SNP5.4 — The Questions of the Young Brahmin Puṇṇaka
To the unstirred one who sees the root,
(said the venerable Puṇṇaka),
I have come with a question.
Relying on what did seers, humans, nobles, and brahmins
offer numerous sacrifices to the deities here in the world?
I ask you, Fortunate One, tell me this.
Whatever seers, humans, nobles, and brahmins,
(said the Fortunate One),
offered numerous sacrifices to the deities here in the world, Puṇṇaka,
they offered those sacrifices hoping for continued existence here,
tied to old age.
Whatever seers, humans, nobles, and brahmins,
(said the venerable Puṇṇaka),
offered numerous sacrifices to the deities here in the world—
did they, Fortunate One, being diligent in the path of sacrifice,
cross over birth and old age, dear sir?
I ask you, Fortunate One, tell me this.
They hope, they praise, they yearn, they sacrifice,
(said the Fortunate One),
Puṇṇaka, they yearn for sensual pleasures, conditioned by gain.
Those devoted to sacrifice, impassioned with lust for becoming,
did not cross over birth and old age, I say.
If those devoted to sacrifice did not cross over,
(said the venerable Puṇṇaka),
birth and old age by means of sacrifices, dear sir,
then who in the world of gods and humans
has crossed over birth and old age, dear sir?
I ask you, Fortunate One, tell me this.
Having comprehended the high and low in the world,
(said the Fortunate One),
Puṇṇaka, one who has no perturbation anywhere in the world—
peaceful, smokeless, untroubled, desireless—
he has crossed over birth and old age, I say.
The Questions of the Young Brahmin Puṇṇaka, the third.