The Discourse about Deeds (UD3.1)

Thus I heard: At one time the Gracious One was dwelling near Sāvatthī, in Jeta’s Wood, at Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.

Then at that time a certain monk was sitting not far away from the Gracious One, and after folding his legs crosswise, and setting his body straight, he was bearing painful, sharp, harsh, and bitter feelings, that had arisen as a result of former unwholesome deeds, mindfully, with full awareness, and without being troubled.

The Gracious One saw that monk sitting not far away, who after folding his legs crosswise, and setting his body straight, was bearing painful, sharp, harsh, and severe feelings, that had arisen as a result of former unwholesome deeds, mindfully, with full awareness, and without being troubled. Then the Gracious One, having understood the significance of it, on that occasion uttered this exalted utterance:

“For the monk who has given up all deeds,
For he who is throwing off the dust of what was done before,
For he who is unselfish, stable, such-like,
There is no need to speak to people.”

Translated by Bhikkhu Ānandajoti from the Buddha Jayanthi Tripitaka text. Version 2.2, revised February 2008.

The text and translation, together with detailed notes and discussions, may be found in multiple formats on the translator’s website, Ancient Buddhist Texts.

Used by kind permission of Bhikkhu Ānandajoti.

The original translation was released under the following licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.