1On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling among the Kosalans in a certain woodland thicket. Now on that occasion the brahmin Navakammika Bharadvaja was getting some work done in that woodland thicket. [n.473] Spk : He was called Navakammika ("New Works") because he earned his living by felling timber in the forest, seasoning the wood for construction work, and selling it in the city. The brahmin Navakammika Bharadvaja saw the Blessed One sitting at the foot of a certain sal tree with his legs folded crosswise, holding his body erect, having set up mindfulness in front of him. Having seen him, he thought: "I take delight in getting work done in this woodland thicket. What does this ascetic Gotama take delight in getting done?"

Then the brahmin Navakammika Bharadvaja approached the Blessed One sn.i.180 and addressed him in verse:

The Blessed One:

3v.686 "There is nothing in the woods I need to do;
Cut down at the root, my woods is dried up.
Woodless and dartless, discontent cast off,
I find delight alone in the woods." [n.474] in pāda b, ucchinnamūlaṁ appears often in a stock formula describing the arahant's liberation from defilements (e.g., SN12.35 II 62,20–63,11); SN22.3 (III 10,27, 33); SN35.104 (IV 85,9, 14); SN54.12 (V 327,26–328,6); thus the allusion, already obvious, is made explicit by Spk: "The woods of defilements is cut down at its root." in pāda b, I follow the SS reading visukkhaṁ, "dried up," also adopted by Ee2, over Be and Se visūkaṁ and Ee1 visukaṁ.
Spk glosses nibbanatho in pāda c with nikkilesavano. This involves a pun difficult to reproduce in translation. Literally, vanatha means a woods, but the word is often used to signify, metaphorically, "the woods of defilements," particularly craving. Here I have translated nibbanatha as "woodless" to preserve the pun. At v. 712, however, where the literal meaning has little bearing on the verse as a whole, I have rendered nibbanatha by way of its metaphorical meaning. Analogous puns on vana and vanatha are at SN14.16 (see too II, n. 245), and also at Dhp 283–84 and 344 (which, incidentally, answer Norman's puzzling observation at EV I, n. to 338, that the canon seems not to include any example of a pun on the double meaning of vanatha to match the puns upon vana). The Buddha is "dartless" (visallo) because he has extracted the dart of craving (see v. 214c).

4When this was said, the brahmin Navakammika Bharadvaja said to the Blessed One: "Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent, Master Gotama! … Let Master Gotama remember me as a lay follower who from today has gone for refuge for life."

1Ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā kosalesu vihārati aññatarasmiṁ vanasaṇḍe. Tena kho pana samayena navakammikabhāradvājo brāhmaṇo tasmiṁ vanasaṇḍe kammantaṁ kārāpeti. Addasā kho navakammikabhāradvājo brāhmaṇo bhagavantaṁ aññatarasmiṁ sālarukkhamūle nisinnaṁ pallaṅkaṁ ābhujitvā ujuṁ kāyaṁ paṇidhāya parimukhaṁ satiṁ upaṭṭhapetvā. Disvānassa etadahosi: "ahaṁ kho imasmiṁ vanasaṇḍe kammantaṁ kārāpento ramāmi. Ayaṁ samaṇo gotamo kiṁ kārāpento ramatī"ti? Atha kho navakammikabhāradvājo brāhmaṇo yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami. Upasaṅkamitvā bhagavantaṁ gāthāya ajjhabhāsi:

4Evaṁ vutte, navakammikabhāradvājo brāhmaṇo bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: "Abhikkantaṁ, bho gotama … pe … upāsakaṁ maṁ bhavaṁ gotamo dhāretu ajjatagge pāṇupetaṁ saraṇaṁ gatan"ti.