4: The Book of the Fours
III. At Uruvelā — AN 4.25: The Spiritual Life
- © Translated from the Pali by Bhante Sujato. (More copyright information)
1“Mendicants, this spiritual life is not lived for the sake of deceiving people or flattering them, nor for the benefit of possessions, honor, or popularity, nor for the benefit of winning debates, nor thinking, ‘So let people know about me!’ This spiritual life is lived for the sake of restraint, giving up, fading away, and cessation.
2The Buddha taught the spiritual life
not because of tradition,
but for the sake of restraint and giving up,
and because it culminates in extinguishment.
This is the path followed by the great souls,
the great hermits.
3Those who practice it
as it was taught by the Buddha,
doing the teacher’s bidding,
make an end of suffering.”
1"Nayidaṁ, bhikkhave, brahmacariyaṁ vussati janakuhanatthaṁ, na janalapanatthaṁ, na lābhasakkārasilokānisaṁsatthaṁ, na itivādappamokkhānisaṁsatthaṁ, na ‘iti maṁ jano jānātū’ti. Atha kho idaṁ, bhikkhave, brahmacariyaṁ vussati saṁvaratthaṁ pahānatthaṁ virāgatthaṁ nirodhatthanti.
2Saṁvaratthaṁ pahānatthaṁ,
brahmacariyaṁ anītihaṁ;
Adesayi so bhagavā,
nibbānogadhagāminaṁ;
Esa maggo mahantehi,
anuyāto mahesibhi.
3Ye ca taṁ paṭipajjanti,
yathā buddhena desitaṁ;
Dukkhassantaṁ karissanti,
satthusāsanakārino"ti.
Pañcamaṁ.