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SN 1.58PTS (1st ed) SN 1.381 min read

Deviation

Uppathasutta

What is the wrong path?

Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 1.58Linked Discourses 1.58
  • 0.26. Jarāvagga6. Old Age

0.3UppathasuttaDeviation

1.1“Kiṁsu uppatho akkhāto,“What’s declared to be a deviation?11.2kiṁsu rattindivakkhayo;What is ending day and night?1.3Kiṁ malaṁ brahmacariyassa,What’s the stain of chastity?1.4kiṁ sinānamanodakan”ti.What’s the waterless bath?”2

2.1“Rāgo uppatho akkhāto,“Lust is declared to be a deviation.2.2Vayo rattindivakkhayo;Youth is ending day and night.2.3Itthī malaṁ brahmacariyassa,Women are the stain of chastity,2.4Etthāyaṁ sajjate pajā;to which this generation clings.2.5Tapo ca brahmacariyañca,Fervor and chastity32.6Taṁ sinānamanodakan”ti.are the waterless bath.”

Translator’s notes

  1. “Deviation” is uppatha (“off course”).

    These questions and answers are included in SN 1.76.

    ↩ sn1.58:1.1

  2. A reference to the belief that bathing in water brings purity. Compare the “inner bathing” at MN 7:18.5.

    ↩ sn1.58:1.4

  3. “Fervor and celibacy” (tapas and brahmacariya) are closely linked in Atharva Veda 11.5, which eulogizes the brahmacārin as the force of potency creating even the gods.

    ↩ sn1.58:2.5