Aṅguttara Nikāya
VIII. Atthaka Nipāta
IX. Sati-Vagga

VIII. The Book of the Eights

Chapter IX: Mindfulness

Sutta 85

Tathāgat-ā-dhivacana Suttaṃ

Recluse

[223]

THUS have I heard:

Once the Exalted One was dwelling near Sāvatthī.

There the Exalted One addressed the monks, saying:

"Monks."

"Yes, lord," they replied, and the Exalted One said:

"'Recluse,'¹ monks, is a term for the Tathāgata,
the arahant,
wholly awakened.

'Brahmāna,' monks, is a term for the Tathāgata,
the arahant,
wholly awakened.

'Discoverer,'² monks, is a term for the Tathāgata,
the arahant,
wholly awakened.

'Healer,' monks, is a term for the Tathāgata,
the arahant,
wholly awakened.

'Stainless,' monks, is a term for the Tathāgata,
the arahant,
wholly awakened.

'Pure,' monks, is a term for the Tathāgata,
the arahant,
wholly awakened.

'Knower,' monks, is a term for the Tathāgata,
the arahant,
wholly awakened.

'Freed,' monk, is a term for the Tathāgata,
the arahant,
wholly awakened.

What by recluse should be attained,³
By brahmana by god-life⁴ won,
What gotten by discoverer.
What unsurpassed by healer found,
What by the pure and stainless won,
What by the knower should be known,
What freedom by the freed attained -
All that in battle I have won;
Set free from bonds I make man free.
Supremely tamed elephant⁵
Am I, adept and wholly cool.⁶

¹ This is quoted at Sn.A. 161.

² Vedagū: winner of knowledge; see Ud.A. 119 for definition.

³ Comy. namely guṇa: virtue, goodness.

⁴ Vusīmatā, ibid.'. By having lived the godly life, the brahma-cariya; see Sn.A. 601; cf. Mrs. Rhys Davids' Gotama, p. 95: the god-way.

⁵ Nāgo'mhi. The Comy. is silent. Meaning elephant or cobra, nāga stands for mysterious life; cf. Dhp. 320, 329. Cf. also A. iii, 346: Nāgaṃ vo kittayissami, na hi aguṃ karoti so; cf. also Sn. 522; Sn.A. 428; Pss. Brethren, 210; S.B.E. x, ii, 89.