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8/8/2019 Upasivamana_Puccha

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Questions asked by the Brhmaa Upasvamava to Buddha

Chapter 7 of the Pryana Vagga of the Sutta Nipta

Sanskrit Equivalent and Translation

by

Narsing Rao

August, 2007


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Introduction

The reader is assumed to be familiar with the teachings of the Buddha. If you are not,

and would like to be, please get in touch with the writer.

This short paper is a translation of a remarkable conversation between the Buddha

and a brahmin named Upasva. The conversation, called Upasvamava

Pucch, appears in an ancient Buddhist work called the Sutta Nipta.

The core of the teachings of the Buddha can be found in what is called the Pali canon

which was written down during the reign on Ashoka, around 250 B.C., though it was

committed to memory since the times of the Buddha, around 450 B.C. The canon is

divided into three Pitakas (baskets), namely:

Vinaya Piaka, consisting of rules for the monks of the Sangha Sutta Piaka, consisting of discouses of and dialogs with the Buddha

Abhidhamma Piaka, containing further expositions of the teachings of the

Buddha

Therefore, the closest one can get to the original words of the Buddha is by reading

the Sutta Pitaka. Needless to say, it is voluminous. In turn, it is divided into five

Nikyas (collections): Dgha, Majjhima, Samyutta, Anguttara, and

Khuddaka.

The Khuddaka Nikya is a collection of various works, the most famous of which

is the Dhammapada. The Sutta Nipata, however, represents perhaps the earliest

teachings of the Buddha, as several scholars have shown.

The Sutta Nipta is divided into five vaggas (books): Uraga (Snake) Vagga,Cla (Short) Vagga, Mah (Large) Vagga, Ahaka (collection of octads)

Vagga, and Pryaa (Way-across) Vagga. Each Vagga is in turn a

collection ofSuttas, each Sutta represnting either a discourse or a dialog.

The Buddha encouraged questioning and discussion; hence most of the Suttas are in

the form of dialogs. These dialogs were probably remembered by monks who were

present and subsequently converted into a Sutta, some of them being in verse. The

PryaaVagga is a collection of seventeen dialogs, each between the Buddha

and an earnest seeker. The subject matter of this paper is the seventh dialog of the

PryaaVagga representing questions by the brahmin Upasva.

Read on to get a flavor of what people in India were discussing around 500 B.C...


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Pali Sanksrit

(

) (

)

% & ' &

& + +

% &1 ' &1

Upasvamava:

Alone am I, Lord, confused,Unable to cross this great flood

All-seeing one! Tell me the support

Using which I may certainly cross this flood!

Note: = , all around, everywhere, completely

( ) ( ) 1 1 A

% &% ' &1:

1 & &

% A &1

The Buddha:

Alert, focused on not posessing anything

Convinced that there is nothing, you will cross the flood

Abandoning desires and abstaining from gossip

Watch day and night for the ending of craving!

Notes: = , i.e. One who has nothing.

=Having that quality =night and day; in Sanskrit, it is more common to use &1


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1 1 & Q 1 &

% ' (?)

1 &1 1 &1

1 1

Upasvamava:

The one who is free from desires and attachments

Firm in non-possession, abandoning all alse

Liberated in the supreme emancipation from consciousness

Not following anyone, will he remain in that state?

Notes: =complete freedom from congnition

= One who does not follow (anyone)

1 1 & Q 1 &

% ' (?)

1 &1 1 &1 1

Buddha:

The one who is free from desires and attachments

Firm in non-possession, abandoning all alse

Liberated in the supreme emancipation from consciousness

Not following anyone, will indeed remain in that state.

1 1 11

+[ % + \

1 ] (?)

1 % 1

Upasvamava:


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Not following anyone, if he remains in that state

All-seeing one, for several years

In that state, liberated from (the opposites of) heat and cold

Of such a one, will realization ever fall away?

11 a \ 11

1 1 1 1

1 1 1 1

Buddha:

Just as a fire, uprooted by the force of the wind

Is exinguished (lit. runs towards setting),

and cannot be congized (or, is incapable of definition)

So the sage, free from name and form

Is extinguished, and cannot be congized.

Note: The root meaning of is that by which something is known correctly

( 1 1). 1 therefore means not available for congition.

1 % & ] &

1 & 1 1 1

1 1 \

Upasvamava:

The one who is extinguished, does he exist or not?

Do they say thay he is immortal and free from disease?

Sage! Explain this to me clearly

As this deep truth is known by you.

Notes: = Gone towards setting (as of the sun)


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%

1 % 1

1 1 1 Q Q +1

+ 1 + : Q

Buddha:

There is no means of knowledge about the one that is extinguished

There is no (characteristic) by which he can be described

and cannot be congized (or, is incapable of definition)

On the ending of all phenomena

All discussions are also done away with.

Notes: =means of knowledge

:=ways of speech.

Note on the metrical composition:

This entire composition is in the trishtubh metre, which uses 11 syllables in each foot

(). Trishtubh is widely used in the Rigveda, giving an indication of the antiquityof this composition.

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