Buddhist Dhammapadha the wandering ascetic Subhadda

Chapter XVIII - MALA VAGGA - Impurities or Taints

DEFILEMENTS MULTIPLY IN THOSE WHO SEEK OTHERS' FAULTS

THERE ARE NO AGGREGATES WHICH ARE ETERNAL

Akase padam natthi samano natthi bahire
Papancabbirata paja nippapanca tathagata. [254]

THERE ARE NO SAINTS OUTSIDE THE DHAMMA

Akase padarn natthi samano natthi bahire
Sankhara sassata natthi natthi buddhanam injitam. [255]

In the sky there is no track. Outside ¹ there is no Saint. ² Mankind delights in obstacles. ³ The Tathagatas ⁴are free from obstacles. [254]

In the sky there is no track. Outside there is no Saint. There are no conditioned things ⁵ that are eternal. There is no instability ⁶in the Buddhas. [255]

XVIII: 12 The wandering ascetic (Subhadda)

Subhadda the wandering ascetic was staying at Kusinara when he heard that the Parinibbana of Gotama Buddha would take place that night. He had already put three questions which were troubling him to other religious leaders, but their answers did not satisfy him. He had not yet asked Gotama Buddha, and he felt that only the Enlightened One could answer his questions. He hurried to the Buddha, but Venerable Ananda tried to persuade him not to go any further. However, the Enlightened One overheard their conversation and consented to see Subhadda, who then asked the three questions:

Are there tracks in the sky?
Are there any Ariya bhikkhus (samanas) outside the Teaching of the Buddha?
Is there any conditioned thing (sankhara) that is permanent?
The Buddha replied in the negative to all the three questions.

Notes:

Outside the Dispensation (sasana) of the Buddha.

Here samana refers to Saints who have realized the four Paths and four Fruits. They are the Ariya Saints who have attained Nibbana

Impediments such as craving, pride, etc.

An epithet of the Buddha. Literally, it means 'who thus hath come'.

Sankhara means the five aggregates conditioned by causes.

There is no single impediment such as craving, pride and so on, by means of which the Buddhas regard the conditioned things as eternal.