorized the teachings, an eloquent and uplifting friend. When you understand the meanings <j>and have dispelled doubt, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:25 When you realize that worldly fun and games and pleasure are inadequate, <j>unconcerned with them, as one unadorned, a speaker of truth, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:26 Children, partner, father, mother, wealth and grain and relatives: having given up sensual pleasures to this extent, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:27 “This is a chain. Here there’s hardly any happiness, little gratification, and it’s full of drawbacks. It’s a hook.” Knowing this, a thoughtful person would live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:28 Having burst apart the fetters, like a fish that tears the net and swims free, or a fire not returning to ground it has burned, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:29 Eyes downcast, not footloose, senses guarded, mind protected, not festering or burning with desire, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:30 Having shed the marks of the home life, like the fallen leaves of the Orchid Tree, and gone forth in the ocher robe, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:31 Not wanton, nor rousing greed for tastes, providing for no other, <j>wandering indiscriminately for alms, not attached to this family or that, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:32 When you’ve given up five mental obstacles, and cast aside all corruptions, and cut off affection and hate, being independent, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:33 When you’ve put pleasure and pain behind you, and former happiness and sadness, and gained equanimity serene and pure, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:34 With energy roused to reach the ultimate goal, not sluggish in mind or lazy, vigorous, strong and powerful, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:35 Not neglecting retreat and absorption, always living in line with the teaching, comprehending the danger in craving, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:36 One whose aim is the ending of craving— diligent, clever, learned, mindful, resolute— who has appraised the teaching and is assured, destined for awakening, should live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:37 Like a lion not startled by sounds, like wind not caught in a net, like water not sticking to a lotus, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:38 Like the fierce-fanged lion, king of beasts, who wanders as conqueror and victor, you should frequent remote lodgings, and live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:39 In time, cultivate freedom through love, compassion, rejoicing, and equanimity. Not upset by anything in the world, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:40 Having given up greed, hate, and delusion, having burst apart the fetters, unafraid at the end of life, live alone like a horned rhino.

snp1.3:41 They befriend you and serve you for their own sake; these days it’s hard to find friends <j>lacking ulterior motive. Impure folk cleverly profit themselves— live alone like a horned rhino.

With Bhāradvāja the Farmer

snp1.4:1 So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying in the land of the Magadhans in the Southern Hills near the brahmin village of Ekanāḷa. Now at that time the brahmin Bhāradvāja the Farmer had harnessed around five hundred plows, it being the season for sowing. Then the Buddha robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, went to where Bhāradvāja the Farmer was working. Now at that time Bhāradvāja the Farmer was distributing food. Then the Buddha went to where the distribution was taking place and stood to one side.

snp1.4:2 Bhāradvāja the Farmer saw him standing for alms and said to him, “I plough and sow, ascetic, and then I eat. You too should plough and sow, then you may eat.”

snp1.4:3 “I too plough and sow, brahmin, and then I eat.” “I don’t see the worthy Gotama with a yoke or plow or plowshare or goad or oxen, yet he says: ‘I too plough and sow, brahmin, and then I eat.’”

snp1.4:4 Then Bhāradvāja the Farmer addressed the Buddha in verse:

snp1.4:5 “You claim to be a farmer, but I don’t see you farming. Tell me your farming when asked, so I can recognize your farming.”

snp1.4:6 “Faith is my seed, fervor my rain, and wisdom is my yoke and plough. Conscience is my draft-pole, mind my strap, mindfulness my plowshare and goad.

snp1.4:7 Guarded in body and speech, I restrict my intake of food. I use truth as my scythe, and gentleness is my release.

snp1.4:8 Energy is my harnessed beast, transporting me to sanctuary from the yoke. Without turning back, it goes to where there is no sorrow.

snp1.4:9 That’s how to do the farming that has freedom from death as its fruit. When you finish this farming you’re released from all suffering.”

snp1.4:10 Then Bhāradvāja the Farmer poured milk-rice in a large bronze cup and presented it to the Buddha: “May the worthy Gotama eat the milk-rice! The worthy one is a farmer. For the worthy Gotama does the farming that has freedom from death as its fruit.”

snp1.4:11 “Food enchanted by a verse isn’t fit for me to eat. That’s not the principle of those who see, brahmin. The Buddhas cast aside things enchanted with verses. Since there is such a principle, brahmin, <j>that’s how they live.

snp1.4:12 Serve with other food and drink the consummate one, the great seer, with defilements ended and remorse stilled. For he is the field for the seeker of merit.”

snp1.4:13 “Then, worthy Gotama, to whom should I give the milk-rice?” “Brahmin, I don’t see anyone in this world—with its angels, devils, and heavenly hosts, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its angels and humans—who can properly digest this milk-rice, except the Realized One or one of his disciples. Well then, brahmin, throw out the milk-rice where there is little that grows, or drop it into water that has no living creatures.”

snp1.4:14 So Bhāradvāja the Farmer dropped the milk-rice in water that had no living creatures. And when the milk-rice was placed in the water, it sizzled and hissed, steaming and fuming. Suppose there was an iron cauldron that had been heated all day. If you placed it in the water, it would sizzle and hiss, steaming and fuming. In the same way, when the milk-rice was placed in the water, it sizzled and hissed, steaming and fuming.

snp1.4:15 Then Bhāradvāja the Farmer, shocked and awestruck, went up to the Buddha, bowed down with his head to the Buddha’s feet, and said, “Excellent, worthy Gotama! Excellent! As if he were righting the overturned, or revealing the hidden, or pointing out the path to the lost, or lighting a lamp in the dark so people with clear eyes can see what’s there, worthy Gotama has made the teaching clear in many ways. I go for refuge to the worthy Gotama, to the teaching, and to the mendicant Saṅgha. May I receive the going forth, the ordination in the worthy Gotama’s presence?”

snp1.4:16 And Bhāradvāja the Farmer received the going forth, the ordination in the Buddha’s presence. Not long after his ordination, Venerable Bhāradvāja, living alone, withdrawn, diligent, keen, and resolute, soon realized the supreme culmination of the spiritual path in this very life. He lived having achieved with his own insight the goal for which gentlemen rightly go forth from the lay life to homelessness. He understood: “My doubts are ended; the spiritual journey has been completed; what had to be done has been done; there is nothing further to be done.” And Venerable Bhāradvāja became one of the perfected.

With Cunda

snp1.5:1 “I ask the sage abounding in wisdom,” said Cunda the smith, “the Buddha, master of the teaching, free of craving, best of men, excellent charioteer, please tell me this: how many ascetics are there in the world?”

snp1.5:2 “There are four ascetics, not a fifth.” said the Buddha to Cunda, “Being asked to bear witness, <j>I will explain them to you: the path-victor, the path-teacher, the path-liver, and the path-wrecker.”

snp1.5:3 “Who is a path-victor according to the Buddhas?” said Cunda the smith, “and how is one an unequaled explainer of the path? Tell me when asked about one who lives the path, then declare the path-wrecker.”

snp1.5:4 “Rid of indecision, free of thorns, delighting in extinguishment, not fawning, a guide for the world of angels and humans. The Buddhas say one such is victor of the path.

snp1.5:5 Knowing the ultimate as ultimate, they explain and analyze the teaching right here. That sage unstirred, with doubt cut off, is the second mendicant, I say, the teacher of the path.

snp1.5:6 Living restrained and mindful on the path of the well-taught passage of teaching, cultivating blameless states, is the third mendicant, I say, the path-liver.

snp1.5:7 Dressed like one true to their vows, pushy, rude, a corrupter of families, devious, unrestrained, chaff, the path-wrecker’s life is a sham.

snp1.5:8 A layperson who gets this, a learned, wise noble disciple, knows that ‘They are not all like that one’. So when they see them they don’t lose their faith. For how could one equate them— the corrupt with the uncorrupt, <j>the pure with the impure?”

Downfalls

snp1.6:1 So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Then, late at night, a glorious angel, lighting up the entire Jeta’s Grove, went up to the Buddha, bowed, and stood to one side. Standing to one side, that angel addressed the Buddha in verse:

snp1.6:2 “We ask Gotama about a man’s downfall. We have come to ask you, sir: what leads to downfall?”

snp1.6:3 “It’s easy to understand success, understanding downfall is just as easy. One who loves the teaching succeeds, but a hater of the teaching meets their downfall.”

snp1.6:4 “We understand what you’re saying, this is the first downfall. Tell us the second, Blessed One: what leads to downfall?”

snp1.6:5 “The bad are dear to him, he has no love for the good. He believes the teaching of the bad; and that leads to his downfall.”

snp1.6:6 “We understand what you’re saying, this is the second downfall. Tell us the third, Blessed One: what leads to downfall?”

snp1.6:7 “Fond of sleep, fond of company, a man who does no work; he’s lazy, marked by anger, and that leads to his downfall.”

snp1.6:8 “We understand what you’re saying, this is the third downfall. Tell us the fourth, Blessed One: what leads to downfall?”

snp1.6:9 “Though able, he does not look after his mother and father when elderly, past their prime, and that leads to his downfall.”

snp1.6:10 “We understand what you’re saying, this is the fourth downfall. Tell us the fifth, Blessed One: what leads to downfall?”