Read, reflect, pray
Sutta Nipāta 5-11: Kappamāṇavapucchā
Viggo Fausböll, 1881 · Historical English translation
1. ‘For those who stand in the middle of the water,’—so said the venerable Kappa,—‘in the formidable stream that has set in, for those who are overcome by decay and death, tell me of an island, O venerable man, and tell thou me of an island that this (pain) may not again come on.’ (1091)
2. ‘For those who stand in the middle of the water, O Kappa,’—so said Bhagavat,—‘in the formidable stream that has set in, for those overcome by decay and death, I will tell thee of an island, O Kappa.’ (1092)
3. ‘This matchless island, possessing nothing (and) grasping after nothing, I call Nibbāna, the destruction of decay and death. (1093)
4. ‘Those who, having understood this, are thoughtful (and) calm, because they have seen the Dhamma, do not fall into the power of Māra, and are not the companions of Māra.’ (1094)
Kappamāṇavapucchā is ended.
Translation, numbering and rights
Viggo Fausböll, 1881. Public-domain 1881 translation, from the free non-commercial EPUB distributed by Reading Faithfully (edition 1.0, February 2012), transcribed by Christopher M. Weimer for the Internet Sacred Text Archive. This reader is free and non-commercial. Pali diacritics follow the EPUB. Translator introductions and footnotes are omitted; discourse prose, verses and the concluding passages are retained.
This 1881 edition uses consecutive verse numbers ending at 1148. It differs from the Japanese edition and must not be aligned by verse number alone. The final reading includes the concluding praises and Piṅgiya’s dialogue. The source’s printed numbering is retained, including gaps. A repeated “1041” in the source is retained; the expected “1047” is not silently substituted. No verse text is supplied by guesswork.
This historical English translation uses older vocabulary. It is independent of the Japanese translation linked from this site. The Japanese edition’s translator and license are credited there.