With Kakudha (SN2.18)

Linked Discourses 2.18

2. With Anāthapiṇḍika

With Kakudha

So I have heard.

At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāketa in the deer park at the Añjana Wood.¹

Then, late at night, the glorious godling Kakudha, lighting up the entire Añjana Wood, went up to the Buddha, bowed, stood to one side, and said to him,²

“Do you delight, ascetic?”

“What have I gained, sir?”

“Well then, ascetic, do you sorrow?”

“What have I lost, sir?”

“Well then, ascetic, do you neither delight nor sorrow?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I hope you’re not gloomy, mendicant,³

I hope that delight isn’t found in you.

I hope that discontent doesn’t

overwhelm you as you sit alone.”

“I’m genuinely not gloomy, spirit,

and no delight is found in me.

And also discontent doesn’t

overwhelm me as I sit alone.”

“How are you not gloomy, mendicant?

How is delight not found in you?

How does discontent not

overwhelm you as you sit alone?”

“Delight is born from gloom,

gloom is born from delight;

sir, you should know me as

a mendicant free of delight and gloom.”

“After a long time I see

a brahmin fully quenched.

A mendicant free of delight and gloom,

he has crossed over clinging to the world.”