5.9. Hemaka’s Questions (SNP5.9)

Hemaka
Those elders outside Gotama’s teaching-path
explained their doctrines in this way:
“so it was and so will be”—
all that was but traditional lore,
all that increased uncertainty,
And I took no delight in it.

Please, O Sage, explain to me
Dhamma destroying craving now,
knowing which the mindful fare,
and cross the world’s entanglements.

Buddha
Here among all those pleasing things—
the seen and the heard, the sensed and thought—
whose wants removed and passion too—
this the unchanging Nirvāṇa-state.

With Final Knowledge those mindful ones,
now-seen the Dharma, cool-become
and ever they at peace remain,
they’ve crossed the world’s entanglements.

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.