Song of Freedoml Sutta Nipata

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The Noble Eightfold

 

Path itself is extolled because it leads

to complete disgust with worldliness, to dispassion, cessation, peace, dire=

ct knowledge, enlightenment and Nibbana.

 

When insight is deepened and strengthened,

what has been called here "disgust" (in rendering the Pali nibbida) loses =

the

strong emotional tinge of aversion and revulsion.

 

Noble friendship, so rare and precious,

is indeed one of the few solaces which

this world can offer.

 

But this world of ours would be truly "disconsolate" if, besides the solace=

of

friendship, it did not harbor the still

greater solace of the Buddha's

compassionate message of an open way to

final deliverance from suffering.

 

SUTTA NIPATA; SONG OF FREEDOM

 

Sutta Nipata, in its oldest and most characteristic parts, is a deeply

stirring Song of Freedom.

 

The verses of this ancient book are a challenging call to us to leave behin=

d

the narrow confines of our imprisoned existence with its ever-growing walls=

 

of accumulated habits of life and

thought.

 

They beckon us to free ourselves from

the enslavement to our passions and to

our thousand little whims and wishes.

 

Once we have settled down in our

habitual ways of living and thinking,

we feel less and less inclined to give

them up for the sake of risky ventures

into a freedom of life and thought full

of dangers and uncertainties.

 

True freedom places on us the

uncomfortable burden of ever-fresh responsible decisions, which have to be =

guided by mindfulness, wisdom and human sympathy.

 

Sutta Nipata Uraga Sutta: The Serpent

 

1.

He who can curb his wrath

as soon as it arises,

as a timely antidote will check

snake's venom that so quickly spreads,

-- such a monk gives up the here and the beyond, just as a serpent sheds it=

s

worn-out skin.

 

2.

He who entirely cuts off his lust

as entering a pond one uproots lotus

plants, -- such a monk gives up the here

and the beyond, just as a serpent sheds

its worn-out skin.

 

3.

He who entirely cuts off his craving

by drying up its fierce and rapid flow,

-- such a monk gives up the here and the

beyond, just as a serpent sheds its

worn-out skin.

 

4.

He who entirely blots out conceit

as the wind demolishes a fragile bamboo bridge, -- such a monk gives up the=

here

and the beyond, just as a serpent sheds

its worn-out skin.

 

5.

He who does not find core or substance

in any of the realms of being,

like flowers which are vainly sought

in fig trees that bear none,

-- such a monk gives up the here and the beyond, just as a serpent sheds it=

s

worn-out skin.

 

6.

He who bears no grudges in his heart,

transcending all this "thus" and

"otherwise," -- such a monk gives up the

here and the beyond, just as a serpent

sheds its worn-out skin.

 

7.

He who has burned out his evil thoughts, entirely cut them off within his h=

eart,

-- such a monk gives up the here and the beyond, just as the serpent sheds =

its worn-out skin.

 

8.

He who neither goes too far nor lags

behind, entirely transcending the

diffuseness of the world, -- such a monk gives up the here and the beyond, =

just

as a serpent sheds its worn-out skin.

 

9.

He who neither goes too far nor lags

behind and knows about the world: "This

is all unreal," -- such a monk gives up

the here and the beyond, just as a

serpent sheds its worn-out skin.

 

10.

He who neither goes too far nor lags

behind, greedless he knows: "This is all unreal," -- such a monk gives up t=

he

here and the beyond, just as a serpent

sheds its worn-out skin.

 

11.

He who neither goes too far nor lags

behind, lust-free he knows: "This is all unreal," -- such a monk gives up t=

he

here and the beyond, just as a serpent

sheds its worn-out skin.

 

12.

He who neither goes too far nor lags

behind, hate-free he knows: "This is all unreal," -- such a monk gives up t=

he

here and the beyond, just as a serpent

sheds its worn-out skin.

 

13.

He who neither goes too far nor lags

behind, delusion-free he knows: "This is

all unreal," -- such a monk gives up

the here and the beyond, just as a

serpent sheds its worn-out skin.

 

14.

He who has no dormant tendencies whatever, whose unwholesome roots have bee=

n

expunged, -- such a monk gives up the

here and the beyond, just as a serpent

sheds its worn-out skin.

 

15.

States born of anxiety he harbors none

which may condition his return to earth,

-- such a monk gives up the here and the

beyond, just as a serpent sheds its

worn-out skin.

 

16.

States born of attachment he harbors

none which cause his bondage to existence,

-- such a monk gives up the here and the beyond, just as a serpent sheds i=

ts

worn-out skin.

 

17.

He who has the five hindrances discarded,

doubt-free and serene, and free of inner

barbs, -- such a monk gives up the here

and the beyond, just as a serpent sheds

its worn-out skin.   

 

I: Reflections on the Refrain

 

The Refrain:

-- such a monk gives up the here and the beyond, just as a serpent sheds it=

s

worn-out skin.

The shedding of the serpent's old skin is done in four ways:

1)

in following the law of its own species,

2)

through disgust,

3)

with the help of a support, and

4)

with effort.

 

The "law of his own species" is virtue.

Standing firm in his own law of virtue,

and seeing the misery involved, he becomes

disgusted with the "old worn-out skin"

of the "here and the beyond," comprising (such pairs of opposites) as his o=

wn and

others' personalized existence, etc.,

which are productive of suffering. Thus

he becomes disgusted and, seeking the support of a noble friend, (a wise

teacher and meditation master), he

summons his utmost strength by way of

the path factor, right effort.

 

Daily practice of alienation from what

has been understood to be actually alien

will wear thin the bondage to "self" and

the world, loosen more and more

clinging's tight grip, until, like the serpent's worn-out skin, it falls aw=

ay

almost effortlessly.

 

Just as, according to similes given by

the Buddha, the handle of a hatchet is

wasted away by constant use; just as the

strongest ship-ropes will become brittle

by constant exposure to wind, sun and

rain and finally fall asunder -- so will constant acts of giving up, of let=

ting go,

wear thin and fragile the once so stout

and unbreakable fetters of craving and ignorance, until one day they drop o=

ff completely.

 

By such an act of "shedding the old

skin," no "violence against nature" is

done; it is a lawful process of

growing, of outgrowing that which is no longer an object of attachment -- j=

ust

as the old skin is no longer attached

to the snake's body.

 

Only in such a way can a person vanquish

those passionate urges and deceptive

notions of his, which are so powerful

and so deeply rooted. In the act of

ultimate liberation, nothing is violently

broken which was not already detached

from the living tissues of mind and body

or only quite loosely joined with them.

 

-- this hollow concept of an imaginary

self which had hidden for so long the

true nature of body and mind.

 

Mind-and-body are now seen as they truly

are. Now one no longer misconceives

them for what they are not and no longer expects of them what they cannot g=

ive: lasting happiness.

 

How big a burden of anxiety, fear, frustration and insatiate craving will

have been discarded! How light and free

the heart can become if one sheds

attachment to what is not one's own!

 

What actually has to be shed is this attachment rooted in the ego-illusion.=

 

Yet it is to that hardest task that the Master summons us: "Give up what is=

not yours! And what is not yours? The body

is not yours: give it up! Giving it up

will be for your weal and happiness.

 

Feelings, perceptions, volitions and consciousness are not yours: give them=

 

up! Giving them up will be for your weal

and happiness."

 

contemplation can be helpful:

1.

We look at our skin encasing the body:

it is now firm and taut, healthily alive,

our warm blood pulsating beneath it.

 

Imagine it now lying before you, empty

and limp, like a snake's discarded slough.

 

In such a manner you may visualize the feature skin among the thirty-two p=

arts of the body, a meditation[2] recommended by

the Buddha. When thus brought vividly to life, it will help you to alienate=

and

detach yourself from the body.

 

2.

Just as the serpent does not hesitate to fulfill the biological "law of its=

kind"

in shedding its old skin, so right renunciation will not waver or shrink

from those acts of giving up which right understanding of reality demands. =

Just

as the serpent does not mourn over the

loss of its worn-out slough, so right renunciation has no regrets when it

discards what has been seen as void of

value and substance and replaces it by something new and more beautiful: th=

e happiness of letting go, the exhilaration

of the freedom won, the serenity of

insight and the radiance of a mind

purified and calmed. It is the growing strength of this new experience whic=

h

will gradually clear the road to final emancipation.

 

3. According to the commentary quoted by

us, the snake feels disgust towards its

old skin when the sloughing is not yet complete and parts of the old skin =

still

adhere to its body.

 

Similarly, the disgust felt towards

residual attachments and defilements will

give to the disciple an additional

urgency in his struggle for final

liberation. Such disgust is a symptom of

his growing detachment. It is

strengthened by an increasing awareness

of the perils inherent in the

uneliminated defilements -- perils to

oneself and to others. On seeing these perils, the whole misery of man's

situation, the samsaric predicament, will

gain for him increasing poignancy; and

the more he progresses in mental training

and moral refinement, the stronger his distaste will become for what is st=

ill unamenable in him to that training and refinement.

 

Therefore the Buddha advised his son

Rahula: "Make disgust strong in you"

(Sutta Nipata, v.340). This disgust

(nibbida) is often mentioned in the

Buddhist scriptures as an aid as well

as a phase on the road to full

detachment.

 

*Thus among the eight insight knowledges

the contemplation of disgust (nibbidanupassana) follows upon the

awareness of the peril and misery in

samsara, when formations of existence

have become tasteless and insipid to the

meditator. And in innumerable sutta

passages the Buddha says that when the disciple sees the constituents of bo=

dy

and mind as impermanent, suffering and

not self, he becomes disgusted with

them; through his disgust he becomes dispassionate, and through dispassion =

he

is liberated.

 

~k~