The Discourse about Running Beyond (UD6.9)

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 the Gracious One, in the darkness and dullness of the night, was sitting in the open air, while the oil-lamps were burning. Then at that time many moths rushing and falling down into those oil lamps, were coming to grief, were coming to ruin. The Gracious One saw those many moths who, rushing and falling down into those oil lamps, were coming to grief, were coming to ruin.

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

“They run beyond, not coming to the essential,
They cause new and fresh bonds to increase,
Like moths that fall into the lamp,
Some have settled thus on what is seen or heard.”

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.