The Perfected Ones
These verses describe people who have reached the end of the path and are free of sorrow, ties and fever. They are pictured as swans leaving a marsh, birds whose track cannot be traced in the sky, horses tamed by a charioteer, the earth that stays undisturbed, and a lake clear of mud. Their mind, speech and deeds are said to be at peace. The chapter says that wherever such people live is a delightful place, even a wilderness where others find nothing to enjoy. Verse 97 praises them in words that sound like insults, calling them faithless, house-breakers and without hope.
A note on these verses. Verse 95 says such a person “does not transmigrate”, that is, is not born again; verses 92–93 use the technical phrase “the signless and the empty” without explanation; verse 97 reads like an insult.
Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · public domain (CC0) · about 1 min · on SuttaCentral
90At journey’s end, rid of sorrow;everywhere free,all ties given up,no fever is found in them.
91The mindful apply themselves;they delight in no abode.Like a swan gone from the marsh,they leave home after home behind.
92Those with nothing stored up,who have understood their food,whose domain is the liberationof the signless and the empty:their path is hard to trace,like birds in the sky.
93One whose defilements have ended;who’s not attached to food;whose domain is the liberationof the signless and the empty:their track is hard to trace,like birds in the sky.
94Whose faculties have become serene,like horses tamed by a charioteer,who has abandoned conceit and defilements;the unaffected one is envied by even the gods.Explained: Undisturbed like the earth
95Undisturbed like the earth,true to their vows, steady as Indra’s pillar,like a lake clear of mud;such a one does not transmigrate.
96Their mind is peaceful,peaceful are their speech and deeds.Such a one is at peace,rightly freed through enlightenment.
97Lacking faith, a house-breaker,one who acknowledges nothing,purged of hope, they’ve wasted their chance:that is indeed the supreme person!
98Whether in village or wilderness,in a valley or the uplands,wherever the perfected ones liveis a delightful place.
99Delightful are the wildernesseswhere no people delight.Those free of greed will delight there,not those who seek sensual pleasures.