5.17. Piṅgiya’s Question (SNP5.17)

Piṅgiya
Aged am I, feeble and my beauty fled,
my eyes no longer clear, my hearing weak,
let me not die confused along the way,
teach me the Dharma so that I shall know
how to let go of birth and of decay.

Buddha
Having seen them smitten by (the sight of) forms,
by bodily forms those careless folk are beaten down,
therefore, Piṅgiya, you should be aware:
let go this bodily form so as not to be reborn.*Sujato: lkm had “let go these forms for not again becoming”, which I found barely intelligible; I similarly changed the last line of verse 1130. In addition, this verse contains a grammatical mistake, as rūpa here is singular.

Piṅgiya
There’s nothing in the world: four directions chief,
four intermediates, above, below, ten in all—
unseen, unheard, not felt or known by you;
teach to me Dharma so that when I’ve known it
birth and ageing are both abandoned here.

Buddha
Seeing humanity by cravings afflicted—
burnt by being born, overcome by age,
therefore, Piṅgiya, you should be aware:
let go of craving so as not to be reborn.

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.