“Yo hoti bhikkhu arahaṁ katāvī,
Khīṇāsavo antimadehadhārī;
Ahaṁ vadāmītipi so vadeyya,
Mamaṁ vadantītipi so vadeyyā”ti.
“If a bhikkhu is an |Arahant::a worthy one, a fully awakened being, epithet of the Buddha [arahant]|, |consummate::complete, perfected; lit. who has done what had to be done [katāvī]|,
|whose mental defilements have ended::who is awakened through the complete exhaustion of the mental effluents, taints [khīṇāsava]|,
bearing his final body;
Would he still say, ‘I speak’?
And would he say, ‘They speak to me’?”
“Yo hoti bhikkhu arahaṁ katāvī,
Khīṇāsavo antimadehadhārī;
Ahaṁ vadāmītipi so vadeyya,
Mamaṁ vadantītipi so vadeyya;
Loke samaññaṁ kusalo viditvā,
Vohāramattena so vohareyyā”ti.
“A bhikkhu who is an Arahant, consummate,
whose mental defilements have ended,
bearing his final body;
He might indeed say, ‘I speak’,
and he might say, ‘They speak to me’;
|Skillful::expert, adept, competent [kusala]|, knowing the world’s |designations::common language, normal usage, general meaning [samaññā]|,
he would speak merely by way of convention.”
“Yo hoti bhikkhu arahaṁ katāvī,
Khīṇāsavo antimadehadhārī;
Mānaṁ nu kho so upagamma bhikkhu,
Ahaṁ vadāmītipi so vadeyya;
Mamaṁ vadantītipi so vadeyyā”ti.
“If a bhikkhu is an Arahant, consummate,
whose mental defilements have ended,
bearing his final body;
Is it because he has resorted to |conceit::self-view expressed as comparison—seeing oneself as superior, inferior, or equal; the persistent “I am” conceit (asmimāna) that underlies identification and fuels rebirth [māna]|,
that he would say, ‘I speak’?
And that he would say, ‘They speak to me’?”
“Pahīnamānassa na santi ganthā,
Vidhūpitā mānaganthassa sabbe;
Sa vītivatto maññataṁ sumedho,
Ahaṁ vadāmītipi so vadeyya.
“No |knots::bonds, ties [ganthā]| can be found in one with conceit abandoned,
for him, all knots of conceit are smoked away;
Though the wise one has transcended |conceiving::imagining, supposing; (comm) conceit [maññata]|,
he still might say, ‘I speak.’
Mamaṁ vadantītipi so vadeyya,
Loke samaññaṁ kusalo viditvā;
Vohāramattena so vohareyyā”ti.
and he might say too, ‘They speak to me’;
Skillful, knowing the world’s designations,
he would speak merely by way of convention.”