[Nanda:]

There are in the world
sages, they say
	— in what way?
Do they call one a sage
for possessing knowledge
or possessing a way of life?

[The Buddha:]

Not on account of his views,
	learning,
	or knowledge
do the skilled here, Nanda,
		call one a sage.
Those who live
	disarmed,
	undesiring,
	untroubled:
		those, I say, are called sages.

[Nanda:]

Whatever priests & contemplatives
	describe purity
		in terms of views & learning,
	describe purity
		in terms of precepts & practices,
	describe purity
		in terms of manifold ways:
have they, dear sir, living there in that way,
crossed over birth & aging?
	I ask you, O Blessed One.
	Please tell me.

[The Buddha:]

Whatever priests & contemplatives
	describe purity
		in terms of views & learning,
	describe purity
		in terms of precepts & practices,
	describe purity
		in terms of manifold ways:
none of them, living there in that way,
I tell you, have crossed over birth & aging.

[Nanda:]

Whatever priests & contemplatives
	describe purity
		in terms of views & learning,
	describe purity
		in terms of precepts & practices,
	describe purity
		in terms of manifold ways:
if, sage, as you say,
they've not crossed over the flood,
then who in the world
of beings divine & human
has crossed over birth & aging?
	I ask you, O Blessed One.
	Please tell me.

[The Buddha:]

I don't say that all priests & contemplatives
are shrouded in birth & aging.
Those here who've abandoned
	what's seen, heard, & sensed,
	precepts & practices 
		— all — 
who've abandoned their manifold ways
		— again, all — 
who, comprehending craving,
	are effluent-free:
they are the ones, I tell you,
who've crossed over the flood.

[Nanda:]

I relish, Gotama, the Great Seer's words
well-expounded, without acquisition.
Those here who've abandoned
	what's seen, heard, & sensed,
	precepts & practices
		— all — 
who've abandoned their manifold ways
		— again, all — 
who, comprehending craving,
	are effluent-free:
I, too, say they've crossed over the flood.