[Punnaka:]
To the one unperturbed, who has seen the root [of all things], I have come with a question. Because of what have many human seers — noble warriors, brahmans — offered sacrifices to devas here in the world? I ask you, O Blessed One. Please tell me.[The Buddha:]
Those many human seers — noble warriors, brahmans — who have offered sacrifices to devas here in the world, Punnaka, hoping for more of this state of being, offered their sacrifices because of aging.[Punnaka:]
Those many human seers — noble warriors, brahmans — who have offered sacrifices to devas here in the world: Have they, O Blessed One, heeding the path of sacrifice, crossed over birth & aging? I ask you, O Blessed One. Please tell me.[The Buddha:]
They hoped for, liked, longed for, so sacrificed — they longed for sensuality, dependent on gain. I tell you: those who take on the yoke of sacrifice, impassioned with the passion for becoming, have not crossed over birth & aging.[Punnaka:]
If those who take on the yoke of sacrifice haven't crossed over the flood, dear sir, then who in the world of beings divine & human has crossed over birth & aging? I ask you, O Blessed One. Please tell me.[The Buddha:]
He who has fathomed the far & near in the world, for whom there is nothing perturbing in the world — his vices evaporated, undesiring, untroubled, at peace — he, I tell you, has crossed over birth & aging.Note
AN 3.32 and AN 4.41 contain discussions of the last verse in this poem.
In AN 3.32, Ven. Ananda asks the Buddha, "Could it be that a monk could attain a concentration of such a sort such that, with regard to this conscious body, he would have no 'I'-making or 'mine'-making or obsession of conceit, such that with regard to all external themes [topics of concentration] he would have no 'I'-making or 'mine'-making or obsession of conceit, and that he would enter & remain in the awareness-release & discernment-release in which there is no 'I'-making or 'mine'-making or obsession of conceit?"
The Buddha answers that it is possible, and that such a concentration can be attained when one is percipient in this way: "This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all mental processes; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding." He then adds that it was in connection to this state of mind that he uttered the last verse in this poem.
In AN 4.41 , the Buddha identifies four ways of developing concentration: "There is the development of concentration that, when developed & pursued, leads to a pleasant abiding in the here & now. There is the development of concentration that, when developed & pursued, leads to the attainment of knowledge & vision. There is the development of concentration that, when developed & pursued, leads to mindfulness & alertness. There is the development of concentration that, when developed & pursued, leads to the ending of the effluents." (For details, see AN 4.41 ) The Buddha then adds that he uttered the last verse of this poem in connection with these four ways of developing concentration.
