Sutta Nipāta 48

Anthology of Discourses 4.10

Before the Breakup

1 “Seeing how, behaving how,

is one said to be at peace?

When asked, Gotama, please tell me

about the ultimate person.”

2 “Rid of craving before the breakup,” said the Buddha,

“not dependent on the first beginning,

unfathomable in the middle,

they are not governed by anything.

3 Unangry, unafraid,

not boastful or regretful,

thoughtful in counsel, not restless—

truly that sage is controlled in speech.

4 Rid of attachment to the future,

they don’t grieve for the past.

A seer of seclusion in the midst of contacts

is not led astray among views.

5 Withdrawn, free of deceit,

they’re not envious or stingy,

nor rude or disgusting,

or given to slander.

6 Not swept up in pleasures,

or given to arrogance,

they’re gentle and articulate,

neither hungering nor growing dispassionate.

7 Not training for desire for profit,

nor getting annoyed at lack of profit;

they are not hostile due to craving,

for they are not greedy for flavors.

8 Equanimous, ever mindful,

they never conceive themselves in the world

as equal, special, or less than;

they have no pretensions.

9 They have no dependencies,

understanding the teaching, they are independent.

No craving is found in them

to continue existence or to end it.

10 I declare them to be at peace,

unconcerned for sensual pleasures.

No ties are found in them,

they have crossed over clinging.

11 They have no children or livestock,

nor possess fields or lands.

No picking up or putting down

is found in them.

12 That by which one might describe

an ordinary person or ascetics and brahmins

has no importance to them,

which is why they’re unperturbed by words.

13 Freed of greed, not stingy,

a sage doesn’t speak of themselves as being

among superiors, inferiors, or equals.

One not prone to creation

does not return to creation.

14 They who have nothing in the world of their own

do not grieve for that which is not,

or drift among the teachings;

that’s who is said to be at peace.”