Sn 5.5
Dhotaka-manava-puccha: Dhotaka's Questions
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu

[Dhotaka:]

I ask you, O Blessed One. Please tell me. I hope for your words, Great Seer. Having heard your pronouncement, I'll train for my own Unbinding.

[The Buddha:]

In that case, be ardent — astute & mindful right here. Then, having heard my pronouncement, train for your own Unbinding.

[Dhotaka:]

I see in the world of beings divine & human, a brahman who lives possessing nothing. I pay homage to him the All-around Eye. From my doubts, O Sakyan, release me!

[The Buddha:]

No one in the world, Dhotaka, can I release from doubting. But knowing the most excellent Dhamma, you will cross over the flood.

[Dhotaka:]

Teach with compassion, O brahman, the Dhamma of seclusion so that I may know — so that I, unafflicted as space, may live right here, independent, at peace.

[The Buddha:]

I will teach you peace — in the here & now, not quoted words — knowing which, living mindfully, you'll go beyond entanglement in the world.

[Dhotaka:]

And I relish, Great Seer, that peace supreme, knowing which, living mindfully, I'll go beyond entanglement in the world.

[The Buddha:]

Whatever you're alert to, above, below, across, in between: knowing it as a bond in the world, don't create craving for becoming or non-.

Note

Craving for becoming and non-becoming (or dis-becoming) are the two most subtle forms of craving that lead to continued existence — and suffering — in the round of birth & death.