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90.

"Among whatever beings there may be -- footless, two-footed, four-footed, many footed; with form or formless; percipient, non-percipient, neither percipient nor non-percipient -- the Tathagata, worthy & rightly self-awakened, is considered supreme. Those who have confidence in the Awakened One have confidence in what is supreme; and for those with confidence in the supreme, supreme is the result.

"Among whatever qualities there may be, fabricated or unfabricated, the quality of dispassion -- the subduing of intoxication, the elimination of thirst, the uprooting of attachment, the breaking of the round, the destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, the realization of Unbinding -- is considered supreme. Those who have confidence in the quality of dispassion have confidence in what is supreme; and for those with confidence in the supreme, supreme is the result.

"Among whatever fabricated qualities there may be, the Noble Eightfold Path -- right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration -- is considered supreme. Those who have confidence in the Noble Eightfold Path have confidence in what is supreme; and for those with confidence in the supreme, supreme is the result.

"Among whatever communities or groups there may be, the Sangha of the Tathagata's disciples is considered supreme -- i.e., the four [groups of noble disciples] when taken as pairs, the eight when taken as persons. Those who have confidence in the Sangha have confidence in what is supreme; and for those with confidence in the supreme, supreme will be the result.

"These, monks, are the three supreme objects of confidence."

With
confidence,
    realizing the supreme Dhamma to be supreme,
confidence in the supreme Buddha,
    unsurpassed
    in deserving offerings;
confidence in the supreme Dhamma,
    the stilling of dispassion,
    bliss;
confidence in the supreme Sangha,
    unsurpassed
    as a field of merit;
having given gifts to the supreme,
    one develops supreme merit,
    supreme long life & beauty,
    status, honor,
    bliss, & strength.
Having given to the supreme,
    the wise person, centered
    in supreme Dhamma,
whether becoming a divine or human being,
    rejoices,
having attained the supreme.

91.

    He's missed out
on the householder's enjoyment
& the purpose of the contemplative life
    -- unfortunate man!
Ruining it, he throws it away,
    perishes
like a funeral firebrand.

Better to eat an iron ball
-- glowing, aflame --
than that, unprincipled &
    unrestrained,
he should eat the alms of the country.

92.

"But even if a monk were to live one hundred leagues away, yet if he were to have no greed for sensual objects, were not strong in his passions, not malevolent in mind, uncorrupt in his resolves, his mindfulness established, alert, centered, his mind at singleness, & his faculties well-restrained, then he would be near to me, and I to him. Why is that? Because he sees the Dhamma. Seeing the Dhamma, he sees me."

Though following right behind,
    full of desire, vexation:
see how far he is! --
the perturbed
    from the unperturbed,
the bound
    from the Unbound,
the greedy one
    from the one with no greed.

But the wise person who, through
    direct knowledge of Dhamma,
    gnosis of Dhamma,
grows still & unperturbed
like a lake unruffled by wind:
see how close he is! --
the unperturbed to the unperturbed,
the Unbound to the Unbound,
the greedless one
to the one with no greed.

93.

The fire of passion burns in a mortal
    excited, smitten
with sensual desires;
the fire of aversion, in an angry person
    taking life;
the fire of delusion, in a bewildered person
    ignorant
    of the noble teaching.
Not understanding these fires, people
    -- fond of self-identity --
    unreleased from Mara's shackles,
swell the ranks of hell,
    the wombs of common animals, demons,
    the realm of the hungry shades.

While those who, day & night, follow the teachings
    of the rightly self-awakened,
put out the fire of passion,
    constantly perceiving the foul.
They, people superlative, put out the fire of aversion
        with good will,
and the fire of delusion
    with the discernment leading
    to penetration.

They, the masterful, by night & day,
    having put out [the fires],
having,     without remainder,
    comprehended stress,
are,         without remainder,
    totally unbound.

They, the wise, with an attainer-of-wisdom's
        noble vision,
        right gnosis,
directly knowing
the ending of birth,
    come to no further becoming.

94.

For a monk who has abandoned
    seven attachments
and cut the guide:
the wandering-on in birth
    is finished,
there is
no further becoming.

95.

Devas whose pleasures are already provided,
    those with control,
    those who delight in creation,
and any others enjoying sensual pleasures
in this state here
or anywhere else,
    don't go beyond
    the wandering-on.

Knowing this drawback
in sensual pleasures, the wise
should abandon all sensual desires,
    whether human
        or divine.

Having cut the flow of greed
for lovely, alluring forms
so hard to transcend,
having,     without remainder,
    comprehended stress,
they are,     without remainder,
    totally unbound.

They, the wise, with an attainer-of-wisdom's
        noble vision,
        right gnosis,
directly knowing
the ending of birth,
    come to no further becoming.

96.

Tied by both
    the yoke of sensuality
&     the yoke of becoming,
beings go to the wandering-on
    leading to birth
    & death.

Those who've abandoned the sensual
    without reaching the ending of fermentations,
are bound         by the yoke of becoming,
are said to be     Non-returners.

While those who've cut off doubt
    have no more conceit
        or further becoming.

They who have reached
    the ending of fermentations,
while in the world
    have gone         beyond.

97.

"And how is a monk a person with admirable virtue? There is the case where a monk is virtuous. He dwells restrained in accordance with the Patimokkha, consummate in his behavior & sphere of activity. He trains himself, having undertaken the training rules, seeing danger in the slightest faults. In this way a monk is a person with admirable virtue. Thus he is of admirable virtue.

"And how is a monk a person with admirable qualities? There is the case where a monk lives committed to the development of the seven [sets of] qualities that are wings to awakening. In this way a monk is a person with admirable qualities. Thus he is of admirable virtue & admirable qualities.

"And how is a monk a person with admirable discernment? There is the case where a monk, through the ending of fermentations, dwells in the release of awareness & release of discernment that are free from fermentation, having known & made them manifest for himself right in the present life. In this way a monk is a person with admirable discernment. Thus he is of admirable virtue, admirable qualities, admirable discernment. In this Dhamma-&-Vinaya he is called one who is complete, fulfilled, a superlative person."

Devoid of wrong-doing
in thought, word, or deed,
he's called a person of admirable virtue:
    the monk conscientious.

Well-developed in the qualities
that go to the attainment of self-awakening,
he's called a person of admirable qualities:
    the monk unassuming.

Discerning right here for himself,
            in himself,
the ending of stress
he's called a person of admirable discernment:
    the monk with no fermentation.

Consummate in
these things,
untroubled, with doubt cut away,
unattached in all the world,
    he's said to have abandoned
        the All.

98.

The gift he describes
as foremost & unsurpassed,
the sharing the Blessed One has extolled:
who -- confident in the supreme field of merit,
    wise, discerning --
wouldn't give it at appropriate times?

Both for those who proclaim it
and those who listen,
confident in the message of the One Well-gone:
it purifies their foremost benefit --
    those heeding the message
    of the One Well-gone.

99.

"There is the case where a monk recollects his manifold past lives, i.e., one birth, two ... five, ten ... fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, many eons of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion, many eons of cosmic contraction & expansion: 'There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.' Thus he recollects his manifold past lives in their modes & details.

"This is the first knowledge he has attained. Ignorance has been destroyed; knowledge has arisen; darkness has been destroyed; light has arisen -- as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.

"Then again, the monk sees -- by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human -- beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma: 'These beings -- who were endowed with bodily misconduct, verbal misconduct, & mental misconduct; who reviled noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views -- at the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, in hell. But these beings -- who were endowed with bodily good conduct, verbal good conduct, & mental good conduct; who did not revile noble ones, who held right views and undertook actions under the influence of right views -- at the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the good destinations, in the heavenly world.' Thus -- by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human -- he sees beings passing away & re-appearing, and discerns how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma.

"This is the second knowledge he has attained. Ignorance has been destroyed; knowledge has arisen; darkness has been destroyed; light has arisen -- as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.

"Then again, the monk -- with the ending of fermentations -- remains in the fermentation-free release of awareness & release of discernment, having directly known and made it manifest for himself right in the present life.

"This is the third knowledge he has attained. Ignorance has been destroyed; knowledge has arisen; darkness has been destroyed; light has arisen -- as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.

"It's in this way that, on the strength of Dhamma, I describe [a person as] a brahmin with threefold knowledge, and not another as measured by citing & reciting."

He knows    his former lives.
He sees    heavens & states of woe,
has attained    the ending of birth,
is a sage    who has mastered full-knowing.

By means of these three knowledges
he becomes a three-knowledge brahmin.
He's what I call a three-knowledge man --
    not another,
    citing, reciting.