5.9. Hemaka’s Questions

“Ye me pubbe viyākaṁsu,

(iccāyasmā hemako)

Huraṁ gotamasāsanā;

Iccāsi iti bhavissati,

Sabbaṁ taṁ itihītihaṁ;

Sabbaṁ taṁ takkavaḍḍhanaṁ,

Nāhaṁ tattha abhiramiṁ.

Tvañca me dhammamakkhāhi,

taṇhānigghātanaṁ muni;

Yaṁ viditvā sato caraṁ,

tare loke visattikaṁ”.

“Idha diṭṭhasutamutaviññātesu,

Piyarūpesu hemaka;

Chandarāgavinodanaṁ,

Nibbānapadamaccutaṁ.

Etadaññāya ye satā,

Diṭṭhadhammābhinibbutā;

Upasantā ca te sadā,

Tiṇṇā loke visattikan”ti.

Hemakamāṇavapucchā aṭṭhamā.

SC 1SC Verse 1091Hemaka
Those elders outside Gotama’s teaching-path
explained their doctrines in this way:
“so it was and so will be”—
all that was but traditional lore,
all that increased uncertainty,
And I took no delight in it.

SC 2SC Verse 1092Please, O Sage, explain to me
Dhamma destroying craving now,
knowing which the mindful fare,
and cross the world’s entanglements.

SC 3SC Verse 1093Buddha
Here among all those pleasing things—
the seen and the heard, the sensed and thought—
whose wants removed and passion too—
this the unchanging Nirvāṇa-state.

SC 4SC Verse 1094With Final Knowledge those mindful ones,
now-seen the Dharma, cool-become
and ever they at peace remain,
they’ve crossed the world’s entanglements.