Thus I heard:

On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Vesāli in the Great Wood in the Gabled Hall.

Now on that occasion final knowledge had been declared by many bhikkhus in the Blessed One’s presence: “Birth is destroyed, the life divine has been lived, what was to be done is done, there is no more of this to come—so I understand.”

Sunakkhatta the Licchavi heard: “It seems that final knowledge has been declared by many bhikkhus in the Blessed One’s presence: ‘Birth is destroyed, the life divine has been lived, what was to be done is done, there is no more of this to come—so I understand.’”

Then Sunakkhatta the Licchavi went to the Blessed One, and after paying homage to him, he sat down at one side. When he had done so, Sunakkhatta the Licchavi said to the Blessed One:

“It seems that final knowledge has been declared by many bhikkhus in the Blessed One’s presence: ‘Birth is destroyed… so I understand.’ Now the bhikkhus, venerable sir, who declare final knowledge in the Blessed One’s presence thus, do they declare final knowledge rightly, or are there some bhikkhus here who declare final knowledge owing to overestimation?”

“Some of the bhikkhus, Sunakkhatta, who declare final knowledge in my presence: ‘Birth is destroyed, the life divine has been lived, what was to be done is done, there is no more of this to come’, do so rightly, but some bhikkhus do so owing to overestimation. Herein, when bhikkhus declare final knowledge rightly, it is true of them. But when bhikkhus declare final knowledge owing to overestimation, the Tathāgata thinks thus about them: ‘Let me teach them the Dhamma.’ So it is, here, Sunakkhatta, the Tathāgata thinks: ‘Let me teach them the Dhamma.’ But then certain misguided men here formulate a question, and they come to the Tathāgata to ask it. Now, Sunakkhatta, though the “Tathāgata thinks thus: ‘Let me teach them Dhamma’, yet he comes to think otherwise.”

“This is the time, Blessed One, this is the time, Sublime One, for the Blessed One to teach the Dhamma. Having heard it from the Blessed One, the bhikkhus will bear it in mind”

“Then listen, Sunakkhatta, and heed well what I shall say.”

“Yes, venerable sir,” Sunakkhatta the Licchavi replied to the Blessed One. The Blessed one said this:

“There are, Sunakkhatta, these five cords of sensual desire. What five? Forms cognizable by the eye that are wished-for, desired, agreeable and likeable, connected with sensual desire and provocative of lust. Sounds cognizable by the ear… Odours cognizable by the nose… Flavours cognizable by the tongue… Tangibles cognizable by the body that are wished-for, desired, agreeable and likeable, connected with sensual desire and provocative of lust These are the five cords of sensual desire.

“It is possible that some person here may esteem worldly material things. When a person esteems worldly material things, only talk of that kind interests him, and his thinking and exploring is in line with that, he frequents that kind of man, and he finds satisfaction through him. But when there is talk about the imperturbable, he will not hear or give ear or establish his mind in knowledge. He does not frequent that kind of man, and he finds no satisfaction through him.

“Just as a man long absent from his own village or town seeing some man who had recently left that village or town, would ask that man about the well-being of that village or town, about its state of plenty, its health, and that man told him about it—how do you conceive this, Sunakkhatta, would that man hear, give ear and establish his mind in knowledge? Would he frequent that man and find satisfaction through him?”

“Yes, venerable sir.”

“So too, it is possible… and he finds no satisfaction through him.

“So he should be known as a person not bound by the fetter of the imperturbable who esteems worldly things.

“It is possible that some person here may esteem the imperturbable. When a person esteems the imperturbable, only talk of that kind interests him and his thinking and exploring is in line with that, he frequents that kind of man, and he finds satisfaction through him. But when there is talk about worldly material things, he will not hear, or give ear, or establish his mind in knowledge. He does not frequent that kind of man, and he finds no satisfaction through him.

“Just as a yellow leaf shed from its attachment is incapable of becoming green again, so too, when a person esteems the imperturbable, he has shed the fetter of worldly material things.

“So too he should be known as a person not bound by the fetter of worldly things who esteems the imperturbable.

“It is possible that some person here may esteem the base consisting of nothingness. When a person esteems the base consisting of nothingness, only talk of that kind interests him, and his thinking and exploring is in line with that, he frequents that kind of man, and he finds satisfaction through him. But when there is talk about the imperturbable, he will not hear or give ear, or establish his mind in knowledge. He does not frequent that kind of man, and he finds no satisfaction through him.

“Just as a thick stone cracked in two cannot be joined together again, so too, when a person esteems the base consisting of nothingness his fetter of the imperturbable is broken.

“So too he should be known as a person not bound by the fetter of the imperturbable who esteems the base consisting of nothingness.

“It is possible that some person here may esteem the base consisting of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. When a person esteems the base consisting of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, only talk of that kind interests him, and his thinking and exploring is inline with that, he frequents that kind of man, and he finds satisfaction through him. But when there is talk about the base consisting of nothingness, he will not hear, or give ear, or establish his mind in knowledge. He does not frequent that kind of man, and he finds no satisfaction through him.

“Just as a man who has eaten some delicious food and thrown it up—what do you think, Sunakkhatta, would that man have any desire to eat that food again?”

“No, venerable sir. Why is that? Because, venerable sir, that food is repulsive.”

“So too, when a person esteems the base consisting of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, his fetter consisting of the base of nothingness is rejected.

“So he too should be known as a person not bound by the fetter of the base consisting of nothingness who esteems the base consisting of neither-perception-nor-non-perception.

“It is possible that some person here may rightly esteem Nibbāna. When a person rightly esteems Nibbāna, only talk of that kind interests him, and his thinking and exploring is in line with that, he frequents that kind of man, and he finds satisfaction through him. But when there is talk about the base consisting of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, he will not hear, or give ear, or establish his mind in knowledge. He does not frequent that kind of man, and he finds no satisfaction through him.

“Just as a palm tree with its top cut off is incapable of growing, so too, when a person rightly esteems Nibbāna, his fetter of the base consisting of neither-perception-nor-non-perception is cut off, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, made non-existent, not subject to arising in the future.

“So he too should be known as a person not bound by the fetter of the base consisting of neither-perception-nor-non-perception who rightly esteems Nibbāna.

“It is possible that some bhikkhu here might think thus: ‘Craving has been called a dart by the Monk. The poisonous humour of ignorance shows its disturbedness by desire and greed and by ill-will. That dart of craving is abandoned in me. The poisonous humour of ignorance is expelled. I am one who rightly esteems Nibbāna.’ Now as one who has overestimated what is not actually true, he would resort to things unsuitable in one who rightly esteemed Nibbāna. He would resort to unsuitable seeing of visible objects with the eye, he would resort to… unsuitable sounds with the ear… unsuitable odours with the nose… unsuitable tastes with the tongue… unsuitable tangibles with the body… unsuitable dhammas with the mind. When he did so, greed would infect his mind. With his mind infected by greed he would incur death and suffering.

“Suppose a man were wounded by a dart thickly smeared with poison, then his friends and companions, relatives and kin, brought a surgeon-physician and the surgeon-physician cut round the wound’s opening with a knife; and when he had cut round the wound’s opening with a knife, he probed for the dart with a probe; and having probed for the dart with a probe, he pulled out the dart; and he expelled the poisonous humour with some trace left And knowing that some trace was left, he said: ‘Good man, your dart has been pulled out. The poisonous humour has been expelled with some trace left but not enough to be a danger to you. Eat only suitable food lest, through your eating unsuitable food, the wound should suppurate. Wash the wound from time to time, and anoint the wound’s opening from time to time lest, if you do not, pus and blood should clot the wound’s opening. And do not go walking in the wind and sun, lest by doing so, dust and grit should infect the wound’s opening. You must live to guard your wound, good man, to heal your wound.’

“He thought: ‘My dart has been pulled out, the poisonous humour has been expelled with some trace left, but not enough to be a danger to me.’ And he ate only unsuitable food, and through his eating unsuitable food the wound suppurated. He did not wash the wound from time to time or anoint the wound’s opening from time to time, and, through his not doing so, pus and blood clotted the wound’s opening. And he went walking in the wind and sun, and, through his doing so, dust and grit infected the wound’s opening. And he did not live to guard his wound, to heal his wound. Then, both through his doing what was unsuitable and owing to the foul poisonous humours having been expelled with some left behind, his wound swelled, and with its swelling he incurred death or deadly suffering.

“So too, it is possible that some bhikkhus here might think thus: ‘Craving is called a dart by the Monk. The poisonous humour of ignorance shows its disturbedness by desire and greed and by ill-will. That dart of craving is abandoned in me. The poisonous humour of ignorance is expelled. I am one who rightly esteems Nibbāna.’ Now as one who has overestimated what is not actually true, he would resort to things unsuitable… with his mind infected with greed, he might incur death or deadly suffering.

“For it is death in the Noble One’s Discipline when one renounces the training and reverts to what has been abandoned. And it is deadly suffering when one commits some defiling offence.

“It is possible that some bhikkhu here might think thus: ‘Craving is called a dart by the Monk. The poisonous humour of ignorance shows its disturbedness by desire and greed and by ill-will. That dart of craving is abandoned in me. The poisonous humour of ignorance is expelled. I am one who rightly esteems Nibbāna.’ Being one who rightly esteemed Nibbāna, he would not resort to things unsuitable to one who rightly esteemed Nibbāna. He would not resort to unsuitable seeing of visible objects with the eye… unsuitable sounds with the ear… unsuitable odours with the nose… unsuitable flavours with the tongue… unsuitable tangibles with the body, he would not resort to unsuitable dhammas with the mind. When he did not do so, greed would not infect his mind. With his mind uninfected by greed he would not incur death and deadly suffering.

“Suppose a man were pierced by a dart thickly smeared with poison, then his friends and companions, relatives and kin, brought a surgeon-physician, and the surgeon-physican cut round the wound’s opening with a knife; and when he had cut round the wound’s opening with a knife, he probed for the dart with a probe; and having probed for the dart with a probe, he pulled out the dart; and he expelled the poisonous humour with no trace left. And knowing that none was left behind, he said: ‘Good man, your dart has been pulled out, the poisonous humour has been expelled with no trace left, not enough to be a danger to you. Eat only suitable food lest, through your eating unsuitable food, the wound should suppurate. Wash the wound from time to time, and anoint the wound’s opening from time to time lest, if you do not, pus and blood should clot the wound’s opening. And do not go walking in the wind and sun lest, by doing so, dust and grit should infect the wound’s opening. You must live to guard your wound, good man, to heal your wound.’

“He thought: ‘My dart has been pulled out, the poisonous humour has been expelled with no trace left, not enough to be a danger to me.’ He ate only suitable food and, through his eating suitable food, the wound did not suppurate. He washed the wound from time to time and anointed the wound’s opening from time to time, and, through his doing so, pus and blood did not clot the wound’s opening. And he did not go walking in the wind and sun, through his not doing so, dust and grit did not infect the wound’s opening. And he lived to guard his wound, to heal his wound. Then, both through his doing what was suitable and owing to the foul poisonous humour’s having been expelled with none left behind, his wound healed, and when it was healed and covered with skin, he incurred neither death nor deadly suffering.

“So too it is possible that some bhikkhu here might think thus: ‘Craving is called a dart by the Monk. The poisonous humour of ignorance shows its disturbedness by desire and greed and by ill-will. That dart of craving is abandoned in me. The poisonous humour of ignorance is expelled. I am one who rightly esteems Nibbāna.’ Being one who rightly esteemed Nibbāna, he would not resort to things unsuitable… with his mind uninfected by greed he would not incur death or deadly suffering.

“This simile has been given by me, Sunakkhatta, in order to make known a meaning. This is the meaning here: ‘Wound’ is a term for the six internal bases. ‘Poisonous humour’ is a term for ignorance. ‘Dart’ is a term for craving. ‘Probe’ is a term for mindfulness. ‘Knife’ is a term for Noble understanding. ‘Surgeon-physician’ is a term for the Tathāgata, Arahant and Fully Enlightened.

“When, Sunakkhatta, a bhikkhu practises restraint in the six bases of contact, is without the essentials of existences, liberated with the exhaustion of the essentials of existence through seeing the essentials of existence as the root of suffering, it is not possible that he would either employ his body or bestir his mind about any essential of existence.

“Suppose there were a cup of drink with colour, smell and taste, and it were mixed with poison; and then a man came who wanted to live, not to die, and shrank from pain, what do you think, Sunakkhatta, would that man drink that cup of drink when he knew that if he drank it he would incur death or deadly suffering?”

“No, venerable sir.”

“So too, when a bhikkhu practises restraint in the six bases of contact, is without the essentials of existence, liberated with the exhaustion of the essentials of existence through seeing the essentials of existence as the root of suffering, it is not possible that he would employ his body or bestir his mind about any essential of existence.

“Suppose there were an extremely poisonous snake; and then a man came who wanted to live, not to die, and shrank from pain, what do you think, Sunakkhatta, would that man give that extremely poisonous snake his hand or his thumb when he knew that even if he were bitten by it he would incur death or deadly suffering?”

“No, venerable sir.”

“So too, when a bhikkhu practises restraint in the six bases of contact, is without the essentials of existence, liberated with the exhaustion of the essentials of existence through seeing the essentials of existence as the root of suffering, it is not possible that he would employ his body or bestir his mind about any essential of existence.”

This is what the Blessed One said. Sunakkhatta the Licchavi was satisfied, and he delighted in the Blessed One’s words.