With Dāmali

At Sāvatthī.

Then, late at night, the glorious godling Dāmali, lighting up the entire Jeta’s Grove, went up to the Buddha, bowed, stood to one side, ^[1]

and spoke this verse in the Buddha’s presence:

“This is what should be done by a brahmin: ^[2]

unrelenting striving.

Then, with the giving up of sensual pleasures,

they won’t hope to be reborn.”

“The brahmin has nothing left to do,” ^[3]

said the Buddha to Dāmali,

“for they’ve completed their task.

So long as a personage fails to gain a footing in the river,

they swim with every limb. ^[4]

But someone who has gained a footing <j>and stands on dry land

need not swim, <j>for they have reached the far shore.

Dāmali, this is a simile for the brahmin,

alert, a meditator who has ended defilements.

Since they’ve reached the end of rebirth and death,

they need not swim, <j>for they have reached the far shore.”