Upasena Vangataputta Sutta

Category: Meghiyavagga

From Buddhist Encyclopedia

• Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Rajagaha at the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels' Sanctuary. Now at that time, when Ven. Upasena Vangantaputta was alone in seclusion, this line of thinking arose in his awareness: "What a gain, what a true gain it is for me that my teacher is the Blessed One, worthy and fully self-awakened; that I have gone forth from home to the homeless life in a well-taught Dhamma and discipline; that my companions in the holy life are virtuous and endowed with admirable qualities; that I have achieved culmination in terms of the precepts; that my mind is unified and well-concentrated; that I am an arahant, with effluents ended; that I have great power and great might. Fortunate has been my life; fortunate will be my death."

Then the Blessed One, comprehending with his awareness the line of thinking that had arisen in Ven. Upasena Vangantaputta's awareness, on that occasion exclaimed:

He feels no regret at what life has been, he feels no sorrow at death, if — a wise one — he has seen that state. He feels no sorrow in the midst of sorrow.

For one who has destroyed craving for becoming — the monk of peaceful mind — birth & the wandering on are totally ended. There is no further becoming.