English
"Do you, monks, see any possession That is permanent, Stable, Eternal, Not subject to change, That will remain just so for all time?" "No, venerable sir." "Good, monks! I too, monks, do not perceive Any possession That is permanent, Stable, Eternal, Not subject to change, That will remain just so for all time." Possessions that are permanent, Stable, Eternal, Not subject to change, Do not exist, Are not found, Are not encountered, Are not obtained. Indeed, no possessions are permanent. They understand this separation as existing. When there is diversity, Separation, Alteration, Existing, Being found, Being perceived. This was said by the Blessed One: "Enough, Ananda! Do not grieve, Do not lament. Has it not, Ananda, Been declared by me beforehand: 'From all that is dear and pleasing, There is diversity, Separation, Alteration.' How then, Ananda, could it be obtained That what is born, Come into being, Conditioned, Subject to decay, Should not decay? That is not possible. Due to the change and alteration Of the preceding aggregates, Elements, And sense bases, The succeeding aggregates, Elements, And sense bases arise." They understand this separation as existing. Having seen this, One does not dwell in a house. "Iti" means the joining of words, The connection of words, The completeness of words, The combination of syllables, The cohesion of consonants, The sequence of words. "Iti" means this. Having seen, having perceived, having weighed, having determined, having understood clearly, having made manifest in attachments (to 'mine') – thus having seen. Having cut off all household ties, having cut off ties to children and wife, having cut off ties to relatives, having cut off ties to friends and ministers, having cut off ties to possessions, having shaved off hair and beard, having put on saffron robes, having gone forth from home to homelessness, having attained a state of having nothing, one should wander alone, should dwell alone, should move alone, should behave alone, should maintain alone, should pass (life) alone, should sustain (life) alone – thus having seen, one should dwell without a home. Therefore, the Blessed One said: People grieve over what they call 'mine', For possessions are not permanent. This separation is ever present, Thus having seen, one should dwell without a home. Even by death, that is abandoned Which a person considers 'this is mine'. Having understood this, the wise one Should not incline to possessiveness, nor be possessive. "Even by death, that is abandoned" means: Death is the passing away of those various beings from those various groups of beings, falling, departing, breaking up, disappearing, mortal death, making an end of time, the breaking up of the aggregates, the laying down of the body, the cutting off of the life-faculty. That is what pertains to form, what pertains to feeling, what pertains to perception, what pertains to mental formations, what pertains to consciousness. "Is abandoned" means is abandoned, is given up, is completely given up, disappears, is utterly lost. This was also said: Possessions abandon the mortal even before (death), Or the mortal abandons them even earlier. Impermanent are those who enjoy, those who desire sense pleasures, Therefore I do not grieve in a time of sorrow. The moon rises, waxes full, and wanes, The sun having reached its zenith, departs. The ways of the world are known to me, O Satthuka, Therefore I do not grieve in a time of sorrow. Even by death, that is abandoned. "Which a person considers 'this is mine'" means: That is what pertains to form, what pertains to feeling, what pertains to perception, what pertains to mental formations, what pertains to consciousness. "Person" means a designation, a common term, a concept, a usage, a name, a naming, a denomination, an expression, an articulation, a discourse. Considers 'this is mine'. He conceives by conceiving craving, He conceives by conceiving views, He conceives by conceiving conceit, He conceives by conceiving defilements, He conceives by conceiving misconduct, He conceives by conceiving exertion, He conceives by conceiving results – That which a person conceives as "this is mine." Having known this too, a wise one. Having known, understood, weighed, crossed over, clarified, made clear this danger in attachments – Having known this too, a wise one, a sagacious one, a wise one, intelligent, discerning, knowing, clarifying, sagacious – Having known this too, a wise one. Let him not incline to attachment, a possessive one. Attachment means two attachments – attachment of craving and attachment of views... This is attachment of craving... This is attachment of views. A possessive one means one possessive of the Buddha, possessive of the Dhamma, possessive of the Sangha. He considers the Blessed One as his own, the Blessed One embraces that person. And this was said by the Blessed One: "Monks, those monks who are deceitful, stubborn, talkative, boastful, arrogant, unconcentrated – those monks, Monks, are not mine; and those monks, Monks, are far removed from this Dhamma and Discipline. And they do not attain growth, increase, or fullness in this Dhamma and Discipline. But those monks, Monks, who are not deceitful, not talkative, steadfast, not stubborn, well-concentrated – those monks, Monks, are mine; and those monks, Monks, are not far removed from this Dhamma and Discipline. And they attain growth, increase, and fullness in this Dhamma and Discipline." "Deceitful, stubborn, talkative, boastful, Arrogant, unconcentrated; They do not grow in the Dhamma, Taught by the Perfectly Self-Awakened One. Not deceitful, not talkative, steadfast, Not stubborn, well-concentrated; They indeed grow in the Dhamma, Taught by the Perfectly Self-Awakened One." Let him not incline to attachment, a possessive one. A possessive one, having abandoned attachment of craving, having relinquished attachment of views, should not incline towards attachment, should not bend towards it, should not be inclined towards it, not tending towards it, not leaning towards it, not devoted to it, not dominated by it – not... One attached should incline to non-possessiveness. Therefore the Blessed One said: Even by death that is abandoned, Which a person thinks "this is mine"; Even having known this, the wise one, Should not incline to possessiveness, the attached one. 42. Just as what was met in a dream, An awakened person does not see; So too beloved people, Departed, passed away, one does not see. "Just as what was met in a dream." Met means assembled, collected, gathered – just as what was met in a dream. "An awakened person does not see." Just as a person in a dream sees the moon, sees the sun, sees the great ocean, sees Mount Sineru, the king of mountains, sees an elephant, sees a horse, sees a chariot, sees infantry, sees a battle array, sees delightful parks, sees delightful forests... and so on... sees delightful lands... sees delightful ponds; an awakened person sees nothing – "an awakened person does not see." "So too beloved people." "So too" is an illustration. "Beloved people" means people held as "mine," whether mother or father, or brother or sister, or son or daughter, or friend or minister, or relative or kinsman – "so too beloved people." "Departed, passed away, one does not see." "Departed" is said of one who is dead. "Passed away, one does not see" means one does not see, does not behold, does not attain, does not find, does not obtain – "departed, passed away, one does not see." Therefore the Blessed One said: "Just as what was met in a dream, An awakened person does not see; So too beloved people, Departed, passed away, one does not see." 43. Seen and heard are those people, Whose name is spoken; Only the name remains, To be told of the departed being. "Seen and heard are those people." "Seen" means those arisen through eye-consciousness. "Heard" means those arisen through ear-consciousness. "Those people" means Khattiyas and Brahmins, Vessas and Suddas, and ga Householders and renunciants, gods and humans— those people are seen and heard. "Whose name is spoken, this." "Whose" means whose of warriors, of brahmins, of merchants, of laborers, of householders, of renunciants, of gods, of humans. "Name" means designation, appellation, concept, usage, name, naming, nomenclature, etymology, expression, utterance. "Is spoken" means is said, is spoken, is told, is declared, is explained, is used in speech— whose name is spoken, this. "Only the name remains, for telling." The form-component, the feeling-component, the perception-component, the volitional-formations-component, the consciousness-component— is abandoned, is given up, is completely given up, disappears, vanishes. Only the name remains. "For telling" means to tell, to speak, to declare, to explain, to use in speech— only the name remains, for telling. "Of the departed being." "Of the departed" means of the dead, of one who has passed away. "Of the being" means of the creature, of the man, of the human, of the person, of the individual, of the living being, of the living one, of the being, of the living being, of the human— of the departed being. Therefore the Blessed One said: "Those people are seen and heard, whose name is spoken, this; Only the name remains, for telling, of the departed being." 44. Sorrow, lamentation, and stinginess the greedy do not abandon in what they cling to as 'mine'; Therefore the sages, having abandoned attachment, wandered, seeing security. "Sorrow, lamentation, and stinginess the greedy do not abandon in what they cling to as 'mine'." "Sorrow" means of one afflicted by loss of relatives, or by loss of wealth, or by illness, or by loss of virtue, or by loss of view, or of one endowed with some other misfortune, of one afflicted by some other painful condition— sorrow, grieving, the state of grieving, inner sorrow, inner pervasive sorrow, inner burning, inner pervasive burning,