The Discourse about Subhūti (UD6.7)

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 venerable Subhūti was sitting not far away from the Gracious One, after folding his legs crosswise, and setting his body straight, having attained a concentration free from thought. The Gracious One saw venerable Subhūti sat not far away, after folding his legs crosswise, and setting his body straight, who had attained a concentration free from thought.

Then the Gracious One, having understood the significance of it, on that occasion uttered this exalted utterance:

“For he who has dispelled thoughts,
Totally cut them off within himself without remainder,
Perceiving the formless nibbāna, beyond the shackle,
Having overcome the four yokes—he surely does not come to birth again.”

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.