Read, reflect, pray
Sutta Nipāta 5-12: Jatukaṇṇimāṇavapucchā
Viggo Fausböll, 1881 · Historical English translation
1. ‘Having heard of a hero free from lust,’—so said the venerable Jatukaṇṇin,—‘who has crossed the stream, I have come to ask him who is free from lust; tell me the seat of peace, O thou with the born eye (of wisdom), tell me this truly, O Bhagavat. (1095)
2. ‘For Bhagavat wanders about after having conquered lust as the hot sun (conquers) the earth by its heat; tell the Dhamma to me who has (only) little understanding, O thou of great understanding, that I may ascertain how to leave in this world birth and decay.’ (1096)
3. ‘Subdue thy greediness for sensual pleasures, O Jatukaṇṇin,’—so said Bhagavat,—‘having considered the forsaking of the world as happiness, let there not be anything either grasped after or rejected by thee. (1097)
4. ‘What is before thee, lay that aside; let there be nothing behind thee; if thou wilt not grasp after what is in the middle, thou wilt wander calm. (1098)
5. ‘For him whose greediness for name and form is wholly gone, O Brāhmaṇa, for him there are no passions by which he might fall into the power of death.’ (1099)
Jatukaṇṇimāṇavapucchā 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.