With Punabbasu

Punabbasusutta SN 10.7 https://suttacentral.net/sn10.7

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.

Now at that time the Buddha was educating, encouraging, firing up, and inspiring the mendicants with a Dhamma talk about extinguishment. And those mendicants were paying attention, applying the mind, concentrating wholeheartedly, and actively listening.

Then the native spirit Punabbasu’s Mother soothed her little children, saying:

“Hush, little Uttarā!

Hush, Punabbasu!

For I want to listen to the teaching

of the Teacher, the supreme Buddha.

Since the Blessed One spoke of extinguishment,

the release from all ties,

I have a lasting love

for this teaching.

In this world, your own child is dear;

in this world, your own husband is dear;

but even greater than that is my love

for this teaching’s quest.

For neither son nor husband,

dear as they are, can free you from suffering;

as listening to the true teaching

frees living creatures from suffering.

In this world mired in suffering,

fettered by old age and death,

I want to listen to the teaching

that the Buddha awakened to,

which frees you from old age and death.

So hush, Punabbasu!”

“Mom, I’m not speaking,

and Uttarā is silent, too.

Focus just on the teaching,

for it’s nice to listen to the true teaching.

And it’s because we haven’t understood the teaching

that we live in suffering, Mom.

He is a beacon for those who are lost

among gods and humans.

The Buddha, bearing his final body,

the Clear-eyed One teaches Dhamma.”

“It’s good that my child’s so astute,

this child I bore and suckled!

My child loves the pure teaching

of the supreme Buddha.

Punabbasu, may you be happy!

Today, I rise.

Hear me too, Uttarā:

I have seen the noble truths!”