Udāna 73

Heartfelt Sayings 8.3

About Extinguishment (3rd)

1 So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Now at that time the Buddha was educating, encouraging, firing up, and inspiring the mendicants with a Dhamma talk about extinguishment. And those mendicants were paying attention, applying the mind, concentrating wholeheartedly, and actively listening.

2 Then, understanding this matter, on that occasion the Buddha expressed this heartfelt sentiment:

3 “There is, mendicants, freedom from rebirth, freedom from what has been produced, made, and conditioned. If there were no freedom from rebirth, freedom from what has been produced, made, and conditioned, then you would find no escape here from rebirth, from what has been produced, made, and conditioned. But since there is freedom from rebirth, freedom from what has been produced, made, and conditioned, an escape is found from rebirth, from what has been produced, made, and conditioned.”