The Question of the Young Brahmin Mettagū

I ask you, Blessed One, tell me this,

(said the venerable Mettagū),

I consider you a master of knowing, one of developed mind:

From where have these sufferings arisen,

Of whatever various forms there are in the world?

You ask me indeed about the origin of suffering, Mettagū,

(said the Blessed One),

I will explain it to you just as I know it.

Sufferings originate with acquisitions as their source,

Of whatever various forms there are in the world.

Indeed, an ignorant fool who creates acquisitions

Undergoes suffering again and again.

Therefore, one who knows should not create acquisitions,

Attending them as the birth and source of suffering.

What we asked you, you have explained to us;

We ask you another thing, please tell us that:

How do the wise cross over the flood,

Over birth and old age, sorrow and lamentation?

Please explain this well to me, O Sage,

For truly this Dhamma is known to you.

I will explain the Dhamma to you, Mettagū,

(said the Blessed One),

Visible here and now, not based on hearsay;

Knowing which, living mindfully,

One crosses over the entanglement in the world.

And I rejoice in that, O Great Seer,

In that supreme Dhamma;

Knowing which, living mindfully,

One crosses over the entanglement in the world.

Whatever you clearly comprehend, Mettagū,

(said the Blessed One),

Above, below, across, and in the middle:

Dispelling delight and entrenchment in these things,

Consciousness would not lodge in continuing existence.

Dwelling thus, mindful and diligent,

Wandering as a disciple who has abandoned what is grasped as ‘mine,

A wise person right here would abandon suffering,

Along with birth, old age, sorrow, and lamentation.

I rejoice in these words of the Great Seer.

Well-proclaimed by Gotama is the state without acquisitions.

For certainly the Blessed One has abandoned suffering,

Since this Dhamma is clearly known to you.

And surely they too would abandon suffering,

Those whom you, O Sage, would constantly instruct.

Having approached, I bow down to you, O Great One.

Perhaps the Blessed One might constantly instruct me.

The brahmin whom one would recognize as a master of knowing,

Owning nothing, unattached to sensual existence;

Certainly he has crossed over this flood,

Having crossed to the far shore, free from obstruction, free from doubt.

And the person here who is wise, a master of knowing,

Having let go of this clinging to various states of existence;

Free from craving, free from distress, free from longing:

He has crossed over birth and old age, I declare.

The Question of the Young Brahmin Mettagū, the fourth.