No Becoming
Na Bhava Sutta (SN 48:21)
“Monks, there are these five faculties. Which five? The faculty of conviction, the faculty of persistence, the faculty of mindfulness, the faculty of concentration, the faculty of discernment.
“Now, as long as I did not have direct knowledge, as it has come to be, of the origination, the passing away, the allure, the drawbacks of—and the escape from—these five faculties, I did not claim to have directly awakened to the unexcelled right self-awakening in this cosmos with its devas, Māras, & Brahmās, in this generation with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & common people. But when I did have direct knowledge, as it has come to be, of the origination, the passing away, the allure, the drawbacks of—and the escape from—these five faculties, then I did claim to have directly awakened to the unexcelled right self-awakening in this cosmos with its devas, Māras, & Brahmās, in this generation with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & common people.
“Knowledge & vision arose in me: ‘Unprovoked is my release. This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.’”
