Arañña Sutta: A Face So Calm

December 14, 2025

Translated from the Pali by Andrew Olendzki

[Devata:]
Those who abide in the forest,
Peaceful, living the holy life;
Those who eat but a single meal;
— why is it their face is so calm?

[The Buddha:]
They do not grieve over the past,
Nor do they yearn for the future;
They live only in the present
— That is why their face is so calm.

It’s from yearning for the future,
And from grieving over the past;
This is how fools become withered
— Like a fresh reed that’s been hacked down.

“Arañña Sutta: A Face So Calm” (SN 1.10), translated from the Pali by Andrew Olendzki. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 2 November 2013

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