dn11:85.0 4.1. The Simile of the Land-Spotting Bird
BAGIAN 85
dn11:85.1 When he said this, I said to him:
dn11:85.2 ‘Once upon a time, mendicant, some sea-merchants set sail for the ocean deeps, taking with them a land-spotting bird.
dn11:85.3 When their ship was out of sight of land, they released the bird.
dn11:85.4 It flew right away to the east, the west, the north, the south, upwards, and in-between.
dn11:85.5 If it saw land on any side, it went there and stayed.
dn11:85.6 But if it saw no land on any side it returned to the ship.
dn11:85.7 In the same way, after failing to get an answer to this question even after searching as far as the realm of divinity, you’ve returned to me.
dn11:85.8 Mendicant, this is not how the question should be asked:
dn11:85.9 “Sir, where do these four principal states cease without remainder, namely, the elements of earth, water, fire, and air?”
dn11:85.10 This is how the question should be asked:
dn11:85.11 “Where do water and earth,
dn11:85.12 fire and air have no footing;
dn11:85.13 where long and short,
dn11:85.14 tiny and huge, beautiful and ugly?
dn11:85.15 Where do name and form
dn11:85.16 cease no residue left behind?”
dn11:85.17 And the answer to that is:
dn11:85.18 “‘Consciousness where no form appears,
dn11:85.19 infinite, radiant all-round.’
dn11:85.20 Here water and earth,
dn11:85.21 fire and air have no footing;
dn11:85.22 here long and short,
dn11:85.23 tiny and huge, beautiful and ugly.
dn11:85.24 Here name and form
dn11:85.25 cease with no residue left behind—
dn11:85.26 with the cessation of consciousness,
dn11:85.27 here they cease.”’”
dn11:85.28 That is what the Buddha said.
dn11:85.29 Satisfied, the householder Kevaḍḍha approved what the Buddha said.