Khuddaka Nikaya - Sutta Nipata - Dutthatthaka Sutta

Sn 4.3
Dutthatthaka Sutta
Corrupted
Translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro BhikkhuPTS: Sn 780-787



Source: Transcribed from a file provided by the translator.



Copyright © 1998 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Access to Insight edition © 1998
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There are some who dispute
corrupted at heart,
and those who dispute
their hearts set on truth,
but a sage doesn't enter
a dispute that's arisen,
which is why he is
nowhere constrained.

Now, how would one
led on by desire,
entrenched in his likes,
forming his own conclusions,
overcome his own views?
He'd dispute in line
with the way that he knows.

Whoever boasts to others, unasked,
of his practices, precepts,
is, say the skilled,
ignoble by nature —
he who speaks of himself
of his own accord.

But a monk at peace,
fully unbound in himself,
who doesn't boast of his precepts
— "That's how I am" —
he, say the skilled,
is noble by nature —
he with no vanity
with regard to the world.

One whose doctrines aren't clean —
fabricated, formed, given preference
when he sees it to his own advantage —
relies on a peace
dependent
on what can be shaken.

Because entrenchments1 in views
aren't easily overcome
when considering what's grasped
among doctrines,
that's why
a person embraces or rejects a doctrine —
in light of these very
entrenchments.

Now, one who is cleansed2
has no preconceived view
about states of becoming
or not-
anywhere in the world.
Having abandoned conceit3 & illusion,
by what means would he go?4
He isn't involved.

For one who's involved
gets into disputes
over doctrines,
but how — in connection with what — 5
would you argue
with one uninvolved?
He has nothing
embraced or rejected,6
has sloughed off every view
right here — every one.



Notes
1. Entrenchments: a rendering of the Pali term, nivesana, which can also be
rendered as abode, situation, home, or establishment.
2. Nd.I: Cleansed through discernment.
3. Nd.I explains a variety of ways of understanding the word "conceit," the most
comprehensive being a list of nine kinds of conceit: viewing people better than
oneself as worse than oneself, on a par with oneself, or better than oneself;
viewing people on a par with oneself as worse than oneself, on a par with
oneself, or better than oneself; viewing people worse than oneself as worse than
oneself, on a par with oneself, or better than oneself. In other words, the
truth of the view is not the issue here; the issue is the tendency to compare
oneself with others.
4. Nd.I: "By what means would he go" to any destination in any state of
becoming.
5. In connection with what: a rendering of the instrumental case that attempts
to cover several of its meanings, in particular "by what means" and "in terms of
what." For a discussion of the use of the instrumental case in the Atthaka
Vagga, see note 1 to Sn 4.9.
6. This reading follows the Thai, Sri Lankan, and PTS editions: atta,m
niratta,m. The Burmese edition reads, attaa nirattaa: "He has no self, nor
what's opposed to self." As K. R. Norman points out in the notes to his
translation of this verse, the first reading is probably the correct one, as it
relates to the poem's earlier reference to the unawakened person embracing or
rejecting a doctrine. The fact that an awakened person is free from both
embracing and rejecting is a recurring theme in this vagga and the next; the
confusion in the various recensions as to whether similar lines should read
atta,m/niratta,m or attaa/nirattaa is a recurring theme as well. (See Sn 4.4,
note 4; Sn 4.10, note 7; Sn 4.14, note 2.)