"You make the effort. The Masters only point the Way."
The Buddha, the Dhammapada
Patala Sutta: The Bottomless Chasm
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
© 1997
Alternate translation: Nyanaponika
"Monks, when an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person makes the statement, 'There is a bottomless chasm in the ocean,' he is talking about something that doesn't exist, that can't be found.
The word 'bottomless chasm' is actually a designation for painful bodily feeling.
"When an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person is touched by a painful bodily feeling, he sorrows, grieves, and laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught. This is called an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person who has not risen up out of the bottomless chasm, who has not gained a foothold.
"When a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones is touched by a painful bodily feeling, he does not sorrow, grieve, or lament, does not beat his breast or become distraught.
This is called a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones who has risen up out of the bottomless chasm,
whose foothold is gained.
Whoever can't endure them
once they've arisen —
painful bodily feelings
that could kill living beings —
who trembles at their touch,
who cries and wails,
a weakling with no resilience:
he hasn't risen up
out of the bottomless chasm
or even gained
a foothold.
Whoever endures them
once they've arisen —
painful bodily feelings
that could kill living beings —
who doesn't tremble at their touch:
he's risen up
out of the bottomless chasm,
his foothold is gained.
