Thera lives alone (SA-2.10)

Thus have I heard, once, the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in the Jeta Grove, the Anāthapiṇḍika Park.

At that time there was a monk called Thera, who lived alone, and praised living alone. At one time some monks went to the Buddha, paid homage at his feet, sat to one side, and told the Buddha: “World-honored One! This monk Thera praises living alone, wandering alone, sitting alone.” The Buddha told the monks: “Summon this monk Thera.” Then one monk went to Thera’s place and said to him: “The World-honored One calls you!” Having received the summons, monk Thera went to the Buddha, paid homage at his feet, and stood to one side. The Buddha said to Thera: “Is it true that you live alone and praise sitting alone to practise the Dhamma?” Thera answered the Buddha: “It is true, World-honored One.” The Buddha said: “How, now, do you enjoy living alone, how do you praise it?” And Thera said: “World-honored One! Alone I enter the villages for the alms-round, alone I leave them, alone I sit in meditation.” The Buddha said to him: “There is a way of living alone, which is superior to yours. What is this way? One in whom the residue of past desire has dried up, future desire will not arise, and present desire does not create karmic formations—such a person is called a brāhmaṇa. Without “me” and “mine,” having cut through the fetter of doubt, keeping great distance from the sensual world, he has extinguished his defilements.”

At that time the Buddha spoke a verse:

“All the worlds /
I know them all.
Letting go of every thing /
ending the fetter of attachment,
this is the victorious teaching /
called living alone.”

When the Buddha had finished speaking, the monks, having listened to what he had said, were happy and remembered it well.

Translation by Marcus Bingenheimer, 2005–8 (minor revisions 2009). First version published in Buddhist Studies Review vol. 23.1 (2006). The translations used here were revised by the translator and published in his Studies in Āgama Literature—with Special Reference to the Shorter Chinese Saṁyuktāgama, Dharma Drum Buddhist College, 2010.

Translated from the Taishō text of the CBETA-Database (Version Feb. 2006). All sutta titles added by the translator.

This series of translations were part of the project “A Digital Comparative Edition of the Bieyi za ahan jing” conducted at the Chung-hwa Institute for Buddhist Studies (中華佛學研究所) and the Dharma Drum Buddhist College (法鼓佛教研修學院), funded by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (蔣經國國際學術交流基金會). The full project, including parallel Chinese, Pali, and Sanskrit texts, is available online here.

Used with kind permission of the translator.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.