Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Two spirits verify the Buddha’s character claim by claim before agreeing to seek him out, and once they do, he answers Hemavata’s questions about the world’s origin, its trouble, and its exit by locating everything in the six sense fields and the desire attached to them — a teaching so satisfying that the spirits and a thousand of their kind go for refuge on the spot.
Verses 1–3: an invitation, and a demand for evidence
The poem opens mid-scene, with no introduction at all. It is a sabbath night, and Sātāgira proposes they visit “Gotama, the Teacher of peerless name.” Hemavata does not simply agree. He responds with a question: is this teacher’s mind actually well-disposed and impartial toward all creatures, are his thoughts actually under control regarding likes and dislikes? Sātāgira answers in the affirmative, matching Hemavata’s question almost word for word — a pattern of exact call-and-response that will structure the entire first half of the discourse.
Verses 4–11: character, tested point by point
What follows is not casual praise but a structured examination, cycling through specific ethical territory: not stealing and not harming any creature; not lying, not speaking harshly, avoiding backbiting and nonsense; being unattracted to sensual pleasures, with a mind unclouded by delusion; being “accomplished in knowledge,” living purely, with all defilements ended and no further rebirth ahead. Each item Hemavata raises as a question, Sātāgira answers in matching language, confirming it. The effect is of two beings unwilling to take a reputation on faith — testing it, criterion by criterion, until nothing remains unverified.
Verses 12–17: the walk begins
Once the examination is satisfied, the verses shift from interrogation to anticipation, repeating “accomplished is the sage’s mind in action and in speech” as a kind of refrain building momentum toward the decision to actually go. The Buddha himself is then described in vivid, almost startling physical terms — “the hero so lean, with antelope calves, not greedy, eating little,” “a giant, wandering alone like a lion, unconcerned for sensual pleasures” — language that treats his physical austerity as itself a kind of evidence, visible confirmation of the inner qualities just confirmed in words. The two spirits resolve to approach and ask about “release from the snare of death.”
Verses 18–22: the world in six, and its exit
Having arrived, Hemavata asks the question the whole approach has been building toward: “What has the world arisen in? What does it get close to? By grasping what is the world troubled in what?” The Buddha’s answer is compact and precise: “The world’s arisen in six. It gets close to six. Derived from the six, the world’s troubled in six.” Pressed for the specific content of the grasping involved, he clarifies: “The world has five kinds of sensual stimulation, and the mind is said to be the sixth. When you’ve discarded desire for these, you’re released from all suffering.” This is the canon’s standard analysis of experience into six sense fields (the five physical senses plus the mind as a sixth) restated here in its most compressed possible form — the entire structure of a person’s world, and the entire path out of it, located in exactly the same six places.
Verses 23–25: crossing the flood
Hemavata’s final question uses the canon’s recurring image of a flood or deluge that must be crossed to reach safety: “Who here crosses the flood, who crosses the deluge? Who, not standing and unsupported, does not sink in the deep?” The Buddha’s answer names a specific combination of qualities — ethical conduct, wisdom, serenity, inward reflection, mindfulness — together with “desisting from sensual perception,” escaping all fetters, and ending “relish for rebirth.” The striking phrase “not standing and unsupported” captures something genuinely paradoxical about the image: one crosses this flood without a foothold and without external support, by inner qualities alone.
Verses 26–30: the spirits' homage
The discourse closes with the spirits speaking together, no longer testing but simply praising — “the great seer treading the holy road,” “the all-knower, so very intelligent” — and declaring the encounter “a fine sight for us today, a good dawn, a good rising.” A thousand native spirits, the text says, go to the Buddha for refuge, and pledge to travel “village to village, peak to peak,” carrying word of the teaching. The examination that opened the discourse, so careful and so skeptical, closes in wholehearted devotion — but only after every claim behind that devotion has actually been tested.
Key terms
The text
An invitation, and a demand for evidence
Verse 1“Today is the fifteenth day sabbath,”
said Sātāgira, the native spirit of mount Sātā,
“a holy night is at hand.
Come now, let us see Gotama,
the Teacher of peerless name.”
Verse 2“Isn’t his mind well-disposed,”
said Hemavata, the native spirit of the Himalayas,
“impartial toward all creatures?
And aren’t his thoughts under control
when it comes to likes and dislikes?”
Verse 3“His mind is well-disposed,”
said Sātāgira,
“impartial towards all creatures.
His thoughts are under control
when it comes to his likes and dislikes.”
Character, tested point by point
Verse 4“Doesn’t he not steal?”
said Hemavata,
“And doesn’t he harm not a creature?
Isn’t he far from negligence?
And doesn’t he not neglect absorption?”
Verse 5“He does not take what is not given,”
said Sātāgira,
“and he harms not a creature.
He is far from negligence—
the Buddha does not neglect absorption.”
Verse 6“Doesn’t he avoid lying?”
said Hemavata,
“And doesn’t he not speak sharply?
Doesn’t he avoid backbiting,
as well as speaking nonsense?”
Verse 7“He does not lie,”
said Sātāgira,
“nor does he speak sharply.
He avoids backbiting,
and thoughtfully speaks wise counsel.”
Verse 8“Doesn’t he find sensual pleasures unattractive?”
said Hemavata,
“And isn’t his mind unclouded?
Hasn’t he escaped delusion?
Does his eye see clearly in all things?”
Verse 9“He does not find sensual pleasures attractive,”
said Sātāgira,
“and his mind is unclouded.
He has escaped all delusion—
the Buddha, whose eye sees clearly in all things.”
Verse 10“Isn’t he accomplished in knowledge?”
said Hemavata,
“And doesn’t he live a pure life?
Aren’t his defilements all ended?
Doesn’t he have no future lives?”
Verse 11“He is accomplished in knowledge,”
said Sātāgira,
“and he does live a pure life.
His defilements are all ended,
there’ll be no more future lives for him.”
The walk begins
Verse 12“Accomplished is the sage’s mind
in action and in speech,
and he’s accomplished in knowledge and conduct
as per the teaching you praise.”
Verse 13“Accomplished is the sage’s mind
in action and in speech,
and he’s accomplished in knowledge and conduct
as per the teaching you rejoice in.
Verse 14Accomplished is the sage’s mind
in action and in speech,
and he’s accomplished in knowledge and conduct:
come now, let us see Gotama.”
Verse 15“The hero so lean, with antelope calves,
not greedy, eating little,
the sage meditating alone in the forest,
come now, let us see Gotama.
Verse 16A giant, wandering alone like a lion,
unconcerned for sensual pleasures,
let’s approach him and ask about
release from the snare of death.”
Verse 17“The communicator, the instructor,
who has gone beyond all things,
Awakened, beyond enmity and fear,
let us ask Gotama.”
The world in six, and its exit
Verse 18“What has the world arisen in?”
said Hemavata,
“What does it get close to?
By grasping what
is the world troubled in what?”
Verse 19“The world’s arisen in six,”
said the Buddha to Hemavata.
“It gets close to six.
Derived from the six,
the world’s troubled in six.”
Verse 20“What is that grasping
by which the world is troubled?
Tell us the exit when asked:
how is one released from all suffering?”
Verse 21“The world has five kinds of sensual stimulation,
and the mind is said to be the sixth.
When you’ve discarded desire for these,
you’re released from all suffering.
Verse 22This is the exit from the world,
explained in accord with the truth.
The way I’ve explained it is how
you’re released from all suffering.”
Crossing the flood
Verse 23“Who here crosses the flood,
Who crosses the deluge?
Who, not standing and unsupported,
does not sink in the deep?”
Verse 24“Someone who is always endowed with ethics,
wise and serene,
inwardly reflective, mindful,
crosses the flood so hard to cross.
Verse 25Someone who desists from sensual perception,
who has escaped all fetters,
and has ended relish for rebirth,
does not sink in the deep.”
The spirits' homage
Verse 26“Behold him of wisdom deep who sees the subtle meaning,
who has nothing, unattached to sensual life,
everywhere free,
the great seer treading the holy road.
Verse 27Behold him of peerless name who sees the subtle meaning,
giver of wisdom, unattached to the realm of sensuality:
the all-knower, so very intelligent,
the great seer treading the noble road.
Verse 28It was a fine sight for us today,
a good dawn, a good rising,
to see the Awakened One,
the undefiled one who has crossed the flood.
Verse 29These thousand native spirits
powerful and glorious,
all go to you for refuge,
you are our supreme Teacher.
Verse 30We shall journey
village to village, peak to peak,
paying homage to the Buddha,
and the clear rightness of the teaching!”
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