Pārāyanavagga - The Chapter on the Way to the Far Shore

The venerable Ajita asks the Buddha a series of questions about the nature of the world, the currents of defilements, how to overcome name and form and the conduct of those who have comprehended the Dhamma.

The Buddha answers the venerable Tissa Metteyya's questions about who is content in the world, who is not perturbed, and who has gone beyond the net of existence.

The Buddha answers the venerable Puṇṇaka’s questions about the sacrifices made by sages and brahmins, the nature of their desires, and who has truly crossed over birth and old age.

The venerable Mettagū asks the Blessed One about the origin of suffering and how the wise cross the flood of birth and sorrow. The Buddha shares a Dhamma that is directly visible, revealing that sufferings have acquisitions as their source and showing the path for the wise to reach the far shore, free from craving and untroubled.

The venerable Dhotaka asks the Buddha to free him from doubt and teach the principle of peace. The Buddha explains that liberation cannot be bestowed by another but arises from directly knowing the Dhamma. He instructs Dhotaka to see even the act of knowing as a ‘sticking point’ in the world, and to abandon craving for any state of existence.

The venerable Jatukaṇṇi asks the Buddha on how to attain the state of peace and abandon birth and old age. The Buddha advises him to remove greed for sensual pleasures by seeing renunciation as safety, and to cease all grasping related to name and form in the past, future, as well as present.

The venerable Mogharāja asks the Buddha how to look upon the world so that the King of Death does not see one. The Buddha advises to look upon the world as empty, being ever mindful, and to uproot the sense of self.