> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Snp 5:6 · 5:6 Upasīva’s Questions - URL: https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/snp-5-6/ - Published: 2026-06-01T01:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-07-13T16:58:10.000Z - Description: Sutta Nipāta · Snp 5:6. Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. - Author: Ninth Heaven Literature & Arts Association (NHLAA) - Tags: Buddhism, Sutta Piṭaka, Text, Indian, The Buddha, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Sutta Nipāta, Verse, Pali, Early Buddhist, Library, #Import 2026-07-06 03:29 Alone, Sakyan, with nothing to rely on, I can’t venture across the great flood. Tell me, All-around Eye, the support to rely on for crossing over this flood. The Buddha: Mindfully focused on nothingness,[1](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp5%5F6.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) relying on ‘There isn’t,’ you should cross over the flood. Abandoning sensuality, abstaining from conversations, keep watch for the ending of craving, night & day. Upasīva: One free from passion for all sensuality relying on nothingness, letting go of all else, released in the highest emancipation of perception: Does he stay there unaffected? The Buddha: One free from passion for all sensuality relying on nothingness, letting go of all else, released in the highest emancipation of perception: He stays there unaffected. Upasīva: If, All-around Eye, he stays there, unaffected for many years, right there would he be cooled & released? Would his consciousness be like that?[2](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp5%5F6.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) The Buddha: As a flame overthrown by the force of the wind goes to an end that cannot be classified,[3](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp5%5F6.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) so the sage freed from the name-body[4](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp5%5F6.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) goes to an end that cannot be classified. Upasīva: One who has reached the end: Does he not exist, or is he for eternity free from dis-ease? Please, sage, declare this to me as this phenomenon has been known by you. The Buddha: One who has reached the end has no criterion[5](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp5%5F6.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) by which anyone would say that—[6](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp5%5F6.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) for him it doesn’t exist. When all phenomena are done away with,[7](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp5%5F6.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) all means of speaking are done away with as well. vv. 1069–1076 Notes 1\. “Nothingness” here denotes the dimension of nothingness, one of the four levels of mental absorption on formless themes. One attains this level, after surmounting the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, by focusing on the perception, “There is nothing.” [MN 26](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/mn-26/) tells us that Āḷāra Kālāma, the Buddha’s first teacher when the latter was still a Bodhisatta, had attained this level of mental absorption and had thought that it was the highest possible attainment. The Bodhisatta left him upon realizing that it was not true liberation from stress and suffering. Nevertheless, the dimension of nothingness can be used as a basis for the insight leading to that liberation. On this point, see [Sn 5:14](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/sn-5-14/), below, and [AN 9:36](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/an-9-36/). On the strategy of relying on the formless states to cross over the flood, see [MN 52](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/mn-52/), [MN 106](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/mn-106/), [MN 111](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/mn-111/), and [AN 9:36](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/an-9-36/). 2\. Reading *bhavetha viññāṇaṁ tathāvidhassa* with the Thai edition, interpreting *tathāvidhassa* as an elision of *tathāvidhaṁ* (of that sort) and *assa* (his). The Burmese and Sri Lankan editions read *cavetha* (would fall; would die) instead of *bhavetha* (would be). It’s also possible to read *tathāvidhassa* as the genitive form of *tathāvidha.* Combined with *cavetha,* this would yield: Would the consciousness of such a one fall? 3\. For a discussion of this passage in light of early Buddhist theories of fire, see *The Mind Like Fire Unbound,* chapter 1. 4\. *Nāma-kāya* \= mental activities of all sorts. 5\. For a discussion of the meaning of “criterion” in this passage, see *The Mind Like Fire Unbound,* chapter 1\. On the Tathāgata as being undescribable, see *Skill in Questions,* chapter 8 and appendix 4. 6\. Reading *vajjā* (he would say/one would say), with the Sri Lankan edition. The Thai has *vajju,* which is irregular; the Burmese, *vajjaṁ* (they would say). *Vajjā* seems to be the best reading here for at least three textual reasons: (a) It fits into the meter better than *vajjaṁ.* (b) There has been no mention of any “they” up to this point in the dialogue. (c) The same line appears in [SN 1:20](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/sn-1-20/), and there all the major editions of the Canon read *vajjā.* From an interpretive standpoint, *vajjā* allows for the Buddha’s answer to respond both to Upasīva’s explicit question—does such a person not exist, or is he for eternity free from disease?—and for his implicit one: What has the Buddha’s own experience been of this state? Reading *vajjā* as meaning “one would say,” the answer tells of how the state of the person in question would appear to someone else. Reading it as meaning “he would say,” the answer tells of how the person himself would describe the experience of that state. In neither case is there any criterion by which anyone could say, looking from within or without, that such a person doesn’t exist or that he exists for eternity free from disease. 7\. This is one of the passages in the Canon that treats unbinding, not as a phenomenon *(dhamma),* but as the end of phenomena. On this point, see [AN 3:137](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/an-3-137/), note 1. --- *Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. © 2014 / rev. 2017 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu — released under the [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) licence, for free distribution only. Source: [dhammatalks.org](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp5%5F6.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) (Metta Forest Monastery).*