English
with a Garuḷa, son of Vinatā, of taking up the yoke-hold; just as an outcast is not capable of coming together in a yoke with a universal monarch, of taking up the yoke-hold; just as a dust-demon is not capable of coming together in a yoke with Indra, the king of devas, of taking up the yoke-hold. to take the yoke. Even so, the wanderer Pasūra is not capable of coming together and taking the yoke and conversing and discussing and engaging in conversation with the pure Buddha, the Blessed One. For what reason? The wanderer Pasūra is of inferior wisdom, of low wisdom, of little wisdom, of poor wisdom, of trifling wisdom, of limited wisdom. But that Blessed One is of great wisdom, of extensive wisdom, of joyful wisdom, of swift wisdom, of sharp wisdom, of penetrating wisdom, skilled in the analysis of wisdom, with knowledge broken through, having attained the analytical knowledges, having attained the four kinds of intrepidity, possessing the ten powers, the bull among men, the lion among men, the elephant among men, the thoroughbred among men, the burden-bearer among men, of infinite knowledge, of infinite energy, of infinite fame, rich, of great wealth, wealthy, the leader, the discipliner, the persuader, the one who makes known, the one who makes clear, the one who observes, the one who gladdens. But that Blessed One is the one who brings forth the unarisen path, the one who generates the unproduced path, the one who declares the undeclared path, the knower of the path, the expert in the path, the skilled in the path, and his disciples now dwell following the path. But that Blessed One knowing, knows; seeing, sees; he is the eye, he is knowledge, he is the Dhamma, he is Brahmā, the speaker, the proclaimer, the conveyor of meaning, the giver of the Deathless, the master of the Dhamma, the Tathāgata. There is nothing unknown, unseen, unperceived, unrealized, untouched by wisdom for that Blessed One. All phenomena, past, future, and present, come into the range of the Buddha's knowledge in every aspect. Whatever there is to be known, to be understood, whether it be one's own welfare, or the welfare of others, or the welfare of both, or welfare in this life, or welfare in the next life, or shallow meaning, or profound meaning, or hidden meaning, or concealed meaning, or meaning to be led, or meaning that has been led, or blameless meaning, or undefiled meaning, or purified meaning, or ultimate meaning— all that revolves within the Buddha's knowledge. All bodily action All the Buddha's bodily action is guided by knowledge, all his speech-action is guided by knowledge, all his mind-action is guided by knowledge. In the past, the Buddha's knowledge was unobstructed, in the future, his knowledge is unobstructed, in the present, his knowledge is unobstructed. As far as the knowable extends, so far extends his knowledge. As far as his knowledge extends, so far extends the knowable. Knowledge has the knowable as its limit. The knowable has knowledge as its limit. Knowledge does not proceed beyond the knowable. There is no path for the knowable beyond knowledge. These phenomena stand with mutual limits. Just as when two box-lids fit together perfectly, the lower lid does not go beyond the upper, and the upper lid does not go beyond the lower, they stand with mutual limits; even so, the Buddha's knowable and knowledge stand with mutual limits; as far as the knowable extends, so far extends his knowledge, as far as his knowledge extends, so far extends the knowable, knowledge has the knowable as its limit, the knowable has knowledge as its limit, knowledge does not proceed beyond the knowable, there is no path for the knowable beyond knowledge. These phenomena stand with mutual limits. The Buddha's knowledge extends to all phenomena. All phenomena are bound by the Buddha's attention, bound by his aspiration, bound by his advertence, bound by his thought-arising. The Buddha's knowledge extends to all beings. And for all beings, the Blessed One knows their dispositions, knows their latent tendencies, knows their conduct, knows their inclinations. He discerns beings with little dust, with much dust, with keen faculties, with dull faculties, of good disposition, of bad disposition, easy to teach, difficult to teach, capable and incapable beings. The world with its devas, with its Māras, with its Brahmās, the generation of ascetics and brahmins, with its devas and humans, revolves within the Buddha's knowledge. Just as all fish and turtles, even down to the great sea-monsters, revolve within the great ocean; even so, the world with its devas, with its Māras, with its Brahmās, the generation of ascetics and brahmins, Gods and humans revolve within the Buddha's knowledge. Just as any birds, even including the Garuda, son of Vinatā, revolve in the region of the sky; even so, those who are like Sāriputta in wisdom, they too revolve in the region of the Buddha's knowledge. The Buddha's knowledge pervades and surpasses the wisdom of gods and humans, and stands firm. And those Khattiya scholars, Brāhmaṇa scholars, householder scholars, ascetic scholars, who are skillful, who have refuted others' doctrines, who are like hair-splitters. They go about, I think, shattering wrong views with their wisdom. They formulate questions again and again, approach the Tathāgata, and ask hidden and concealed questions. Those questions, explained and resolved by the Blessed One, become clear in their reasons and well-presented. They succeed for the Blessed One. Then indeed, the Blessed One alone shines forth there, in terms of wisdom – "You have met with Dhona, you will not be able to proceed." Therefore, the Blessed One said: "Now you have come to reasoning, pondering views with your mind; You have met with Dhona, you will not be able to proceed." The eighth exposition of the Pasūra Sutta.