4:15 The Rod Embraced
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('â', This is mine,â for whom nothing is othersâ: He, feeling no sense of mine-ness, doesnât grieve at the thought ),
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('â', I have nothing.â Not harsh, not greedy, not perturbed,11 everywhere concordant12: This is the reward —I say when asked— for those who are free from theorizing. For one unperturbed —who knows— thereâs no accumulating. Abstaining, unaroused, he everywhere sees security.13 The sage doesnât speak of himself as among those who are higher, equal, or lower. At peace, free of stinginess, he doesnât embrace, doesnât reject," the Blessed One said. vv. 935–954 Notes 1. Nd I: The rod of violence takes three forms: physical violence (the three forms of bodily misconduct), verbal violence (the four forms of verbal misconduct), and mental violence (the three forms of mental misconduct). See AN 10:176 and Dhp 129–142. 2. Nd I: "One doesnât run" to any of the destinations of rebirth; "one doesnât sink" into any of the four floods of sensuality, views, becoming, and ignorance. See SN 1:1, SN 45:171, and AN 4:10. 3. This phrase, a kind of stage direction, seems to indicate that this poem had a ritual use, as part of a ceremony for giving the precepts. 4. "Sensual pleasure, sensual passions": two meanings of the word kṅma. 5. Nd I: "Old" and "new" mean past and present aggregates. 6. Nd I: "whatâs dazzling & bright" = craving and other defilements. 7. See AN 7:15. 8. Nd I: The stream here stands for craving and the various defilements that arise in its wake. See Dhp 251, 337, 339–340, and 347. It could also stand for the stream of becoming, mentioned in Sn 3:12. 9. Nd I: "Before," "after," and "in between" = past, future, and present. 10. "Isnât defeated, suffers no loss"—two meanings of the Pali phrase, na jiyyati. 11. Nd I defines "perturbation" as meaning "craving," and "unperturbed" as meaning unmoved by gain, loss, status, loss of status, praise, criticism, pleasure, or pain (see AN 8:6–7). However, when the Buddha discusses the meaning of "unperturbed" in Sn 5:3, he relates it to the practice of concentration. See Sn 5:3, note 5. 12. Sama. See Sn 1:12, note 11. 13. See Ud 2:10. - --> - - - -