1.12. The Sage Inwardly Silent (SNP1.12)

From familiarity fear is born,
from household life arises dust;
no household, no familiar life—
such is the vision for the sage.

Who, cutting down what has grown up,
plants not again, supplies no means for growth,
they call that Sage who fares alone;
great-seeker-seen-the-place-of-peace.

Who has surveyed the grounds and lost the seeds,
and supplied no means for further growth,
is Sage seen to the end of birth and death,
logic abandoned and beyond reckoning.

Truly have been known all resting-places
with no desires at all for any there—
that sage indeed, free from crowing, greed,
struggles not, gone to the further shore.

Who is intelligent, knowing All, All overcome
among all the dharmas, one who cannot be sullied,
who All has abandoned, freed by craving’s end—
that one do the wise proclaim as a sage.

In wisdom strong, in virtuous conduct established,
in concentration and enjoying jhāna,
free from all ties, aridity and the inflows—
that one do the wise proclaim as a sage.

The vigilant sage who practises alone,
who unshaken is by blame or praise,
is as a lion that trembles not at sounds,
or as wind within a net cannot be caught,
or like a lotus flower by water not defiled,
leading other people but not by others led—
that one do the wise proclaim as a sage.

Who though oppressed, is unmoving as a pile-post,
when others about oneself use speech extreme;
that one free from lust, sense-faculties restrained—
that one do the wise proclaim as a sage.

Who is straight-minded as shuttle straightly moves,
and who conduct examines both the rough and the smooth,
and so who turns away from evil karma-making—
that one do the wise proclaim as a sage.

Who with a mind restrained, evil does not do,
whether young, middle-aged or sage self-controlled,
who cannot be provoked nor others does provoke—
that one do the wise proclaim as a sage.

Who lives upon almsfood by others donated,
receiving the first, the middle, or remainders at the end,
who then sings not owned praises, or hurtfully speak—
that one do the wise proclaim as a sage.

The sage not practising indulgence in sex,
who even when youthful was not tied to anyone,
not indulgence in madness of wanton ways but free—
that one do the wise proclaim as a sage.

True Knower of the universe, Seer of highest truth,
crossed the ocean’s flood, One Thus and unattached,
One who’s knots are cut, with no inflows left—
that one do the wise proclaim as a sage.

The householder with wife, and the “not-mine-maker”
of strict practices—their living-ways not the same:
house-livers not restrained from taking others’ lives,
but the sage always guards other beings’ lives.

In flight the crested peacock, turquoise-necked,
never the swiftness of the swan attains,
so a house-liver cannot match a bhikkhu,
a sage meditating in the woods.

Translated by Laurence Khantipalo Mills.

This translation was edited by Bhikkhu Sujato as part of the full translation of the Sutta Nipāta with commentary prepared from a draft handwritten and typed manuscript of Laurence Khantipalo Mills in 2015. The project was managed by Laurence’s students Michael Wells and Gary Dellora, and initial digitizing of the text was by Sean Read. Full text is available at https://suttacentral.net/downloads

In addition to the suttas noted, Bhikkhu Sujato also translated verses 46, 78, 232, 465, 500, 589–597, 865, 885–890, 894–5, 897–901, 902–916, and 919–921.

This text is released dedicated to the Public Domain by way of Creative Commons Zero. No rights reserved.