Deep Commentary

This Dhammapada verse was taught by the Buddha at Jetavana Monastery in connection with Venerable Moggallana. According to the story, the incident concerning Venerable Moggallana was similar to that of Venerable Sariputta. In the end, people came to know that Venerable Moggallana had already cut off craving. Therefore the Buddha taught this verse. Craving and doubt are two basic defilements that create great obstacles on the path of practice. A practitioner who wishes to be liberated must remove both. The unborn is the nibbana realized by an arahant. One who attains arahantship has destroyed all taints and afflictions and no longer returns to birth in this world. More precisely, not a single defiled thought remains. As long as there is thought, there is arising. Whether the thought is wholesome or unwholesome, it still leads to rebirth. If the thought is wholesome, one may be reborn in a good realm and enjoy the fruit of merit; if it is unwholesome, one may be reborn in a realm of suffering. Thought arises from mental karma. Arahants have ended this mental karma. The restless monkey of consciousness no longer has a basis for activity. When mental karma ceases, the path of birth and death ends there. This is called the unborn: not being reborn anywhere, but abiding in nibbana. Nibbana is the peaceful state in which every trace of defilement has ceased. This may be called nibbana without remainder. By contrast, the nibbana of bodhisattvas is called non-abiding nibbana. It does not remain fixed in any place, because bodhisattvas move according to their vows to help living beings. Thus the nibbana of bodhisattvas differs from that of arahants.