[Dhotaka:]

I ask you, O Blessed One. Please tell me. I hope for your words, Great Seer. Having heard your pronouncement, I'll train for my own

Unbinding.

[The Buddha:]

In that case, be ardent — astute & mindful right here. Then, having heard my pronouncement, train for your own

Unbinding.

[Dhotaka:]

I see in the world of beings

divine & human,

a brahman who lives possessing nothing.

I pay homage to him
the All-around Eye.

From my doubts, O Sakyan, release me!

[The Buddha:]

No one in the world, Dhotaka, can I release from doubting. But knowing the most excellent Dhamma, you will cross over the flood.

[Dhotaka:]

Teach with compassion, O brahman, the Dhamma of seclusion so that I may know — so that I, unafflicted as space, may live right here,

independent,
at peace.

[The Buddha:]

I will teach you peace

— in the here & now,
not quoted words —

knowing which, living mindfully, you'll go beyond entanglement in the world.

[Dhotaka:]

And I relish, Great Seer, that peace supreme, knowing which, living mindfully, I'll go beyond entanglement in the world.

[The Buddha:]

Whatever you're alert to,

above, below,
across, in between:

knowing it as a bond in the world,

don't create craving
for becoming or non-.