The First Discourse about Bhaddiya (UD7.1)

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 venerable Sāriputta was instructing, rousing, enthusing, and cheering venerable Bhaddiya the Dwarf in countless ways with a Dhamma talk.

Then while venerable Bhaddiya the Dwarf was being instructed, roused, enthused, and cheered by venerable Sāriputta in countless ways with a Dhamma talk, his mind was freed from the pollutants without attachment. The Gracious One saw venerable Bhaddiya the Dwarf being instructed, roused, enthused, and cheered by venerable Sāriputta in countless ways with a Dhamma talk, and that his mind was being freed from the pollutants without attachment.

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

“Above, below, everywhere free,
Not contemplating the conceit ‘this I am’,
Free like this, having crossed over the flood
Not crossed before, with no continuation in existence.”

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.