Read, reflect, pray
Sutta Nipāta 5-9: Hemakamāṇavapuccha
Viggo Fausböll, 1881 · Historical English translation
1. ‘Those who before in another world,’—so said the venerable Hemaka,—‘explained to me the doctrine of Gotama, saying, “So it was, so it will be,” all that (was only) oral tradition, all that (was only) something that increased (my) doubts. (1083)
2. ‘I took no pleasure in that, but tell thou me the Dhamma that destroys desire, O Muni, which if a man has understood, and he wanders about thoughtful, he may cross desire in the world.’ (1084)
3. Buddha: ‘In this world (much) has been seen, heard, and thought; the destruction of passion and of wish for the dear objects that have been perceived, O Hemaka, is the imperishable state of Nibbāna. (1085)
4. ‘Those who, having understood this, are thoughtful, calm, because they have seen the Dhamma, tranquil and divine, such have crossed desire in this world.’ (1086)
Hemakamāṇavapucchā 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.