The Buddha shares in poignant terms his observations on the agitation all beings experience which led to his urgency to awaken. He then shares on the path to awakening and describes the dwelling of an awakened being.
1 From harm to oneself, fear arises, Observe the people involved in conflicts; I will recount the urgency of awakening, as it has profoundly stirred within me.
- Seeing beings floundering, like fish in shallow water; Seeing them obstructed by one another, fear overcame me.
- The world is completely essence-less, all directions are unsettled; Desiring a sanctuary for myself, I saw no place secure.
- Indeed, at the ultimate impasse, understanding the obstruction, discontent arose in me; Here then, I discerned the dart, hard to perceive and lodged deep within the heart.
- Afflicted by that dart, my mind raced in all directions; Upon extracting that very dart, I neither fled nor faltered.
- In that regard, trainings are praised, Those which are highly esteemed in the world, One should not be engrossed in them; Having fully penetrated all sense-desires, One should train for one's own liberation (Nibbāna).
- One should be truthful, humble, straightforward, and free from deceit or slander; Without anger, free from the sin of greed the sage overcomes these impurities.
- One should dwell free of sleepiness, fatigue, and dullness, not dwell in negligence; One should continue without self-importance, with a mind inclined towards Nibbāna.
- Do not be misled by falsehood, nor cultivate attachment to mere appearances; Fully understand conceit, and conduct oneself without impulsiveness.
- Do not delight in the old, nor seek comfort in the new; Do not grieve for what is declining, and do not become bound by craving.
- Greed, I say, is the great flood, longing, a swift and sweeping current; The forming of intentions, the compulsion, the mire of sense-desires is difficult to escape.
- The sage, not deviating from the truth, stands firmly on the ground; having relinquished all, he is indeed called 'peaceful'.
- Indeed, he who is wise and has perfect wisdom, having understood the Dhamma, they are independent; rightly he conducts himself in the world, desiring nothing from anyone.
- One who has crossed beyond sense-desires, the bond in the world so hard to surmount; he neither grieves nor resents, having crossed the stream, he is unbound.
- What was before, let it wither away, let there be nothing after; if you grasp not at the middle, you will live in peace.
- In all of name-and-form, for whom there is no 'mine-making' (cherishing); Does not grieve for that which is not, such a one suffers no loss in the world.
- For whom there is no 'this is mine', nor anything belonging to others; Finding no 'mine-ness', he does not grieve, saying 'nothing is mine'.
- Without harshness, without greed, without impulses, equal towards all; I declare these benefits, When asked about the unwavering one.
- For the one knowing the unperturbed, there are no volitional formations at all; Not engaging in new ventures, he sees safety everywhere.
- Neither in equal nor in unequal, Nor in the superior does the sage speak; Peaceful, free from stinginess, He neither delights in nor rejects anything.
These verses are from Sutta Nipāta, which contains some of the earliest teachings of the Buddha.
Verse 1: Harm to oneself here refers to performing misconducts (harm) by body, speech and mind, i.e. unwholesome kamma. As long as one acts through unwholesome kamme, i.e. produces harm, they will continue experiencing harm back.
Verse 3: The world being essence-less is a reference to all realms of existence, to the five aggregates, and to the six sense bases as being without the essence of permanence, in flux, changing, and lacking any characteristic that is eternal, permanent, free of discontentment that can be regarded as a self. Just as an illusion is essence-less.
Verse 4: The ultimate impasse is a reference to aging afflicting everything, illness afflicting everything, death afflicting everything, loss afflicting everything, obscurity afflicting everything, blame afflicting everything, pain afflicting everything.
Discerning the dart is a reference to the defilements of mind that underlie the self-harm, fear, and agitation that beings constantly undergo as they search for a safe sanctuary in the realms of existences.
Verse 5: Extracting the dart is a reference to the Buddha verifying the ending of the defilments afflicting his mind.
Verse 6: Trainings here are a reference to worldly careers: of accounting, medicine, child care, government service that are praised and regarded as prestigious. The Buddha's advise here is to not be fully consumed by these or in these, and rather to fully understand all of one's sense-desires and train for one's own liberation, Nibbāna.
Verses 7 - 10 are describing the way of practice for the ending of the craving/sense-desire/attachment in the mind.
Verse 11: Forming of intentions here is a reference to intentions formed based on craving/sense-desire/attachment. They're like a compulsion. This teaching on Causes for Diverse Perceptions, Intentions, Passions, Quests (SN 14.7) elaborates on this.
Verses 12 - 14 are describing the sage who has arrived at Nibbāna. They have surmounted the very hard to surmount bond of sense-desires. Allure and Drawbacks of Desiring Pleasure (Snp 4.1) shares on the allure and drawbacks of desiring pleasure.
Verses 15 - 17 are describing the letting go of what was before without craving/attaching to anything after. It is such a person who lives in peace, freed from grief. Verses on Ageing (Snp 4.6) is a teaching that provides further reflection on the fleeting lifespan, ageing and grief.
Verse 18: Equal towards all is a reference to having equanimity towards all sense bases and their respective objects (forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and mental objects). There is an equanimity based on diversity and one based on unity, this is referring to the latter. Cutting Off All Affairs (MN 54) distinguishes the two.
