Beautiful
Well-Known Member
Dona Sutta: With Dona
AN 4.36.
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
On one occasion the Blessed One was traveling along the road between. On seeing him, he went to him and said, "Master, are you a deva?"
"No, brahman, I am not a deva."
"Are you a gandhabba?"
"No..."
"... a yakkha?"
"No..."
"... a human being?"
"No, brahman, I am not a human being."
"Then what sort of being are you?"
"Brahman, the fermentations by which — if they were not abandoned — I would be a deva... a gandhabba... a yakkha... a human being: Those are abandoned by me, their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future arising.
"Just like a red, blue, or white lotus — born in the water, grown in the water, rising up above the water — stands unsmeared by the water, in the same way I — born in the world, grown in the world, having overcome the world — live unsmeared by the world. Remember me, brahman, as 'awakened.'
"The fermentations by which
I would go to a deva-state,
or become a gandhabba in the sky, or go to a yakkha-state
& human-state:
Those have been destroyed by me, ruined,
their stems removed.
Like a blue lotus, rising up, unsmeared by water,
unsmeared am I by the world,
and so, brahman,
I'm awake."
AN 4.36.
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
On one occasion the Blessed One was traveling along the road between. On seeing him, he went to him and said, "Master, are you a deva?"
"No, brahman, I am not a deva."
"Are you a gandhabba?"
"No..."
"... a yakkha?"
"No..."
"... a human being?"
"No, brahman, I am not a human being."
"Then what sort of being are you?"
"Brahman, the fermentations by which — if they were not abandoned — I would be a deva... a gandhabba... a yakkha... a human being: Those are abandoned by me, their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future arising.
"Just like a red, blue, or white lotus — born in the water, grown in the water, rising up above the water — stands unsmeared by the water, in the same way I — born in the world, grown in the world, having overcome the world — live unsmeared by the world. Remember me, brahman, as 'awakened.'
"The fermentations by which
I would go to a deva-state,
or become a gandhabba in the sky, or go to a yakkha-state
& human-state:
Those have been destroyed by me, ruined,
their stems removed.
Like a blue lotus, rising up, unsmeared by water,
unsmeared am I by the world,
and so, brahman,
I'm awake."