1On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Sāvatthī in Jeta's Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika's Park, together with a great Saṅgha of bhikkhus, with 1,250 bhikkhus. Now on that occasion the Blessed One was instructing, exhorting, inspiring, and gladdening the bhikkhus with a Dhamma talk concerning Nibbāna. And those bhikkhus were listening to the Dhamma with eager ears, attending to it as a matter of vital concern, directing their whole mind to it.

Then it occurred to the Venerable Vangisa: "This Blessed One is instructing the bhikkhus with a Dhamma talk concerning Nibbāna. And those bhikkhus are listening to the Dhamma with eager ears … . Let me extol the Blessed One to his face with suitable verses."

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2Then the Venerable Vangisa rose from his seat, arranged his upper robe over one shoulder, and, raising his joined hands in reverential salutation towards the Blessed One, said to him: "An inspiration has come to me, Blessed One! An inspiration has come to me, Fortunate One!"

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"Then express your inspiration, Vangisa."

Then the Venerable Vangisa extolled the Blessed One to his face with suitable verses:

3v.738 "Over a thousand bhikkhus here
Attend upon the Fortunate One
As he teaches the dust-free Dhamma,
Nibbāna inaccessible to fear. [n.518] Spk: Nibbāna is called "inaccessible to fear" (akutobhayaṁ, lit. "no fear from anywhere") because there is no fear from any quarter in Nibbāna, or because there is no fear from any quarter for one who has attained Nibbāna. More typically, akutobhaya is used as a personal epithet of the Buddha or an arahant, as at Dhp 196, Th 289, and Thī 333; see EV I, n. to 289. Even in the present case we cannot be certain that the expression is not used in apposition to the Buddha rather than to Nibbāna, as both are accusative singulars, but I follow Spk.

4v.739 "They listen to the stainless Dhamma
Taught by the Perfectly Enlightened One.
The Enlightened One indeed shines
Honoured by the Bhikkhu Saṅgha.

5v.740 "O Blessed One, your name is ‘nāga,’
The best seer of the seers.
Like a great cloud bearing rain
You pour down on the disciples. [n.519] On nāga see n. 84. Spk explains the ambiguous expression isinaṁ isisattamo as "the seventh seer of the seers beginning with Vipassī," referring to the lineage of the seven Buddhas. Spk-pṭ offers, besides this explanation, an alternative based on sattama as the superlative of sant: "He is the best, the highest, the supreme (sattamo uttaro (sic: read uttamo?) seṭṭho) of seers including paccekabuddhas, Buddhist disciples, and outside seers." I agree with Norman that this second alternative is more likely to be correct; see EV I, n. to 1240. sn.i.193

6v.741 "Having emerged from his daytime abode
From a desire to behold the Teacher,
Your disciple Vangisa, O great hero,
Bows down in worship at your feet."

7"Had you already thought out these verses, Vangisa, or did they occur to you spontaneously?" [n.520] The contrast is between pubbe parivitakkita and ṭhanaso paṭibhanti. Spk explains that the Buddha asked this question because other bhikkhus had been criticizing Vangīsa, thinking that he neglected study and meditation and passed all his time composing verses. The Master wanted to make them recognize the excellence of his spontaneous ingenuity (paṭibhanasampatti).

"I had not already thought out these verses, venerable sir; they occurred to me spontaneously."

"In that case, Vangisa, let some more verses, not already thought out, occur to you."

"Yes, venerable sir," the Venerable Vangisa replied. Then he extolled the Blessed One with some more verses that had not been previously thought out:

8v.742 "Having overcome the deviant course of Māra's path,
You fare having demolished barrenness of mind.
Behold him, the releaser from bondage,
Unattached, dissecting into parts. [n.521] Spk: The deviant course of Māra's path (ummaggapathaṁ Mārassa) refers to the emergence of the hundreds of defilements, called a path because they are the path into the round of existence.
On barrenness of mind (khila) see n. 500. In pavibhajjaṁ, with Se and Ee1 & 2. Be reads pavibhajaṁ. Spk glosses as vibhajantaṁ, an accusative present participle, but Norman suggests pavibhajjaṁ may be an absolutive with -ṁ added, and Spk mentions a v.l. pavibhajja, a clear absolutive. Spk paraphrases: "who analyses the Dhamma by way of such groups as the establishments of mindfulness," etc. The explanation sounds contrived, but it is difficult to determine the original meaning.

9v.743 "For the sake of leading us across the flood
You declared the path with its many aspects.
The seers of Dhamma stand immovable
In that Deathless declared by you. [n.522] in pāda c, Be reads tasmiṁ ce in text, while Ee2 has tasmiṁ ca, which Spk (Be) reads in the lemma (but not in the text); the latter is the reading at Theragatha 1252. Norman, on metrical grounds, suggests amending the latter to tamhi ca or tasmi(ṁ) ca. Se and Ee1 have tasmiṁ te, which Spk (Se) has in the lemma. Spk glosses with tasmiṁ tena akkhate amate (Be and Se concur). Since here the aorist akkhasi can be taken as either second person or third person, I translate on the supposition that the second person is intended, which is consistent with carasi in the previous verse. Th1242 has carati, which justifies the translation of the parallel verse in that work as a third person. I also take te to be the enclitic for taya rather than tena. I understand the clause to be a true locative rather than a locative absolute and take "the Deathless" here to be a contraction of "the path to the Deathless," alluded to in pāda b. This has the support of Spk-pṭ, which says: amate akkhate ti amatavahe dhamme desite, "‘In that Deathless declared’ means in that Dhamma taught (by you) which brings the Deathless."

10v.744 "The light-maker, having pierced right through,
Saw the transcendence of all stations;
Having known and realized it himself,
He taught the chief matter to the five. [n.523] (He) saw the transcendence of all stations (sabbaṭṭhitinam atikkamam addasa). Spk: "He saw Nibbāna, the transcendence of all the standpoints of views and of all the stations of consciousness." Six standpoints of views ((diṭṭhiṭṭhāna) are mentioned at MN1; eight at Paṭis I 138,14–26). Four stations of consciousness (viññāṇaṭṭhiti) are at DN22, seven at DN33; see too SN22.54.
Spk: The chief matter (agga) is the supreme Dhamma; or if the v.l. agge is adopted, the meaning is: at the beginning, first of all. The five (dasaddhanaṁ, lit. "half of ten") are the bhikkhus of the group of five (i.e., the first five disciples). Thus the meaning is: He taught the chief Dhamma to the five bhikkhus, or he taught the five bhikkhus at the beginning (of his ministry).

11v.745 "When the Dhamma has been so well taught,
What negligence is there for those who understand it?
Therefore, living diligent in the Blessed One's Teaching,
One should always reverently train in it."

1Ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā sāvatthiyaṁ vihārati jetavane anāthapiṇḍikassa ārāme mahatā bhikkhusaṅghena saddhiṁ aḍḍhatelasehi bhikkhusatehi. Tena kho pana samayena bhagavā bhikkhū nibbānapaṭisaṁyuttāya dhammiyā kathāya sandasseti samādapeti samuttejeti sampahaṁseti. Te ca bhikkhū aṭṭhiṁ katvā manasi katvā sabbacetasā samannāharitvā ohitasotā dhammaṁ suṇanti.

Atha kho āyasmato vaṅgīsassa etadahosi: "Ayaṁ kho bhagavā bhikkhū nibbānapaṭisaṁyuttāya dhammiyā kathāya sandasseti samādapeti samuttejeti sampahaṁseti. Te ca bhikkhū aṭṭhiṁ katvā manasi katvā sabbacetasā samannāharitvā ohitasotā dhammaṁ suṇanti. Yannūnāhaṁ bhagavantaṁ sammukhā sāruppāhi gāthāhi abhitthaveyyan"ti.

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2Atha kho āyasmā vaṅgīso uṭṭhāyāsanā ekaṁsaṁ uttarāsaṅgaṁ karitvā yena bhagavā tenañjaliṁ paṇāmetvā bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: "paṭibhāti maṁ, bhagavā, paṭibhāti maṁ, sugatā"ti.

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"Paṭibhātu taṁ, vaṅgīsā"ti bhagavā avoca.

Atha kho āyasmā vaṅgīso bhagavantaṁ sammukhā sāruppāhi gāthāhi abhitthavi:

3"Parosahassaṁ bhikkhūnaṁ,
sugataṁ payirupāsati;
Desentaṁ virajaṁ dhammaṁ,
nibbānaṁ akutobhayaṁ.

4Suṇanti dhammaṁ vimalaṁ,
sammāsambuddhadesitaṁ;
Sobhati vata sambuddho,
bhikkhusaṅghapurakkhato.

5Nāganāmosi bhagavā,
isīnaṁ isisattamo;
Mahāmeghova hutvāna,
sāvake abhivassati.

6Divāvihārā nikkhamma,
satthudassanakamyatā;
Sāvako te mahāvīra,
pāde vandati vaṅgiso"ti.

7"Kiṁ nu te, vaṅgīsa, imā gāthāyo pubbe parivitakkitā, udāhu ṭhānasova taṁ paṭibhantī"ti?

"Na kho me, bhante, imā gāthāyo pubbe parivitakkitā, atha kho ṭhānasova maṁ paṭibhantī"ti.

"Tena hi taṁ, vaṅgīsa, bhiyyoso mattāya pubbe aparivitakkitā gāthāyo paṭibhantū"ti.

"Evaṁ, bhante"ti kho āyasmā vaṅgīso bhagavato paṭissutvā bhiyyoso mattāya bhagavantaṁ pubbe aparivitakkitāhi gāthāhi abhitthavi:

8"Ummaggapathaṁ mārassa abhibhuyya,
Carasi pabhijja khilāni;
Taṁ passatha bandhapamuñcakaraṁ,
Asitaṁ bhāgaso pavibhajaṁ.

9Oghassa nittharaṇatthaṁ,
Anekavihitaṁ maggaṁ akkhāsi;
Tasmiñce amate akkhāte,
Dhammaddasā ṭhitā asaṁhīrā.

10Pajjotakaro ativijjha,
Sabbaṭṭhitīnaṁ atikkamamaddasa;
Ñatvā ca sacchikatvā ca,
Aggaṁ so desayi dasaddhānaṁ.

11Evaṁ sudesite dhamme,
Ko pamādo vijānataṁ dhammaṁ;
Tasmā hi tassa bhagavato sāsane,
Appamatto sadā namassamanusikkhe"ti.