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SN 1.10 — Arañña Sutta: The Wilderness

translated from the Pāli by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Standing to one side, a devata addressed the Blessed One with a verse:

Living in the wilderness, staying peaceful, remaining chaste, eating just one meal a day: why are their faces so bright & serene?

[The Buddha:]

They don't sorrow over the past, don't long for the future. They survive on the present. That's why their faces are bright & serene. From longing for the future, from sorrowing over the past, fools wither away like a green reed cut down.
Copyright © 1998 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The text of this page (“Arañña Sutta: The Wilderness”, by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013.