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Sn 5.10 — Kappa-manava-puccha: Kappa's Question

translated from the Pāli by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

[Kappa:]

For one stranded in the middle of the lake, in the flood of great danger — birth — overwhelmed with aging & death: Tell me the island, dear sir, and show me the island so that this may not happen again.

[The Buddha:]

For one stranded in the middle of the lake, in the flood of great danger — birth — overwhelmed with aging & death, I will tell you the island, Kappa. Having nothing, clinging to no thing: That is the island, there is no other. That's Unbinding, I tell you, the total ending of aging & death. Those knowing this, mindful, fully unbound in the here & now, don't serve as Mara's servants, don't come under Mara's sway.
Copyright © 1997 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The text of this page (“Kappa-manava-puccha: Kappa's Question”, by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013.