Patala Sutta
    The Bottomless Chasm
    Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

     

    “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.