The Buddha's Path of Wisdom
Version by Acharya Buddharakkhita
The Dhammapada
The Buddha's Path of Wisdom
Preface
The Dhammapada is the best known and most widely esteemed
text
in the Pali Tipitaka, the sacred scriptures of Theravada
Buddhism. The work is included in the Khuddaka Nikaya ("Minor
Collection") of the Sutta Pitaka, but its popularity has raised
it far above the single niche it occupies in the scriptures to
the ranks of a world religious classic. Composed in the ancient
Pali language, this slim anthology of verses constitutes a
perfect compendium of the Buddha's teaching, comprising between
its covers all the essential principles elaborated at length in
the forty-odd volumes of the Pali Canon.
According to the Theravada Buddhist tradition, each verse in
the Dhammapada was originally spoken by the Buddha in response to
a particular episode. Accounts of these, along with exegesis of
the verses, are preserved in the classic commentary to the work,
compiled by the great scholiast Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa in the
fifth century C.E. on the basis of material going back to very
ancient times. The contents of the verses, however, transcend
the limited and particular circumstances of their origin,
reaching out through the ages to various types of people in all
the diverse situations of life. For the simple and
unsophisticated the Dhammapada is a sympathetic counsellor; for
the intellectually overburdened its clear and direct teachings
inspire humility and reflection; for the earnest seeker it is a
perennial source of inspiration and practical instruction.
Insights that flashed into the heart of the Buddha have
crystallized into these luminous verses of pure wisdom. As
profound expressions of practical spirituality, each verse is a
guideline to right living. The Buddha unambiguously pointed out
that whoever earnestly practises the teachings found in the
Dhammapada will taste the bliss of emancipation.
Due to its immense importance, the Dhammapada has been
translated into numerous languages. In English alone several
translations are available, including editions by such noted
scholars as Max Muller and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. However, when
presented from a non-Buddhist frame of reference, the teachings
of the Buddha inevitably suffer some distortion. This, in fact,
has already happened with our anthology: an unfortunate selection
of renderings has sometimes suggested erroneous interpretations,
while footnotes have tended to be judgemental.
The present translation was originally written in the late
1950's. Some years earlier, while consulting a number of
English-language editions of the Dhammapada, it was observed that
the renderings were too free and inaccurate or too pedantic, and
it was therefore felt that a new translation avoiding these two
extremes would serve a valuable purpose. The finished result of
that project, presented here, is a humble attempt by a practising
follower of the Buddha to transmit the spirit and content, as
well as the language and style, of the original teachings.
In preparing this volume I have had access to numerous
editions and translations of the Dhammapada into various
languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Sinhala, Burmese
and Nepali. I particularly benefited from the excellent
translations of the work by the late Venerable Narada Mahathera
of Vajirarama, Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Professor Bhagwat of
Poona, India; to them I acknowledge my debt. A few verses
contain riddles, references or analogies that may not be evident
to the reader. The meanings of these are provided either in
parenthesis or notes, and for their interpretation I have relied
on the explanations given in Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa's
commentary. Verses discussed in the notes are indicated in the
text.
A first edition of this translation was published in 1959 and
a second in 1966, both by the Maha Bodhi Society in Bangalore,
India. For this third edition, the translation has undergone
considerable revision. The newly added subtitle, "The Buddha's
Path of Wisdom," is not literal, but is fully applicable on the
ground that the verses of the Dhammapada all originate from the
Buddha's wisdom and lead the one who follows them to a life
guided by that same wisdom.
I am grateful to the editors of the Buddhist Publication
Society for their helpful suggestions, and to the Society itself
for so generously undertaking the publication of this work.
I make this offering of Dhamma in grateful memory of my
teachers, parents and relatives, departed and living. May they
find access in the Buddha's Dispensation and attain Nibbana!
May all beings be happy!
Acharya Buddharakkhita
Introduction
From ancient times to the present, the Dhammapada has been
regarded as the most succinct expression of the Buddha's teaching
found in the Pali Canon and the chief spiritual testament of
early Buddhism. In the countries following Theravada Buddhism,
such as Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand, the influence of the
Dhammapada is ubiquitous. It is an ever-fecund source of themes
for sermons and discussions, a guidebook for resolving the
countless problems of everyday life, a primer for the instruction
of novices in the monasteries. Even the experienced
contemplative, withdrawn to forest hermitage or mountainside cave
for a life of meditation, can be expected to count a copy of the
book among his few material possessions. Yet the admiration the
Dhammapada has elicited has not been confined to avowed followers
of Buddhism. Wherever it has become known its moral earnestness,
realistic understanding of human life, aphoristic wisdom and
stirring message of a way to freedom from suffering have won for
it the devotion and veneration of those responsive to the good
and the true.
The expounder of the verses that comprise the Dhammapada is
the Indian sage called the Buddha, an honorific title meaning
"the Enlightened One" or "the Awakened One." The story of this
venerable personage has often been overlaid with literary
embellishment and the admixture of legend, but the historical
essentials of his life are simple and clear. He was born in the
sixth century B.C., the son of a king ruling over a small state
in the Himalayan foothills, in what is now Nepal. His given name
was Siddhattha and his family name Gotama (Sanskrit:
Siddhartha Gautama). Raised in luxury, groomed by his
father to be the heir to the throne, in his early manhood he went
through a deeply disturbing encounter with the sufferings of
life, as a result of which he lost all interest in the pleasures
and privileges of rulership. One night, in his twenty-ninth
year, he fled the royal city and entered the forest to live as an
ascetic, resolved to find a way to deliverance from suffering.
For six years he experimented with different systems of
meditation and subjected himself to severe austerities, but found
that these practises did not bring him any closer to his goal.
Finally, in his thirty-fifth year, while sitting in deep
meditation beneath a tree at Gaya, he attained Supreme
Enlightenment and became, in the proper sense of the title, the
Buddha, the Enlightened One. Thereafter, for forty-five years,
he travelled throughout northern India, proclaiming the truths he
had discovered and founding an order of monks and nuns to carry
on his message. At the age of eighty, after a long and fruitful
life, he passed away peacefully in the small town of Kusinara,
surrounded by a large number of disciples.
To his followers, the Buddha is neither a god, a divine
incarnation, or a prophet bearing a message of divine revelation,
but a human being who by his own striving and intelligence has
reached the highest spiritual attainment of which man is capable-
-perfect wisdom, full enlightenment, complete purification of
mind. His function in relation to humanity is that of a teacher-
-a world teacher who, out of compassion, points out to others the
way to Nibbana (Sanskrit: Nirvana), final release
from suffering. His teaching, known as the Dhamma, offers a body
of instructions explaining the true nature of existence and
showing the path that leads to liberation. Free from all dogmas
and inscrutable claims to authority, the Dhamma is founded
solidly upon the bedrock of the Buddha's own clear comprehension
of reality, and it leads the one who practises it to that same
understanding--the knowledge which extricates the roots of
suffering.
The title "Dhammapada" which the ancient compilers of the
Buddhist scriptures attached to our anthology means portions,
aspects, or sections of Dhamma. The work has been given this
title because, in its twenty-six chapters, it spans the multiple
aspects of the Buddha's teaching, offering a variety of
standpoints from which to gain a glimpse into its heart. Whereas
the longer discourses of the Buddha contained in the prose
sections of the Canon usually proceed methodically, unfolding
according to the sequential structure of the doctrine, the
Dhammapada lacks such a systematic arrangement. The work is
simply a collection of inspirational or pedagogical verses on the
fundamentals of the Dhamma, to be used as a basis for personal
edification and instruction. In any given chapter several
successive verses may have been spoken by the Buddha on a single
occasion, and thus among themselves will exhibit a meaningful
development or a set of variations on a theme. But by and large,
the logic behind the grouping together of verses into a chapter
is merely the concern with a common topic. The twenty-six
chapter headings thus function as a kind of rubric for
classifying the diverse poetic utterances of the Master, and the
reason behind the inclusion of any given verse in a particular
chapter is its mention of the subject indicated in the chapter's
heading. In some cases (Chapter 4 and 23) this may be a
metaphorical symbol rather than a point of doctrine. There also
seems to be no intentional design in the order of the chapters
themselves, though at certain points a loose thread of
development can be discerned.
The teachings of the Buddha, viewed in their completeness, all
link together into a single perfectly coherent system of thought
and practice which gains its unity from its final goal, the
attainment of deliverance from suffering. But the teachings
inevitably emerge from the human condition as their matrix and
starting point, and thus must be expressed in such a way as to
reach human beings standing at different levels of spiritual
development, with their highly diverse problems, ends, and
concerns and with their very different capacities for
understanding. Thence, just as water, though one in essence,
assumes different shapes due to the vessels into which it is
poured, so the Dhamma of liberation takes on different forms in
response to the needs of the beings to be taught. This
diversity, evident enough already in the prose discourses,
becomes even more conspicuous in the highly condensed,
spontaneous and intuitively charged medium of verse used in the
Dhammapada. The intensified power of delivery can result in
apparent inconsistencies which may perplex the unwary. For
example, in many verses the Buddha commends certain practices on
the grounds that they lead to a heavenly birth, but in others he
discourages disciples from aspiring for heaven and extolls the
one who takes no delight in celestial pleasures (187,
417).1 Often he enjoins works of
merit, yet elsewhere he praises the one who has gone beyond both
merit and demerit (39, 412). Without a grasp of the underlying
structure of the Dhamma, such statements viewed side by side will
appear incompatible and may even elicit the judgement that the
teaching is self-contradictory.
The key to resolving these apparent discrepancies is the
recognition that the Dhamma assumes its formulation from the
needs of the diverse persons to whom it is addressed, as well as
from the diversity of needs that may co-exist even in a single
individual. To make sense of the various utterances found in the
Dhammapada, we will suggest a schematism of four levels to be
used for ascertaining the intention behind any particular verse
found in the work, and thus for understanding its proper place in
the total systematic vision of the Dhamma. This fourfold
schematism develops out of an ancient interpretive maxim which
holds that the Buddha's teaching is designed to meet three
primary aims: human welfare here and now, a favourable rebirth in
the next life, and the attainment of the ultimate good. The four
levels are arrived at by distinguishing the last aim into two
stages: path and fruit.
(i) The first level is the concern with establishing
well-being and happiness in the immediately visible sphere of
concrete human relations. The aim at this level is to show man
the way to live at peace with himself and his fellow men, to
fulfill his family and social responsibilities, and to restrain
the bitterness, conflict and violence which infect human
relationships and bring such immense suffering to the individual,
society, and the world as a whole. The guidelines appropriate to
this level are largely identical with the basic ethical
injunctions proposed by most of the great world religions, but in
the Buddhist teaching they are freed from theistic moorings and
grounded upon two directly verifiable foundations: concern for
one's own integrity and long-range happiness and concern for the
welfare of those whom one's actions may affect (129-132). The
most general counsel the Dhammapada gives is to avoid all evil,
to cultivate good and to cleanse one's mind (183). But to dispel
any doubts the disciple might entertain as to what he should
avoid and what he should cultivate, other verses provide more
specific directives. One should avoid irritability in deed, word
and thought and exercise self-control (231-234). One should
adhere to the five precepts, the fundamental moral code of
Buddhism, which teach abstinence from destroying life, from
stealing, from committing adultery, from speaking lies and from
taking intoxicants; one who violates these five training rules
"digs up his own root even in this very world" (246-247). The
disciple should treat all beings with kindness and compassion,
live honestly and righteously, control his sensual desires, speak
the truth and live a sober upright life, diligently fulfilling
his duties, such as service to parents, to his immediate family
and to those recluses and brahmins who depend on the laity for
their maintenance (332-333).
A large number of verses pertaining to this first level are
concerned with the resolution of conflict and hostility.
Quarrels are to be avoided by patience and forgiveness, for
responding to hatred by further hatred only maintains the cycle
of vengeance and retaliation. The true conquest of hatred is
achieved by non-hatred, by forbearance, by love (4-6). One
should not respond to bitter speech but maintain silence (134).
One should not yield to anger but control it as a driver controls
a chariot (222). Instead of keeping watch for the faults of
others, the disciple is admonished to examine his own faults, and
to make a continual effort to remove his impurities just as a
silversmith purifies silver (50, 239). Even if he has committed
evil in the past, there is no need for dejection or despair; for
a man's ways can be radically changed, and one who abandons the
evil for the good illuminates this world like the moon freed from
clouds (173).
The sterling qualities distinguishing the man of virtue are
generosity, truthfulness, patience, and compassion (223). By
developing and mastering these qualities within himself, a man
lives at harmony with his own conscience and at peace with his
fellow beings. The scent of virtue, the Buddha declares, is
sweeter than the scent of all flowers and perfumes (55-56). The
good man, like the Himalaya mountains, shines from afar, and
wherever he goes he is loved and respected (303-304).
(ii) In its second level of teaching, the Dhammapada
shows that morality does not exhaust its significance in its
contribution to human felicity here and now, but exercises a far
more critical influence in moulding personal destiny. This level
begins with the recognition that, to reflective thought, the
human situation demands a more satisfactory context for ethics
than mere appeals to altruism can provide. On the one hand our
innate sense of moral justice requires that goodness be
recompensed with happiness and evil with suffering; on the other
our typical experience shows us virtuous people beset with
hardships and afflictions and thoroughly bad people riding the
waves of fortune (119-120). Moral intuition tells us that if
there is any long-range value to righteousness, the imbalance
must somehow be redressed. The visible order does not yield an
evident solution, but the Buddha's teaching reveals the factor
needed to vindicate our cry for moral justice in an impersonal
universal law which reigns over all sentient existence. This is
the law of kamma (Sanskrit: karma), of action and
its fruit, which ensures that morally determinate action does not
disappear into nothingness but eventually meets its due
retribution, the good with happiness, the bad with suffering.
In the popular understanding kamma is sometimes identified
with fate, but this is a total misconception utterly inapplicable
to the Buddhist doctrine. Kamma means volitional action, action
springing from intention, which may manifest itself outwardly as
bodily deeds or speech, or remain internally as unexpressed
thoughts, desires and emotions. The Buddha distinguishes kamma
into two primary ethical types: unwholesome kamma, action rooted
in mental states of greed, hatred and delusion; and wholesome
kamma, action rooted in mental states of generosity or
detachment, goodwill and understanding. The willed actions a
person performs in the course of his life may fade from memory
without a trace, but once performed they leave subtle imprints on
the mind, seeds with the potential to come to fruition in the
future when they meet conditions conducive to their ripening.
The objective field in which the seeds of kamma ripen is the
process of rebirths called samsara. In the Buddha's
teaching, life is not viewed as an isolated occurrence beginning
spontaneously with birth and ending in utter annihilation at
death. Each single lifespan is seen, rather, as part of an
individualised series of lives having no discoverable beginning
in time and continuing on as long as the desire for existence
stands intact. Rebirth can take place in various realms. There
are not only the familiar realms of human beings and animals, but
ranged above we meet heavenly worlds of greater happiness, beauty
and power, and ranged below infernal worlds of extreme
suffering.
The cause for rebirth into these various realms the Buddha
locates in kamma, our own willed actions. In its primary role,
kamma determines the sphere into which rebirth takes place,
wholesome actions bringing rebirth in higher forms, unwholesome
actions rebirth in lower forms. After yielding rebirth, kamma
continues to operate, governing the endowments and circumstances
of the individual within his given form of existence. Thus,
within the human world, previous stores of wholesome kamma will
issue in long life, health, wealth, beauty and success; stores of
unwholesome kamma in short life, illness, poverty, ugliness and
failure.
Prescriptively, the second level of teaching found in the
Dhammapada is the practical corollary to this recognition of the
law of kamma, put forth to show human beings, who naturally
desire happiness and freedom from sorrow, the effective means to
achieve their objectives. The content of this teaching itself
does not differ from that presented at the first level; it is the
same set of ethical injunctions for abstaining from evil and for
cultivating the good. The difference lies in the perspective
from which the injunctions are issued and the aim for the sake of
which they are to be taken up. The principles of morality are
shown now in their broader cosmic connections, as tied to an
invisible but all-embracing law which binds together all life and
holds sway over the repeated rotations of the cycle of birth and
death. The observance of morality is justified, despite its
difficulties and apparent failures, by the fact that it is in
harmony with that law, that through the efficacy of kamma, our
willed actions become the chief determinant of our destiny both
in this life and in future states of becoming. To follow the
ethical law leads upwards--to inner development, to higher
rebirths and to richer experiences of happiness and joy. To
violate the law, to act in the grip of selfishness and hate,
leads downwards--to inner deterioration, to suffering and to
rebirth in the worlds of misery. This theme is announced already
by the pair of verses which opens the Dhammapada, and reappears
in diverse formulations throughout the work (see, e.g. 15-18,
117-122, 127, 132-133, Chapter 22).
(iii) The ethical counsel based on the desire for
higher rebirths and happiness in future lives is not the final
teaching of the Buddha, and thus cannot provide the decisive
program of personal training commended by the Dhammapada. In its
own sphere of application, it is perfectly valid as a preparatory
or provisional teaching for those whose spiritual faculties are
not yet ripe but still require further maturation over a
succession of lives. A deeper, more searching examination,
however, reveals that all states of existence in samsara,
even the loftiest celestial abodes, are lacking in genuine worth;
for they are all inherently impermanent, without any lasting
substance, and thus, for those who cling to them, potential bases
for suffering. The disciple of mature faculties, sufficiently
prepared by previous experience for the Buddha's distinctive
exposition of the Dhamma, does not long even for rebirth among
the gods. Having understood the intrinsic inadequacy of all
conditioned things, his focal aspiration is only for deliverance
from the ever-repeating round of births. This is the ultimate
goal to which the Buddha points, as the immediate aim for those
of developed faculties and also as the long-term ideal for those
in need of further development: Nibbana, the Deathless,
the unconditioned state where there is no more birth, ageing and
death, and no more suffering.
The third level of teaching found in the Dhammapada sets forth
the theoretical framework and practical discipline emerging out
of the aspiration for final deliverance. The theoretical
framework is provided by the teaching of the Four Noble Truths
(190-192, 273), which the Buddha had proclaimed already in his
first sermon and upon which he placed so much stress in his many
discourses that all schools of Buddhism have appropriated them as
their common foundation. The four truths all centre around the
fact of suffering (dukkha), understood not as mere
experienced pain and sorrow, but as the pervasive
unsatisfactoriness of everything conditioned (202-203). The
first truth details the various forms of suffering--birth, old
age, sickness and death, the misery of unpleasant encounters and
painful separations, the suffering of not obtaining what one
wants. It culminates in the declaration that all constituent
phenomena of body and mind, "the aggregates of existence"
(khandha), being impermanent and substanceless, are
intrinsically unsatisfactory. The second truth points out that
the cause of suffering is craving (tanha), the desire for
pleasure and existence which drives us through the round of
rebirths, bringing in its trail sorrow, anxiety, and despair
(212-216, Chapter 24). The third truth declares that the
destruction of craving issues in release from suffering, and the
fourth prescribes the means to gain release, the Noble Eightfold
Path: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right
action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and
right concentration (Chapter 20).
If, at this third level, the doctrinal emphasis shifts from
the principles of kamma and rebirth to the Four Noble Truths, a
corresponding shift in emphasis takes place in the practical
sphere as well. The stress now no longer falls on the
observation of basic morality and the cultivation of wholesome
attitudes as a means to higher rebirths. Instead it falls on the
integral development of the Noble Eightfold Path a means to
uproot the craving that nurtures the process of rebirth itself.
For practical purposes the eight factors of the path are arranged
into three major groups which reveal more clearly the
developmental structure of the training: moral discipline
(including right speech, right action and right livelihood),
concentration (including right effort, right mindfulness and
right concentration), and wisdom (including right understanding
and right thought). By the training in morality, the coarsest
forms of the mental defilements, those erupting as unwholesome
deeds and words, are checked and kept under control. By the
training in concentration the mind is made calm, pure and
unified, purged of the currents of distractive thoughts. By the
training in wisdom the concentrated beam of attention is focused
upon the constituent factors of mind and body to investigate and
contemplate their salient characteristics. This wisdom,
gradually ripened, climaxes in the understanding that brings
complete purification and deliverance of mind.
In principle, the practice of the path in all three stages is
feasible for people in any walk of life. The Buddha taught it to
laypeople as well as to monks, and many of his lay followers
reached high stages of attainment. However, application to the
development of the path becomes most fruitful for those who have
relinquished all other concerns in order to devote themselves
wholeheartedly to spiritual training, to living the "holy life"
(brahmacariya). For conduct to be completely purified,
for sustained contemplation and penetrating wisdom to unfold
without impediments, adoption of a different style of life
becomes imperative, one which minimizes distractions and
stimulants to craving and orders all activities around the aim of
liberation. Thus the Buddha established the Sangha, the order of
monks and nuns, as the special field for those ready to dedicate
their lives to the practice of his path, and in the Dhammapada
the call to the monastic life resounds throughout.
The entry-way to the monastic life is an act of radical
renunciation. The thoughtful, who have seen the transience and
hidden misery of worldly life, break the ties of family and
social bonds, abandon their homes and mundane pleasures, and
enter upon the state of homelessness (83, 87-89, 91). Withdrawn
to silent and secluded places, they seek out the company of wise
instructors, and guided by the rules of the monastic training,
devote their energies to a life of meditation. Content with the
simplest material requisites, moderate in eating, restrained in
their senses, they stir up their energy, abide in constant
mindfulness and still the restless waves of thoughts (185, 375).
With the mind made clear and steady, they learn to contemplate
the arising and falling away of all formations, and experience
thereby "a delight that transcends all human delights," a joy and
happiness that anticipates the bliss of the Deathless (373-374).
The life of meditative contemplation reaches its peak in the
development of insight (vipassana), and the Dhammapada
enunciates the principles to be discerned by insight-wisdom: that
all conditioned things are impermanent, that they are all
unsatisfactory, that there is no self or truly existent ego
entity to be found in anything whatsoever (277-279). When these
truths are penetrated by direct experience, the craving,
ignorance and related mental fetters maintaining bondage break
asunder, and the disciple rises through successive stages of
realisation to the full attainment of Nibbana.
(iv) The fourth level of teaching in the Dhammapada
provides no new disclosure of doctrine or practice, but an
acclamation and exaltation of those who have reached the goal.
In the Pali Canon the stages of definite attainment along the way
to Nibbana are enumerated as four. At the first, called
"Stream-entry" (sotapatti), the disciple gains his first
glimpse of "the Deathless" and enters irreversibly upon the path
to liberation, bound to reach the goal in seven lives at most.
This achievement alone, the Dhammapada declares, is greater than
lordship over all the worlds (178). Following Stream-entry come
two further stages which weaken and eradicate still more
defilements and bring the goal increasingly closer to view. One
is called the stage of Once-returner (sakadagami), when
the disciple will return to the human world at most only one more
time; the other the stage of Non-returner (anagami), when
he will never come back to human existence but will take rebirth
in a celestial plane, bound to win final deliverance there. The
fourth and final stage is that of the Arahat, the Perfected One,
the fully accomplished sage who has completed the development of
the path, eradicated all defilements and freed himself from
bondage to the cycle of rebirths. This is the ideal figure of
early Buddhism and the supreme hero of the Dhammapada. Extolled
in Chapter 7 under his own name and in Chapter 26 (385-388, 396-423) under the name brahmana, "holy man," the Arahat
serves as a living demonstration of the truth of the Dhamma.
Bearing his last body, perfectly at peace, he is the inspiring
model who shows in his own person that it is possible to free
oneself from the stains of greed, hatred and delusion, to rise
above suffering, to win Nibbana in this very life.
The Arahat ideal reaches its optimal exemplification in the
Buddha, the promulgator and master of the entire teaching. It
was the Buddha who, without any aid or guidance, rediscovered the
ancient path to deliverance and taught it to countless others.
His arising in the world provides the precious opportunity to
hear and practice the excellent Dhamma (182, 194). He is the
giver and shower of refuge (190-192), the Supreme Teacher who
depends on nothing but his own self-evolved wisdom (353). Born a
man, the Buddha always remains essentially human, yet his
attainment of Perfect Enlightenment elevates him to a level far
surpassing that of common humanity. All our familiar concepts
and modes of knowing fail to circumscribe his nature: he is
trackless, of limitless range, free from all worldliness,
conqueror of all, the knower of all, untainted by the world (179,
180, 353). Always shining in the splendour of his wisdom, the
Buddha by his very being confirms the Buddhist faith in human
perfectibility and consummates the Dhammapada's picture of man
perfected, the Arahat.
The four levels of teaching just discussed give us the key for
sorting out the Dhammapada's diverse utterances on Buddhist
doctrine and for discerning the intention behind its words of
practical counsel. Interlaced with the verses specific to these
four main levels, there runs throughout the work a large number
of verses not tied to any single level but applicable to all
alike. Taken together, these delineate for us the basic world
view of early Buddhism. The most arresting feature of this view
is its stress on process rather than persistence as the defining
mark of actuality. The universe is in flux, a boundless river of
incessant becoming sweeping everything along; dust motes and
mountains, gods and men and animals, world system after world
system without number--all are engulfed by the irrepressible
current. There is no creator of this process, no providential
deity behind the scenes steering all things to some great and
glorious end. The cosmos is beginningless, and in its movement
from phase to phase it is governed only by the impersonal,
implacable law of arising, change, and passing away.
However, the focus of the Dhammapada is not on the outer
cosmos, but on the human world, upon man with his yearning and
his suffering, his immense complexity, his striving and movement
towards transcendence. The starting point is the human condition
as given, and fundamental to the picture that emerges is the
inescapable duality of human life, the dichotomies which taunt
and challenge man at every turn. Seeking happiness, afraid of
pain, loss and death, man walks the delicate balance between good
and evil, purity and defilement, progress and decline. His
actions are strung out between these moral antipodes, and because
he cannot evade the necessity to choose, he must bear the full
responsibility for his decisions. Man's moral freedom is a
reason for both dread and jubilation, for by means of his choices
he determines his own individual destiny, not only through one
life, but through the numerous lives to be turned up by the
rolling wheel of samsara. If he chooses wrongly he can
sink to the lowest depths of degradation, if he chooses rightly
he can make himself worthy even of the homage of the gods. The
paths to all destinations branch out from the present, from the
ineluctable immediate occasion of conscious choice and
action.
The recognition of duality extends beyond the limits of
conditioned existence to include the antithetical poles of the
conditioned and the unconditioned, samsara and
Nibbana, the "near shore" and the "far shore." The Buddha
appears in the world as the Great Liberator who shows man the way
to break free from the one and arrive at the other, where alone
true safety is to be found. But all he can do is indicate the
path; the work of treading it lies in the hands of the disciple.
The Dhammapada again and again sounds this challenge to human
freedom: man is the maker and master of himself, the protector or
destroyer of himself, the savior of himself (160, 165, 380). In
the end he must choose between the way that leads back into the
world, to the round of becoming, and the way that leads out of
the world, to Nibbana. And though this last course is
extremely difficult and demanding, the voice of the Buddha speaks
words of assurance confirming that it can be done, that it lies
within man's power to overcome all barriers and to triumph even
over death itself.
The pivotal role in achieving progress in all spheres, the
Dhammapada declares, is played by the mind. In contrast to the
Bible, which opens with an account of God's creation of the
world, the Dhammapada begins with an unequivocal assertion that
mind is the forerunner of all that we are, the maker of our
character, the creator of our destiny. The entire discipline of
the Buddha, from morality to the highest levels of meditation,
hinges upon training the mind. A wrongly directed mind brings
greater harm than any enemy, a rightly directed mind brings
greater good than any other relative or friend (42, 43). The
mind is unruly, fickle, difficult to subdue, but by effort,
mindfulness and unflagging self-discipline, one can master its
vagrant tendencies, escape the torrents of the passions and find
"an island which no flood can overwhelm" (25). The one who
conquers himself, the victor over his own mind, achieves a
conquest which can never be undone, a victory greater than that
of the mightiest warriors (103-105).
What is needed most urgently to train and subdue the mind is a
quality called heedfulness (appamada). Heedfulness
combines critical self-awareness and unremitting energy in a
process of keeping the mind under constant observation to detect
and expel the defiling impulses whenever they seek an opportunity
to surface. In a world where man has no saviour but himself, and
where the means to his deliverance lies in mental purification,
heedfulness becomes the crucial factor for ensuring that the
aspirant keeps to the straight path of training without deviating
due to the seductive allurements of sense pleasures or the
stagnating influences of laziness and complacency. Heedfulness,
the Buddha declares, is the path to the Deathless; heedlessness,
the path to death. The wise who understand this distinction
abide in heedfulness and experience Nibbana, "the
incomparable freedom from bondage" (21-23).
As a great religious classic and the chief spiritual testament
of early Buddhism, the Dhammapada cannot be gauged in its true
value by a single reading, even if that reading is done carefully
and reverentially. It yields its riches only through repeated
study, sustained reflection, and most importantly, through the
application of its principles to daily life. Thence it might be
suggested to the reader in search of spiritual guidance that the
Dhammapada be used as a manual for contemplation. After his
initial reading, he would do well to read several verses or even
a whole chapter every day, slowly and carefully, relishing the
words. He should reflect on the meaning of each verse deeply and
thoroughly, investigate its relevance to his life, and apply it
as a guide to conduct. If this is done repeatedly, with patience
and perseverance, it is certain that the Dhammapada will confer
upon his life a new meaning and sense of purpose. Infusing him
with hope and inspiration, gradually it will lead him to discover
a freedom and happiness far greater than anything the world can
offer.
Bhikkhu Bodhi
1. Unless chapter numbers are indicated, all
figures enclosed in parenthesis refer to verse numbers of the
Dhammapada.
Homage to Him, the Blessed One, the
Perfected One, the Supremely
Enlightened One!
Chapter One -- The Pairs
- Mind precedes all mental states. Mind
is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If
with an impure mind one speaks or acts,
suffering follows one like the wheel that follows
the foot of the ox.
- Mind precedes all mental states. Mind
is their chief; they are all mind wrought. If
with a pure mind one speaks or acts, happiness
follows one like one's never-departing shadow.
- "He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered
me, he robbed me"--those who harbour such
thoughts do not still their hatred.
- "He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered
me, he robbed me"--those who do not harbour
such thoughts still their hatred.
- Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this
world; by non-hatred alone is hatred appeased.
This is an Eternal Law.
- There are those who do not realize that one
day we all must die, but those who realize this
settle their quarrels.
- Just as a storm throws down a weak tree,
so does Mara overpower the person who
lives for
the pursuit of pleasures, who is uncontrolled in one's
senses, immoderate in eating, indolent and dissipated.
- Just as a storm cannot throw down a rocky
mountain, so Mara can never
overpower the person
who lives meditating on the impurities, who
is
controlled in one's senses, moderate in eating, and
filled with faith and earnest effort.
- Whoever being depraved, devoid of self-control
and truthfulness, should don the monk's yellow
robe, that person surely is not worthy of the robe.
- But whoever is purged of depravity, well
established in virtues and filled with self-control
and truthfulness, that person indeed is worthy of the robe.
- Those who mistake the unessential to
be essential and the essential to be unessential
dwelling in wrong thoughts, never arrive at the essential.
- Those who know the essential to be
essential and the unessential to be unessential,
dwelling in right thoughts, arrive at the essential.
- Just as the rain breaks through an ill-
thatched house, even so passion penetrates an
undeveloped mind.
- Just as rain does not break through a
well-thatched house, even so passion never
penetrates a well-developed mind.
- Evil-doers grieves here and hereafter;
they grieve in both worlds. They lament and are
afflicted, recollecting their own impure deeds.
- Doers of good rejoice here and hereafter;
they rejoice in both worlds. They rejoice
and exult, recollecting their own pure deeds.
- Evil-doers suffer here and hereafter;
they suffer in both worlds. The thought, "Evil
have I done," torments them, and they suffer even
more when gone to realms of woe.
- Doers of good delight here and hereafter;
they delight in both worlds. The thought,
"Good have I done," delights them, and they delight
even more when gone to realms of bliss.
- Much though one recites the sacred texts,
but acts not accordingly, that heedless person is
like a cowherd who only counts the cows of
others--one does not partake of the blessings
of a holy life.
- Little though one recites the sacred texts,
but puts the Teaching into practice, forsaking
lust, hatred and delusion, with true wisdom and
emancipated mind, clinging to nothing in this or
any other world--one, indeed, partakes of the
blessings of a holy life.
v.7. Mara: the Tempter in Buddhism,
represented in the
scriptures as an evil-minded deity who tries to lead people from
the path to liberation. The commentaries explain Mara as
the lord of evil forces, as mental defilements and as death.
v.8. The impurities (asubha):
subjects of meditation which focus on the inherent repulsiveness
of the body, recommended especially as powerful antidotes to
lust.
Chapter Two -- Heedfulness
- Heedfulness is the path to the Deathless,
heedlessness is the path to death. The
heedful die not, the heedless are already dead.
- Clearly understanding this excellence of
heedfulness, the wise exult therein and enjoy
the resort of the Noble Ones.
- The wise ones, ever meditative and steadfastly
persevering, experience Nibbana, the incomparable
freedom from bondage.
- Ever grows the glory of one who is energetic,
mindful and pure in conduct, discerning and self-
controlled, righteous and heedful.
- By effort and heedfulness, discipline and
self-mastery, let the wise one make for oneself
an island which no flood can overwhelm.
- The foolish and ignorant indulge in heedlessness,
but the wise one keeps one's heedfulness
as one's best treasure.
- Do not give way to heedlessness; do not
indulge in sensual pleasures. Only the heedful
and meditative attain great happiness.
- Just as one upon the summit of a mountain
beholds the groundlings, even so when the wise
person casts away heedlessness by heedfulness and
ascends the high tower of wisdom, this sorrowless
sage beholds the sorrowing and foolish multitude.
- Heedful among the heedless, wide-awake
among the sleepy, the wise person advances like a
swift horse leaving behind a weak nag.
- By heedfulness did Indra become the overlord
of the gods. Heedfulness is ever praised,
and heedlessness ever despised.
- The renunciate who delights in heedfulness
and looks with fear at heedlessness advances
like fire, burning all fetters small and large.
- The renunciate who delights in heedfulness
and looks with fear at heedlessness will not fall.
That person is close to Nibbana.
v.21.The Deathless (amata):
Nibbana, so called because those who attain it are free from
the cycle of repeated birth and death.
v.22.The Noble Ones (ariya): those
who have reached any of the four stages of supramundane
attainment leading irreversibly to Nibbana.
v.30.Indra: the ruler of the gods
in ancient Indian mythology.
Chapter Three -- The Mind
- Just as a fletcher straightens an arrow
shaft, even so the discerning person straightens one's
mind--so fickle and unsteady, so difficult to
guard and control.
- As a fish when pulled out of water and cast
on land throbs and quivers, even so is this mind
agitated. Hence one should leave the realm of passions.
- Wonderful, indeed, it is to subdue the
mind, so difficult to subdue, ever swift, and seizing
whatever it desires. A tamed mind brings happiness.
- Let the discerning person guard the mind,
so difficult to detect and extremely subtle, seizing
whatever it desires. A guarded mind brings happiness.
- Dwelling in the cave (of the heart), without
form, the mind wanders far and moves alone.
Those who subdue this mind are liberated from
the bonds of Mara.
- When one's mind is not steadfast, when
one knows not the Good Teaching and one's
faith wavers, one's wisdom will not be perfected.
- There is no fear for an
Awakened One,
whose mind is not sodden (by lust) nor afflicted
(by hate), and who has gone beyond both merit
and demerit.
- Realizing that this body is as fragile as a
clay pot, and fortifying this mind like a well
fortified city, fight out Mara with the sword of
wisdom. Then, guarding the conquest, remain unattached.
- Before long, alas! this body will lie upon
the earth, unheeded and lifeless,
like a useless log.
- Whatever harm an enemy may do to an
enemy, or a hater to a hater, an ill-directed mind
inflicts on oneself a greater harm.
- Neither mother, father, nor any other
relative can do one greater good than one's
own well-directed mind.
v.39. The Arahat is said to be beyond both
merit and demerit because, as one has abandoned all defilements,
one can no longer perform evil actions; and as one has no more
attachment, one's virtuous actions no longer bear kammic fruit.
Chapter Four -- Flowers
- Who shall overcome this earth, the worlds
of misery and this sphere of men and gods? Who
shall bring to perfection the well-taught path of
wisdom as an expert garland-maker would a floral design?
- A striver-on-the-path
shall overcome this
earth, the worlds of misery and this sphere of
men and gods. The striver-on-the-path shall bring
to perfection the well-taught path of wisdom,
as an expert garland-maker would a floral design.
- Realizing that this body is like froth,
penetrating its mirage-like nature, and plucking
out Mara's flower-tipped arrows (of sensuality),
go beyond sight of the King of Death!
- As a mighty flood sweeps away the sleeping
village, so does death carry away the person of
distracted mind who only plucks the flowers (of pleasure).
- The Destroyer brings under his sway the
person of distracted mind who only plucks the
flowers (of pleasure), insatiate in sense desires.
- As a bee gathers honey from the flower
without injuring its colour or fragrance, even so
the sage goes on alms-rounds in the village.
- Let none find fault with others; let none
see the omissions and commissions of others.
But let one see one's own acts, done and undone.
- Like a beautiful flower full of colour but
without fragrance, even so, fruitless are the fair
words of one who does not practice them.
- Like a beautiful flower full of colour and
also fragrant, even so, fruitful are the fair words
of one who practices them.
- As from a great heap of flowers many
garlands can be made, even so should many
good deeds be done by one born a mortal.
- Not the sweet smell of flowers, not even
the fragrance of sandal, tagara or
jasmine blows
against the wind. But the fragrance of the virtuous
person pervades all directions with the fragrance
of that virtue.
- Of all the fragrances--sandal, tagara,
blue lotus and jasmine--the fragrance of virtue
is by far the sweetest.
- Faint is the fragrance of tagara and sandal,
but the fragrance of the virtuous is excellent,
wafting even among the gods.
- Mara never finds the path of the truly
virtuous, who abide in vigilance and are freed by
perfect knowledge.
- Upon a heap of rubbish in the road-side
ditch blooms a lotus, fragrant and pleasing.
- Even so, on the rubbish heap of blinded
mortals the disciple of the Supremely Enlightened
One shines resplendent in wisdom.
v.45. The Striver-on-the-Path
(sekha): One who has achieved any of the first three stages
of supramundane attainment: a Stream-enterer, Once-returner, or
Non-returner.
v.49. The "sage in the village" is the
Buddhist monk who receives food by going silently from door to
door with an almsbowl, accepting whatever is offered.
v.54. Tagara: a fragrant powder
obtained from a particular kind of shrub.
Chapter Five -- The Fool
- Long is the night to the sleepless; long is
the league to the weary; long is worldly existence
to fools who know not the Sublime Truth.
- Should a seeker not find a companion who
is one's better or equal, let one resolutely pursue a
solitary course; there is no fellowship with a fool.
- The fool worries, thinking, "I have sons,
I have wealth." Indeed, when he himself is not
his own, whence are sons, whence is wealth?
- A fool knows his foolishness is wise
at least to that extent, but a fool who thinks
himself wise is called a fool indeed.
- Though all his life a fool associate with a
wise person, he no more comprehends the Truth
than a spoon tastes the flavour of the soup.
- Though only for a moment a discerning
person associate with a wise person, quickly
he comprehends the Truth, just as the tongue
tastes the flavour of the soup.
- Fools of little wit are enemies unto themselves
as they move about doing evil deeds, the
fruits of which are bitter.
- Ill done is that action doing which one
repents later, and the fruits of which one reaps,
weeping with tearful face.
- Well done is that action doing which one
repents not later, and the fruits of which one reaps
with delight and happiness.
- So long as an evil deed has not ripened,
the fool thinks it as sweet as honey. But when the
evil deed ripens, the fool comes to grief.
- Month after month a fool may eat his
food with the tip of a blade of grass, but he still
is not worth a sixteenth part of those who have
comprehended the Truth.
- Truly, an evil deed committed does not
immediately bear fruit, like milk that does not
turn sour all at once. But smouldering, it follows
the fool like fire covered by ashes.
- To his own ruin the fool gains knowledge, for
it cleaves his head and destroys his innate goodness.
- The fool seeks undeserved reputation,
precedence among renunciates, authority over monasteries,
and honour among householders.
- "Let both laypersons and renunciates think that
it was done by me. In every work, great and
small, let them follow me"--such is the ambition
of the fool; thus his desire and pride increases.
- One is the quest for worldly gain, and quite
another is the path to Nibbana. Clearly
understanding this, let not the renunciate, the disciple
of the Buddha, be carried away by worldly acclaim,
but develop detachment instead.
Chapter Six -- The Wise Person
- If one finds a person who points out faults
and who reproves, one should follow such a wise
and sagacious person as one would a guide to
hidden treasure. It is always better, and never
worse, to cultivate such an association.
- Let the person admonish, instruct and shield
one from wrong; this person , indeed is dear to
the good and detestable to the evil.
- Do not associate with evil companions;
do not seek the fellowship of the vile. Associate
with good friends; seek the fellowship of noble people.
- One who drinks deep the Dhamma lives
happily with a tranquil mind. The wise person ever
delights in the Dhamma made known by the Noble One
(the Buddha).
- Irrigators regulate the waters; fletchers
straighten the arrow shaft; carpenters shape the
wood; the wise control themselves.
- Just as a solid rock is not shaken by the
storm, even so the wise are not affected by
praise or blame.
- On hearing the Teachings, the wise
become perfectly purified like a lake deep,
clear and still.
- The good renounce (attachment for) everything;
the virtuous do not prattle with a yearning
for pleasures. The wise show no elation or depression
when touched by happiness or sorrow.
- They are truly virtuous, wise and righteous,
who neither for their own sake nor for the sake of
another (do any wrong), who do not crave for
sons, wealth or kingdom, and do not desire
success by unjust means.
- Few among people are those who cross to
the farther shore. The rest, the bulk of people,
only run up and down the hither bank.
- But those who act according to the perfectly
taught Dhamma will cross the realm of
Death, so difficult to cross.
87-88. Abandoning the dark way, let the
wise person cultivate the bright path. Having
gone from home to homelessness, let one yearn
for that delight in detachment, so difficult to enjoy.
Giving up sensual pleasures, with no attachment,
the wise person should cleanse oneself of
defilements of the mind.
- Those whose minds have
reached full
excellence in the factors of enlightenment, who,
having renounced acquisitiveness, rejoice in not
clinging to things--rid of cankers, glowing with
wisdom, they have attained Nibbana in
this very life.
v.89. This verse describes the Arahat,
dealt with more fully in the following chapter. The "cankers"
(asava) are the four basic defilements of sensual desire,
desire for continued existence, false views and ignorance.
Chapter Seven -- The Arahat
- The fever of passion exists not for one
who has completed the journey, who is sorrowless
and wholly set free, and has broken all ties.
- The mindful ones exert themselves. They
are not attached to any home; like swans that
abandon the lake, they leave home after home behind.
- Those who do not accumulate and are
wise regarding food, whose object is the Void,
the unconditioned freedom--their track cannot
be traced, like that of birds in the air.
- One whose cankers are destroyed and who
is not attached to food, whose object is the Void,
the unconditioned freedom--one's path cannot be
traced, like that of birds in the air.
- Even the gods hold dear the wise, whose
senses are subdued like horses well-trained by a
charioteer, whose pride is destroyed and who are
free from the cankers.
- There is no more worldly existence for
the wise one, who, like the earth, resents nothing;
who is as firm as a high pillar and as pure as a
deep pool free from mud.
- Calm is one's thought, calm one's speech and
calm one's deed, who, truly knowing, is wholly,
freed, perfectly tranquil and wise.
- The person who is without blind faith,
who knows the Uncreate, who has severed all
links, who has destroyed all causes (for kamma,
good and evil), and who has thrown out all desires
--that person truly is the most excellent of
people.
- Inspiring, indeed, is that place where
Arahats dwell, be it a village, a forest,
a vale or a hill.
- Inspiring are the forests where worldlings
find no pleasure. There the passionless will
rejoice, for they seek no sensual pleasures.
v.97. In the Pali this verse
presents a series of puns, and if the "underside" of each pun
were to be translated, the verse would read thus: "The person who
is faithless, ungrateful, a burglar, who destroys opportunities
and eats vomit--that person truly is the most excellent of
people."
Chapter Eight -- The Thousands
- Better than a thousand useless words is one
useful word,
hearing which one attains peace.
- Better than a thousand useless verses is one
useful verse, hearing which one attains peace.
- Better than reciting a hundred meaningless
verses is the reciting of one verse of Dhamma,
hearing which one attains peace.
- Though one may conquer a thousand times
a thousand people in battle, yet one indeed is
the noblest victor who conquers oneself.
104-105. Self-conquest is far better
than the
conquest of others. Not even a god, an angel,
Mara or Brahma can turn into
defeat the victory
of such a person who is self-subdued and ever
restrained in conduct.
- Though month after month for a hundred
years one should offer sacrifices by the thousands,
yet if only for a moment one should worship those
of developed mind, that honour is indeed better
than a century of sacrifice.
- Though for a hundred years one should
tend the sacrificial fire in the forest, yet if only
for a moment one should worship those of
developed mind, that worship is indeed better
than a century of sacrifice.
- Whatever gifts and oblations one seeking
merit might offer in this world for a whole year,
all that is not worth one fourth of the merit gained
by revering the Upright Ones, which is truly excellent.
- To one ever eager to revere and serve
the elders, these four blessings accrue: long life
and beauty, happiness and power.
- Better it is to live one day virtuous and
meditative than to live a hundred years immoral
and uncontrolled.
- Better it is to live one day wise and meditative
than to live a hundred years foolish and uncontrolled.
- Better it is to live one day strenuous and
resolute than to live a hundred years sluggish
and dissipated.
- Better it is to live one day seeing the rise
and fall of things than to live a hundred years
without ever seeing the rise and fall of things.
- Better it is to live one day seeing the
Deathless than to live a hundred years without
ever seeing the Deathless.
- Better it is to live one day seeing the
Supreme Truth than to live a hundred years without
ever seeing the Supreme Truth.
v.104. Brahma: a high divinity in
ancient Indian religion.
Chapter Nine -- Evil
- Hasten to do good and restrain your
mind from evil. One who is slow in doing good,
one's mind delights in evil.
- Should a person commit evil, let one
not do it again and again. Let one not find pleasure
therein, for painful is the accumulation of evil.
- Should a person do good, let one do
it again and again. Let one find pleasure therein,
for blissful is the accumulation of good.
- It may be well with the evil-doer as long
as the evil ripens not, but when it does ripen, then
the evil doer sees (the painful results of) one's evil deeds.
- It may be ill with the doer of good as long
as the good ripens not, but when it does ripen
then the doer of good sees (the pleasant results of)
one's good deeds.
- Think not lightly of evil, saying, "It
will not come to me." Drop by drop is the water
pot filled; likewise, the fool, gathering it little by
little, fills oneself with evil.
- Think not lightly of good, saying, "It
will not come to me." Drop by drop is the water
pot filled; likewise, the wise person, gathering it
little by little, fills oneself with good.
- Just as a trader with a small escort and
great wealth would avoid a perilous route, or
just as one desiring to live avoids poison, even
so should one shun evil.
- If on the one hand there is no wound, one
may even carry poison in it. Poison does not
affect one who is free from wounds, and for one
who does no evil, there is no ill.
- Like fine dust thrown against the wind,
evil falls back upon that fool who offends an
inoffensive, pure and guiltless person.
- Some are born in the womb; the wicked
are born in hell; the devout go to heaven; the
stainless pass into Nibbana.
- Neither in the sky nor in mid-ocean,
nor by entering into mountain clefts, nowhere
in the world is there a place where one may escape
from the results of evil deeds.
- Neither in the sky nor in mid-ocean,
nor by entering into mountain clefts, nowhere
in the world is there a place where one will not
be overcome by death.
Chapter Ten -- Violence
- All tremble at violence, all fear death.
Putting oneself in the place of another, one should
not kill nor cause another to kill.
- All tremble at violence, life is dear to all.
Putting oneself in the place of another, one should
not kill nor cause another to kill.
- One who, while oneself seeking happiness,
oppresses with violence other beings who also
desire happiness, will not attain happiness hereafter.
- One who, while oneself seeking happiness,
does not oppress with violence other beings who
also desire happiness, will find happiness hereafter.
- Speak not harshly to anyone; for those
thus spoken to might retort. Indeed, angry
speech hurts, and retaliation may overtake you.
- If, like a broken gong, you silence yourself,
you have approached Nibbana, for vindictiveness
is no more in you.
- Just as a cowherd drives the cattle to
pasture with a staff, so do old age and death
drive the life force of beings (from existence
to existence).
- When fools commit evil deeds, they
do not realize (their evil nature). Witless
persons are tormented by their own deeds, like one
burnt by fire.
- Those who use violence against those who
are unarmed, and offend those who are inoffensive,
will soon come upon one of these ten states:
138-140. Sharp pain, or disaster, bodily
injury, serious illness, or derangement of mind,
trouble from the government, or grave charges,
loss of relatives, or loss of wealth, houses destroyed
by a ravaging fire, and upon dissolution of
the body those ignorant persons will be born in hell.
- Neither going about naked, nor matted
locks, nor filth, nor fasting, nor lying on the
ground, nor smearing oneself with ashes and
dust, nor sitting on the heels (in penance) can
purify a mortal who has not overcome mental wavering.
- Even though one be well-adorned, yet if
one is poised, calm, controlled and established
in the holy life, having laid aside violence towards
all beings--one, truly, is a holy person, a renunciate.
- Only rarely is there a person in this world
who, restrained by modesty, avoids reproach, as
a thoroughbred horse the whip.
- Like a thoroughbred horse touched by
the whip, be strenuous, be filled with spiritual
yearning. By faith and moral purity, by effort
and meditation, by investigation of the truth, by
being rich in knowledge and virtue, and by being
mindful, destroy this unlimited suffering.
- Irrigators regulate the waters; fletchers
straighten arrow shafts; carpenters shape wood;
and the good control themselves.
Chapter Eleven -- Old Age
- When this world is ever ablaze, why
this laughter, why this jubilation? Shrouded in
darkness, why don't you seek the light?
- Behold this body, a painted image,
a mass of heaped up sores--infirm, full of
hankering, with nothing lasting or stable.
- Fully worn out is this body, a nest of
disease, and fragile. This foul mass breaks up,
for death is the end of life.
- These dove-coloured bones are like
gourds that lie scattered about in autumn; having
seen them, how can one seek delight?
- The body is a city built of bones, plastered
with flesh and blood, containing within decay and
death, pride and jealousy.
- Even gorgeous royal chariots wear out,
and indeed this body too wears out. But the
Dhamma of the good does not age; thus the good
make it known to the good.
- Persons of little learning grow old like
a bull: they grow only in bulk, but their wisdom
does not grow.
- Through many a
birth in samsara have I
wandered in vain, seeking the builder of this
house (of life). Repeated birth is indeed suffering!
- O house-builder, you are seen! You
will not build this house again. For your rafters
are broken and your ridgepole shattered. My
mind has reached the Unconditioned:
I
have
attained the destruction of craving.
- Those who in youth have not led the
holy life, or have failed to acquire wealth, languish
like old cranes in a pond without fish.
- Those who in youth have not led the
holy life, or have failed to acquire wealth, lie
like worn-out arrows (shot from) a bow, sighing
over the past.
vv.153-154. According to the
commentary, these verses are the Buddha's "Song of Victory," his
first utterance after his Enlightenment. The house is
individualized existence in samsara, the house-
builder craving, the rafters the passions and the
ridge-pole ignorance.
Chapter Twelve -- The Self
- If one holds oneself dear, one should
diligently watch oneself. Let the wise person keep
vigil during any of the three watches of the night.
- One should first establish oneself in what
is proper; then only should one instruct others.
Thus the wise person will not be reproached.
- One should do what one teaches others
to do; if one would train others, one should be
well-controlled oneself. Difficult, indeed is
self-control.
- One truly is the protector of oneself,
who else could the protector be? With oneself
fully controlled one gains a mastery
which is hard to gain.
- The evil a witless person does by oneself,
born of oneself and produced by oneself, grinds
one as a diamond grinds a hard gem.
- Just as a jungle creeper strangles the tree
on which it grows, even so a person who is exceedingly
depraved harms oneself as an enemy might wish.
- Easy to do are things that are bad and
harmful to oneself, but exceedingly difficult to
do are things that are good and beneficial.
- Whoever, on account of perverted views,
reviles the Teaching of the Arahats, the Noble
Ones of righteous life--that fool, like the
bamboo,
produces fruits only for self-destruction.
- By oneself is evil done, by oneself is
one defiled. By oneself is evil left undone, by
oneself is one purified. Purity and impurity depend
on oneself--no one can purify another.
- Let one not neglect one's own welfare for
the sake of another, however great. Clearly understanding
one's own welfare, let one be intent upon the good.
v.164. Certain reeds of the bamboo family
perish immediately after producing fruits.
Chapter Thirteen -- The World
- Follow not the vulgar way; live not in
heedlessness; hold not false views; linger not
long in worldly existence.
- Arise! Do not be heedless! Lead a life
of good conduct. The righteous live happily both
in this world and the next.
- Lead a life of good conduct. Lead not a
base life. The righteous live happily both in this
world and the next.
- One who looks upon the world as a
bubble and a mirage, that person the
King of Death does not see.
- Come! Behold this world, which is like
a decorated royal chariot. Here fools flounder,
but the wise have no attachment to it.
- One who having been heedless is heedless
no more, illuminates this world like the moon
freed from clouds.
- One who by good deeds covers the evil
one has done, illuminates this world like the moon
freed from clouds.
- Blind is this world; here only a few
possess insight. Only a few, like birds escaping
from a net, go to the realms of bliss.
- Swans fly on the path of the sun; people
pass through the air by psychic powers; the wise
are led away from the world after vanquishing
Mara and his host.
- For liars who have violated the one
law (of truthfulness), who hold in scorn the
hereafter, there is no evil that they cannot do.
- Truly, misers fare not to heavenly realms;
nor, indeed, do fools praise generosity. But
wise persons rejoice in giving, and by that
alone do they become happy hereafter.
- Better than sole sovereignty over the
earth, better than going to heaven, better even
than lordship over all the worlds is the fruition
of Stream-entry.
v.178. Stream-entry (sotapatti):
the first stage of supramundane attainment.
Chapter Fourteen -- The Buddha
- By what track can you trace
that trackless Buddha of limitless range,
whose
victory nothing can undo,
whom none of the vanquished defilements
can ever pursue?
- By what track can you trace that
trackless Buddha of limitless range, in
whom
exists no longer the entangling and
embroiling craving that perpetuates becoming?
- Those wise ones who are devoted to
meditation and who delight in the calm of
renunciation--such mindful ones, Supreme
Buddhas, even the gods hold dear.
- Hard is it to be born a human, hard is the
life of mortals. Hard is it to gain the
opportunity to hear the Sublime Truth, and hard
indeed, to
encounter the arising of the Buddhas.
- To avoid all evil, to cultivate good,
and to cleanse one's mind--
this is the teaching of the Buddhas.
- Enduring patience is the highest austerity.
"Nibbana is supreme," say the Buddhas.
One is not a true renunciate who harms another, nor a
real
renunciate who oppresses others.
- Not despising, not harming, restraint according
to the code of monastic discipline, moderation in
food,
dwelling in solitude, devotion to meditation--
this is the teaching of the Buddhas.
186-187. There is no satisfying sensual
desires
even with a rain of gold coins, for sense pleasures
give little satisfaction and entail much pain. Having
understood this, the wise person finds no delight even
in heavenly pleasures. The disciple of the Supreme
Buddha
delights in the destruction of craving.
- People, driven by fear, go for refuge to
many
places--to hills, woods, groves, trees and shrines.
- Such, indeed, is no safe refuge; such
is not the refuge supreme. Not by resorting to such
a refuge is one released from all suffering.
190-191. Those who have gone
for refuge to
the
Buddha, his Teaching and his Order,
penetrate
with wisdom the Four Noble Truths--suffering,
the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering,
and the Noble Eightfold Path leading to
the cessation of suffering.
- This indeed is the safe refuge, this is
the
refuge supreme. Having gone to such a refuge,
one is released from all suffering.
- Hard to find is the thoroughbred person
(the Buddha). One is not born everywhere. Where
such a wise person is born, that clan thrives
happily.
- Blessed is the birth of the Buddhas;
blessed is the enunciation of the sacred Teaching;
blessed is harmony in the Order; and blessed is
the spiritual pursuit of the united truth-seekers.
195-196. They who revere those worthy of
reverence, the Buddhas and their disciples, who
have transcended all obstacles and passed beyond
the reach of sorrow and lamentation--they who
revere such peaceful and fearless ones, their merit
none can compute by any measure.
v.190-191. The Order: both the
monastic Order (bhikkhu sangha) and the Order of Noble
Ones (ariya sangha) who have reached the four supramundane
stages.
Chapter Fifteen -- Happiness
- Happy indeed we live, friendly amidst
the hostile. Amidst hostile people we dwell
free from hatred.
- Happy indeed we live, unafflicted amidst
those afflicted (by craving). Amidst afflicted
people we dwell free from affliction.
- Happy indeed we live, free from avarice
amidst the avaricious. Amidst avaricious people
we dwell free from avarice.
- Happy indeed we live, we who possess
nothing. Feeders on joy we shall be, like the
Radiant Gods.
- Victory begets enmity, the defeated dwell
in pain. Happily the peaceful live, discarding
both victory and defeat.
- There is no fire like lust and no crime
like hatred. There is no ill like the aggregates
(of existence) and no bliss higher than the
peace (of Nibbana).
- Hunger is the worst disease, conditioned
things the worst suffering. Knowing this as it
really is, the wise realize Nibbana,
the highest bliss.
- Health is the highest gain and contentment
the greatest wealth. A trustworthy person
is the best kinsman, Nibbana the highest bliss.
- Having savoured the taste of solitude
and peace, pain-free and stainless they become,
drinking deep the taste of the bliss of Truth.
- Good it is to see the Noble Ones, to
live with them is ever blissful. One will always
be happy by not encountering fools.
- Indeed, they who move in the company
of fools grieve for long. Association with fools
is ever painful, like partnership with an enemy.
But happy is association with the wise, like
meeting one's own kin.
- Therefore, follow the Noble One, who
is steadfast, wise, learned, dutiful and devout.
One should follow only such a person, who is truly
good and discerning, even as the moon follows
the path of the stars.
v.202. Aggregates (of existence)
(khandha): the five groups of factors into which the Buddha
analyzes the living being--material form, feeling, perception,
mental formations, and consciousness.
Chapter Sixteen -- Affection
- Giving oneself to things to be shunned
and not exerting oneself where exertion is needed,
seekers after pleasures forsake their own true
welfare and will come to envy those intent
upon their welfare.
- Seek no intimacy with the beloved and
also not with the unloved, for not to see the
beloved and to see the unloved, both are painful.
- Therefore, hold nothing dear, for separation
from the dear is painful. There are no bonds
for those who have nothing beloved or unloved.
- From endearment springs grief, from
endearment springs fear. For those who are
wholly free from endearment there is no grief,
whence then fear?
- From affection springs grief, from affection
springs fear. For those who are wholly free
from affection there is no grief, whence then fear?
- From attachment springs grief, from
attachment springs fear. For those who are wholly
free from attachment there is no grief,
whence then fear?
- From lust springs grief, from lust springs
fear. For those who are wholly free from lust
there is no grief, whence then fear.
- From craving springs grief, from craving
springs fear. For those who are wholly free from
craving there is no grief, whence then fear?
- People hold dear one who embodies
virtue and insight, who is principled, has realized
the Truth, and who oneself does what one ought
to be doing.
- One who is intent upon the Ineffable
(Nibbana) and dwells with mind inspired (by
wisdom), such a person--no more bound by sense
pleasures--is called "One Bound Upstream."
- When, after a long absence, a person safely
returns home from afar, relatives, friends and
well-wishers welcome the person home on arrival.
- As kinspeople welcome a dear one on arrival,
even so one's own good deeds will welcome the doer
of good who has gone from this world to the next.
v.218. One Bound Upstream: a Non-
returner (anagami).
Chapter Seventeen -- Anger
- One should give up anger, renounce
pride, and overcome all fetters. Suffering never
befalls those who cling not to mind and body and
are detached.
- Those who check rising anger as a charioteer
checks a rolling chariot, those I call true charioteers;
others only hold the reins.
- Overcome the angry by non-anger;
overcome the wicked by goodness; overcome the
miser by generosity; overcome the liar by truth.
- Speak the truth; yield not to anger;
when asked, give even if you only have a little.
By these three means can one reach the presence
of the gods.
- Those sages who are inoffensive and
ever restrained in body, go to the Deathless State,
where they grieve no more.
- Those who are ever vigilant, who discipline
themselves day and night, ever intent upon
Nibbana--their defilements fade away.
- O Atula! Indeed, this is an old pattern,
not one only of today: they blame those who remain
silent, they blame those who speak much,
they blame those who speak in moderation.
There is none in this world who is not blamed.
- There never was, there never will be,
nor is there now, a person who is wholly
blamed or wholly praised.
- But the person whom the wise praise,
after observing the person day after day, is one
of flawless character, wise, and endowed with
knowledge and virtue.
- Who can blame such a one, as worthy
as a coin of refined gold? Even the gods
praise the person; by Brahma, too is
the person praised.
- Let a person guard against irritability
in bodily action; let a person be controlled
in bodily deed. Abandoning bodily misconduct,
let a person practice good conduct in deed.
- Let a person guard against irritability
in speech; let a person be controlled in speech.
Abandoning verbal misconduct, let a person
practice good conduct in speech.
- Let a person guard against irritability
in thought; let a person be controlled in mind.
Abandoning mental misconduct, let a person
practice good conduct in thought.
- The wise are controlled in bodily deeds,
controlled in speech and controlled in thought.
They are truly well-controlled.
Chapter Eighteen -- Impurity
- Like a withered leaf are you now; death's
messengers are waiting for you. You stand on
the eve of your departure, yet you have made no
provision for your journey!
- Make an island for yourself! Strive hard
and become wise! Rid of impurities and cleansed
of stain, you shall enter the celestial abode
of the Noble Ones.
- Your life has come to an end now;
you are setting forth into the presence of Yama,
the King of Death. No resting place is there for
you on the way, yet you have made no provision
for your journey!
- Make an island for yourself! Strive hard
and become wise! Rid of impurities and cleansed of
stain, you shall not come again to birth and decay.
- One by one, little by little, moment by
moment, a wise person should remove one's own
impurities, as a smith removes the dross of silver.
- Just as rust arising from iron eats away
the base from which it arises, even so their own
deeds lead transgressors to states of woe.
- Non-repetition is the bane of scriptures;
neglect is the bane of a home; slovenliness is
the bane of personal appearance, and heedlessness
is the bane of a watchman.
- Unchastity is the taint in a person, and
niggardliness is the taint in a giver. Taints,
indeed, are all evil things, both in this world
and the next.
- A worse taint than these is ignorance,
the worst of all taints. Destroy this one taint
and become taintless, O renunciates!
- Easy is life for the shameless one who is as
impudent as a crow, back-biting and forward,
arrogant and corrupt.
- Difficult is life for the modest one who
always seeks purity, is detached and unassuming,
clean in life, and discerning.
246-247. One who destroys life, utters lies,
takes what is not given, goes to another person's
spouse, and is addicted to intoxicating drinks--such
a one digs up one's own root even in this very world.
- Know this, O good person: evil things are
difficult to control. Let not greed and wickedness
drag you to protracted misery.
- People give according to their faith or
regard. If one becomes discontented with the
food and drink given by others, one does not
attain meditative absorption, either by day or by night.
- But one in whom this (discontent) is fully
destroyed, uprooted and extinct, that person attains
absorption, both by day and by night.
- There is no fire like lust; there is no grip
like hatred; there is no net like delusion; there is
no river like craving.
- Easily seen are the faults of others, but
one's own are difficult to see. Like chaff one
winnows another's faults, but hides one's own,
even as a crafty fowler hides behind sham branches.
- One who seeks another's faults, who is
ever censorious--that person's cankers grow.
That person is far from the destruction of the cankers.
- There is no track in the sky, and no recluse
outside (the Buddha's dispensation). Mankind
delights in worldliness, but the Buddhas are
free from worldliness.
- There is no track in the sky, and no recluse
outside (the Buddha's dispensation). There are
no conditioned things that are eternal, and
no instability in the Buddhas.
v.254-255. Recluse (samana):
here used in the special sense of those who have reached the four
supramundane stages.
Chapter Nineteen -- The Just
- Not by passing arbitrary judgements does
a person become just; a wise person investigates
both right and wrong.
- One who does not judge others arbitrarily,
but passes judgement impartially according
to truth, that sagacious person is a guardian
of law and is called just.
- One is not versed in Dhamma because
one speaks much. One who, after hearing even a
little Dhamma, does not neglect it but personally
realises its truth, that person is truly versed
in the Dhamma.
- A monk is not an Elder because his
head is gray; he is but ripe in age, and he is called
one grown old in vain.
- One in whom there is truthfulness,
virtue, inoffensiveness, restraint and self-mastery,
who is free from defilements and wise--he is
truly called an Elder.
- Not by mere eloquence nor by bodily
beauty does a person become accomplished, should
one be jealous, selfish and deceitful.
- But one in whom these are wholly destroyed,
uprooted and extinct, and who has cast out
hatred--that wise person is truly accomplished.
- Not by shaven head does a person who is
undisciplined and untruthful become a renunciate.
How can one who is full of desire and greed be
a renunciate?
- One who wholly subdues evil both small
and great is called a renunciate, because that
person has overcome all evil.
- One is not a renunciate just because one lives
on other's alms. Not by adopting outward form
does one become a true renunciate.
- One here who lives the holy life and
walks with understanding in this world,
transcending both merit and demerit--that
person is truly called a renunciate.
268-269. Not by observing silence does one
become a sage, if one be foolish and ignorant. But
that wise person who, as if holding a balance-scale,
accepts only the good and rejects the evil--that person
is truly a sage. Since both (the present and future)
worlds are comprehended, that person is called a sage.
- One is not a Noble One who injures living
beings. One is called a Noble One because one is
harmless towards all living beings.
- You should not rest content merely by
following rules and observances, nor even by
acquiring much learning; nor by gaining
absorption, nor by a life of seclusion;
- Nor by thinking: "I enjoy the bliss of
renunciation that is not experienced by the
worldling." O renunciates, you should not rest content
until the utter destruction of the cankers
(Arahatship) is reached.
Chapter Twenty -- The Path
- Of all paths the Eightfold Path is the
best; of all truths the Four Noble Truths are the
best; of all things passionlessness is the best;
of people the Seeing One (the Buddha) is the best.
- This is the only way: there is none other
for the purification of insight. Tread this path,
and you will bewilder Mara.
- Walking upon this path you will make an
end of suffering. Having discovered how to pull
out the thorn of lust, I expound the path.
- You yourselves must strive; the Buddhas
only point the way. Those meditative ones who
tread the path are released from the bonds of Mara.
- "All conditioned things are impermanent"
--when one sees this with wisdom one
turns away from suffering. This is the
path to purification.
- "All conditioned things are unsatisfactory"
--when one sees this with wisdom one
turns away from suffering. This is the
path to purification.
- "All things are not self"--when one sees
this with wisdom one turns away from suffering.
This is the path to purification.
- The idler who does not exert oneself
when one should, who though young and strong is
full of sloth, with a mind full of vain thoughts--
such an indolent person does not find the
path to wisdom.
- Watchful of speech, well controlled in
mind, let a person not commit evil with the body.
Let one purify these three courses of action,
and win the path made known by the Great Sage.
- Wisdom springs from meditation, without
meditation wisdom wanes. Having known these
two paths of progress and decline, let a person
so conduct oneself that one's wisdom may increase.
- Cut down the forest
(of lust), but not
the tree. From the forest (of lust) springs fear.
Having cut down the forest and the underbrush
(of desire), be passionless, O renunciates!
- For so long as the underbrush of desire,
even the most subtle, of a person towards another
is not cut down, one's mind is in bondage, like
the sucking calf to its mother.
- Cut off your affection in the manner
a person plucks with one's hand an autumn lotus.
Cultivate only the path to peace, to Nibbana,
as made known by the Exalted One.
- "Here shall I live during the rains, here
in winter and summer"--thus thinks the fool.
One does not realize the danger
(that death might intervene).
- As a great flood carries away a sleeping
village, just so death seizes and carries away a
person with a clinging mind, doting on one's
children and cattle.
- For one who is assailed by death there is
no protection by kinsmen. None there are to save
one--no sons, nor father nor relatives.
- Realizing this fact, let the wise person,
restrained by morality, hasten to clear the
path leading to Nibbana.
v.283. The meaning of this injunction is:
"Cut down the forest of lust, but do not mortify the body."
Chapter Twenty-One -- Miscellaneous
- If by renouncing a lesser happiness
one may realize a greater happiness, let the wise
person renounce the lesser, having regard
for the greater.
- One who seeks one's own happiness by
inflicting pain on others, entangled by the
bonds of hate, will never be delivered from hate.
- For those who are arrogant and heedless,
who leave undone what should be done and do
what should not be done--for them the
cankers only increase.
- Those who always earnestly practise
mindfulness of the body, who do not resort to
what should not be done, and steadfastly pursue
what should be done, mindful and clearly
comprehending--their cankers cease.
- Having slain mother (craving), father
(ego-conceit), two warrior kings (eternalism and
nihilism), and destroyed a country (sense organs
and sense objects) together with its treasurer
(attachment and lust), ungrieving goes the holy person.
- Having slain mother, father, two brahmin
kings (two extreme views), and a tiger as the
fifth (the five mental hindrances), ungrieving
goes the holy person.
- Those disciples of Gotama ever awaken
happily who day and night constantly practise
the recollection of the Buddha.
- Those disciples of Gotama ever awaken
happily who day and night constantly practise
the recollection of the Dhamma.
- Those disciples of Gotama ever awaken
happily who day and night constantly practise
the recollection of the Sangha.
- Those disciples of Gotama ever awaken
happily who day and night constantly practise
mindfulness of the body.
- Those disciples of Gotama ever awaken
happily whose minds by day and night delight in
the practice of non-harming.
- Those disciples of Gotama ever awaken
happily whose minds by day and night delight in
the practice of meditation.
- Difficult is life as a renunciate; difficult
is it to delight therein. Also difficult and
sorrowful is household life. Suffering comes from
association with unequals, suffering comes from
wandering in samsara. Therefore, be not an
aimless wanderer, be not a pursuer of suffering.
- One who is full of faith and virtue, and
possesses good repute and wealth--that person is
respected everywhere, in whatever land one travels.
- The good shine even from afar, like the
Himalaya mountain. But the wicked are unseen,
like arrows shot in the night.
- One who sits alone, sleeps alone and walks
alone, who is strenuous and subdues oneself
alone, will find delight in the solitude of the forest.
Chapter Twenty-Two -- The State of Woe
- The liar goes to the state of woe; also
one who, having done (wrong), says, "I did not
do it." People of base actions both, on departing
they share the same destiny in the other world.
- There are many evil characters and
uncontrolled people wearing the yellow robe. These
wicked people will be born in states of woe because
of their evil deeds.
- It would be better to swallow a red-hot
iron ball, blazing like fire, than as an immoral
and uncontrolled renunciate to eat the
almsfood of the people.
- Four misfortunes befall the reckless person
who consorts with another's spouse: acquisition
of demerit, disturbed sleep, ill-repute and
(rebirth in) states of woe.
- Such a person acquires demerit and an
unhappy birth in the future. Brief is the pleasure
of the frightened people, and the king
imposes heavy punishment. Hence, let
no person consort with another's spouse.
- Just as Kusa grass wrongly handled cuts
the hand, even so a recluse's life wrongly lived
drags one to a state of woe.
- Any loose act, any corrupt observance,
any life of questionable celibacy--none of
these bear much fruit.
- If anything is to be done, let one do it
with sustained vigor. A lax monastic life stirs up
the dust of passions all the more.
- An evil deed is better left undone, for
such a deed torments one afterwards. But a good
deed is better done, doing which one repents
not later.
- Guard yourself closely like a border
city, both within and without. Do not let slip
this opportunity (for spiritual growth). For those
who let slip this opportunity grieve when
consigned to states of woe.
- Those who are ashamed of what they
should not be ashamed of, and are not ashamed
of what they should be ashamed of--upholding
false views, they go to states of woe.
- Those who see something to fear where
there is nothing to fear, and see nothing to fear
where there is something to fear--upholding
false views, they go to states of woe.
- Those who imagine evil where there is
none, and do not see evil where it is--upholding
false views, they go to states of woe.
- Those who discern the wrong as wrong
and the right as right--upholding right views,
they go to realms of bliss.
Chapter Twenty-Three -- The Elephant
- As an elephant in the battlefield withstands
arrows shot from bows all around, even so shall
I endure abuse. There are many, indeed,
who lack morality.
- Tamed elephants can be led into a crowd,
and the king mounts a tamed elephant. So too,
best among people is the subdued one who
endures abuse.
- Excellent are well-trained mules,
thoroughbred Sindhu horses and noble tusker
elephants. But better still is the person
who has subdued oneself.
- Not by these mounts, however, can
one go to the Untrodden Land (Nibbana), as one
who is self-tamed goes by one's own tamed and
well-controlled mind.
- Musty during rut, the tusker named
Dhanapalaka is uncontrollable. Held in captivity,
the tusker does not touch a morsel, but only
longingly calls to mind the elephant forest.
- When a person is sluggish and gluttonous,
lazy, rolling around in bed like a fat pig--that
sluggard undergoes rebirth again and again.
- Formerly this mind wandered about as
it liked, where it wished, according to its pleasure,
but now I shall thoroughly master it with wisdom,
as a mahout controls an elephant in rut.
- Delight in heedfulness! Guard well your
thoughts! Draw yourself out of this bog of evil,
even as an elephant draws oneself out of the mud.
- If for company you find a wise and
prudent friend, one who leads a good life, you should
overcome all impediments and keep this person's
company, joyously and mindfully.
- But if for company you cannot find a wise
and prudent friend, one who leads a good life,
then, like a king who leaves behind a conquered
kingdom or a lone elephant in the elephant forest,
you should go your own way alone.
- Better it is to live alone, there is no
fellowship with a fool. Live alone and do no evil;
be carefree like an elephant in the elephant forest.
- Good are friends when need arises; good
is contentment with just what one has; good is
merit when life is at an end; and good is the
abandoning of all suffering (through Arahatship).
- Good it is to serve one's mother; good
it is to serve one's father; good it is to serve
the Sangha; and good it is to serve the holy people.
- Good is virtue until life's end; good is
faith that is steadfast; good is the acquisition
of wisdom; and good is the avoidance of evil.
Chapter Twenty-Four -- Craving
- The craving of one given to heedless
living grows like a creeper. Like the monkey
seeking fruits in the forest, one leaps from life
to life (tasting the fruit of one's kamma).
- Whoever is overcome by this wretched and
sticky craving, that person's sorrows grow like
grass after the rains.
- But whoever overcomes this wretched
craving, so difficult to overcome, from that
person sorrows fall away like water from
a lotus leaf.
- This I say to you: Good luck to you all
assembled here! Dig up the root of craving,
like one in search of the fragrant roots of birana
grass. Let not Mara crush you again and again,
as a flood crushes a reed.
- Just as a tree, though cut down, sprouts
up again if its roots remain uncut and firm, even
so, until the craving that lies dormant is rooted out,
suffering springs up again and again.
- The misguided person in whom the thirty-six
currents of craving rush strongly toward pleasurable
objects, is swept away by the flood of his
passionate thoughts.
- Everywhere these currents flow, and the
creeper (of craving) sprouts and grows. Seeing
that the creeper has sprung up, cut off its
root with wisdom.
- Flowing in (from all objects) and watered
by craving, feelings of pleasure arise in beings.
Bent on pleasures and seeking enjoyment, these
people fall prey to birth and decay.
- Beset by craving, people run about like
an entrapped hare. Held fast by mental fetters,
they come to suffering again and again
for a long time.
- Beset by craving, people run about like
an entrapped hare. Therefore, one who yearns
to be passion-free should destroy one's own craving.
- There is one who, turning away from
desire (for household life) takes to the
life of the
forest (i.e. of a monk). But after being freed from
the household, one runs back to it. Behold that
person! Though freed, one runs back to that very bondage!
345-346. That is not a strong fetter, the wise
say, which is made of iron, wood or hemp. But
the infatuation and longing for jewels and ornaments,
children and spouses--that, they say, is a far
stronger fetter, which pulls one downward and,
though seemingly loose, is hard to remove. This
too the wise cut off. Giving up sensual pleasure,
and without any longing, they renounce the world.
- Those who are lust-infatuated fall back
to the swirling current (of samsara) like a spider
on its self-spun web. This too the wise cut off.
Without any longing, they abandon all suffering
and renounce the world.
- Let go of the past, let go of the future,
let go of the present, and cross over to the farther
shore of existence. With mind wholly liberated,
you shall come no more to birth and death.
- For a person tormented by evil thoughts,
who is passion-dominated and given to the
pursuit of pleasure, one's craving steadily grows.
One makes the fetter strong indeed.
- One who delights in subduing evil thoughts,
who meditates on the impurities and is ever mindful
--it is that person who will make an end of craving
and rend asunder Mara's fetter.
- One who has reached the goal, is fearless,
free from craving, passionless, having plucked out
the thorns of existence--for that person this
is the last body.
- One who is free from craving and attachment,
perfect in uncovering the true meaning of the
Teaching, and knows the arrangement of the
sacred texts in correct sequence--that person,
indeed, is the bearer of a final body. One is
truly called the profoundly wise one, the great person.
- A victor am I over all, all have I
known,
yet unattached am I to all that is conquered and
known. Abandoning all, I am freed through the
destruction of craving. Having thus directly
comprehended all by myself,
whom shall I
call my teacher?
- The gift of Dhamma excels all gifts;
the taste of Dhamma excels all tastes; the delight
in Dhamma excels all delights; the Craving-freed
vanquishes all suffering.
- Riches ruin only the foolish, not those in
quest of the Beyond. By craving for riches the
witless person ruins oneself as well as others.
- Weeds are the bane of fields, lust the bane
of mankind. Therefore what is offered to those
free of lust yields abundant fruit.
- Weeds are the bane of fields, hatred the
bane of mankind. Therefore what is offered to
those free of hatred yields abundant fruit.
- Weeds are the bane of fields, delusion
the bane of mankind. Therefore what is offered
to those free of delusion yields abundant fruit.
- Weeds are the bane of fields, desire the
bane of mankind. Therefore what is offered to
those free of desire yields abundant fruit.
v.339. The thirty-six currents of
craving: the three cravings--for sensual pleasure, for
continued existence, and for annihilation--in relation to each of
the twelve bases--the six sense organs, including mind, and their
corresponding objects.
v.344. This verse, in the original, puns
with the Pali word vana, meaning both "desire" and
"forest."
v.353. This was the Buddha's reply to a
wandering ascetic who asked him about his teacher. The Buddha's
answer shows that Supreme Enlightenment was his own unique
attainment, which he had not learned from anyone else.
Chapter Twenty-Five -- The Monk
- Good is restraint over the eye; good is
restraint over the ear; good is restraint over the
nose; good is restraint over the tongue.
- Good is restraint in the body; good is
restraint in speech; good is restraint in thought.
Restraint everywhere is good. The monk restrained
in every way is freed from all suffering.
- One who has control over one's hands,
feet and tongue, who is fully controlled, delights
in meditation, is inwardly absorbed, keeps to
oneself and is contented--such a one people call a monk.
- That monk who has control over the
tongue, is moderate in speech, unassuming
and who explains the Teaching in both letter and
spirit--whatever that one says is pleasing.
- The monk who abides in the Dhamma,
delights in the Dhamma, meditates on the Dhamma
and bears the Dhamma well in mind--that one does
not fall away from the sublime Dhamma.
- One should not despise what one has
received, nor envy the gains of others. The
monk who envies the gains of others does
not attain to meditative absorption.
- A monk who does not despise what has been
received, even though it be little, who is pure
in livelihood and unremitting in effort, that one
even the gods praise.
- One who has no attachment whatsoever
for the mind and body, who does not grieve for
what one has not--that one is truly called a monk.
- The monk who abides in universal love
and is deeply devoted to the Teaching of the
Buddha attains the peace of Nibbana, the bliss
of the cessation of all conditioned things.
- Empty this boat, O monk! Emptied, it
will sail lightly. Rid of lust and hatred,
you shall reach Nibbana.
- Cut off the five,
abandon the five, and
cultivate the five. The monk who has overcome
the five bonds is called one who has
crossed the flood.
- Meditate, O monk! Do not be heedless.
Let not your mind whirl on sensual pleasures.
Heedless, do not swallow a red hot iron ball,
lest you cry when burning, "O this is painful!"
- There is no meditative concentration for
one who lacks insight, and no insight for one
who lacks meditative concentration. One in whom
are found both meditative concentration and
insight, that one indeed is close to Nibbana.
- The monk who has retired to a solitary
abode and calmed the mind, who comprehends
the Dhamma with insight, in that one there arises
a delight that transcends all human delights.
- Whenever one sees with insight the rise
and fall of the aggregates, one is full of
joy and
happiness. To the discerning one this reflects
the Deathless.
- Control of the senses, contentment,
restraint according to the code of monastic
discipline--these form the basis of the holy
life for the wise monk here.
- Let one associate with friends who are
noble, energetic and pure in life; let one be
cordial and refined in conduct. Thus, full of
joy, one will make an end of suffering.
- Just as the jasmine creeper sheds its
withered flowers, even so, O monks, should
you totally shed lust and hatred!
- The monk who is calm in body, calm in
speech, calm in thought, well composed and who
has spewn out worldliness--that one, truly,
is called serene.
- By oneself one must censure oneself and
scrutinize oneself. The self-guarded and mindful
monk will always live in happiness.
- One is one's own protector, one is one's
own refuge. Therefore one should control oneself
even as the trader controls a noble steed.
- Full of joy, full of faith in the Teaching of
the Buddha, the monk attains the Peaceful State,
the bliss of cessation of conditioned things.
- That monk who while young devotes oneself
to the Teaching of the Buddha illuminates
this world like the moon freed from clouds.
v.370. The five to be cut off are
the five "lower fetters": self-illusion, doubt, belief in rites
and rituals, lust and ill-will. The five to be abandoned
are the five "higher fetters": craving for the divine realms with
form, craving for the formless realms, conceit, restlessness and
ignorance. Stream-enterers and Once-returners cut off the first
three fetters, Non-returners the next two and Arahats the last
five. The five to be cultivated are the five spiritual
faculties: faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom.
The five bonds are: greed, hatred, delusion, false views
and conceit.
v.374. Aggregates (of existence)
(khandha): the five groups of factors into which the Buddha
analyzes the living being--material form, feeling, perception,
mental formations, and consciousness.
Chapter Twenty-Six -- The Holy Person
- Exert yourself, O holy
person! Cut off the
stream (of craving) and discard sense desires
Knowing the destruction of all conditioned things,
become, O holy person, a knower of the Uncreate (Nibbana)!
- When a holy person has reached the summit
of the two paths (meditative concentration and
insight), that person knows the Truth and all fetters
fall away.
- One for whom there is neither this shore
nor the other shore, nor yet both, one who is free of
cares and is unfettered--such a one do I call
a holy person.
- One who is meditative and stainless, settled
and whose work is done, free from cankers, having
reached the highest goal--such a one do I call
a holy person.
- The sun shines by day, the moon shines by
night. The warrior shines in armour, the holy
person shines in meditation. But the Buddha shines
resplendent all day and all night.
- Because one has discarded evil, one is called
a holy person. Because one is serene in conduct,
one is called a recluse. And because one has
renounced one's impurities, one is called a
renunciate.
- One should not strike a holy person, nor
should a holy person, when struck, give way to
anger. Shame on one who strikes a holy person,
and more shame on one who gives way to anger.
- Nothing is better for a holy person than
when one holds one's mind back from what is endearing.
To the extent that thoughts of harming
wear away, to that extent does suffering subside.
- One who does no evil in deed, word and
thought, who is restrained in these three ways--
such a one do I call a holy person.
- Just as a brahmin priest reveres his sacrificial
fire, even so should one devoutly revere the
person from whom one has learned the Dhamma
taught by the Buddha.
- Not by matted hair, nor by lineage,
nor by birth does one become a holy person.
But one in whom truth and righteousness exist
--such a one is pure and is a holy person.
- What is the use of your matted hair,
O witless person? What of your garment of antelope's
hide? Within you is the tangle (of passion),
only outwardly do you cleanse
yourself.
- The person who wears a robe made from
rags, who is lean, with veins showing all over the
body, and who meditates alone in the forest--
such a one do I call a holy person.
- I do not call one a holy person because of
one's lineage or one's high-born mother. If one has
impeding attachments, one is just a supercilious
person. But one who is free from impediments and
clinging--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who, having cut off all fetters, trembles
no more, who has overcome all attachments and is
emancipated--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who has cut off the thong (of hatred),
the band (of craving), and the rope (of false views),
together with the appurtenances (latent evil
tendencies), one who has removed the crossbar
(ignorance) and is enlightened--such a one do I call
a holy person.
- One who without resentment endures
abuse, beating and punishment, whose power,
real might, is patience--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who is free from anger, devout,
virtuous, without craving, self-subdued, bearing
one's final body--such a one do I call a holy person.
- Like water on a lotus leaf or a mustard
seed on the point of a needle, one who does not
cling to sensual pleasures--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who in this very life realizes for oneself
the end of suffering, who has laid aside the burden
and become emancipated--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One of profound knowledge, wise, skilled
in discerning the right or wrong path, who has
reached the highest goal--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who holds aloof from householders
and ascetics alike, and wanders about with no
fixed abode and but few wants--such a one do I call
a holy person.
- One who has renounced violence towards
all living beings, weak or strong, who neither kills
no causes others to kill--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who is friendly amidst the hostile,
peaceful amidst the violent, and unattached amidst
the attached--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One from whom lust and hatred, pride and
hypocrisy have fallen off like a mustard seed from
the point of a needle--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who utters gentle, instructive and truthful
words, who imprecates none--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who in this world takes nothing that
is not given to one, be it long or short, small or
big, good or bad--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who wants nothing of either this world
or the next, who is desire-free and emancipated--
such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who has no attachment, who through
perfect knowledge is free from doubts and has
plunged into the Deathless--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who in this world has transcended the
ties of both merit and demerit, who is sorrowless,
stainless and pure--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who, like the moon, is spotless and
pure, serene and clear, who has destroyed the
delight in existence--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who, having traversed this miry, perilous
and delusive round of existence, has crossed
over and reached the other shore, meditative,
calm and free from doubt, clinging to nothing,
attained to Nibbana--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who, having abandoned sensual pleasures,
renounced the household life and become a
homeless one, has destroyed both sensual desire
and continued existence--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who, having abandoned craving, renounced
the household life and become a homeless
one, has destroyed both craving and continued
existence--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who, casting off human bonds and
transcending celestial ties, is wholly delivered of
all bondages--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who, having cast off likes and dislikes,
has become tranquil, rid of the substrata of
existence and like a hero has conquered all the
worlds--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who, in every way, knows the death
and rebirth of all beings, and is totally detached,
blessed and enlightened--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One whose track no gods, no angels, no
humans trace, the Arahat who has destroyed all
cankers--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who clings to nothing of the past,
present and future, who has no attachment and
holds on to nothing--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One, the Noble, the Excellent, the Heroic,
the Great Sage, the Conqueror, the Passionless,
the Pure, the Enlightened--such a one do I call a holy person.
- One who knows one's former births, who
sees heaven and hell, who has reached the end of
births and attained to the perfection of insight,
the sage who has reached the summit of spiritual
excellence--such a one do I call a holy person.
v.383. "Holy person" is used rather than
Buddharakkhita's "holy man" as a gender neutral term. "Holy man"
was used as a makeshift rendering for brahmana, intended
to reproduce the ambiguity of the Indian word. Originally men of
spiritual stature, by the time of the Buddha the brahmins had
turned into a privileged priesthood which defined itself by means
of birth and lineage rather than by genuine inner sanctity. The
Buddha attempted to restore to the word brahmana its
original connotation by identifying the true "holy man" as the
Arahat, who merits the title through his inward purity and
holiness regardless of family lineage. The contrast between the
two meanings is highlighted in verses 393 and 396. Those who led
a contemplative life dedicated to gaining Arahatship could also
be called brahmins, as in verses 383, 389 and 390.
v.385. This shore: the six sense
organs; the other shore: their corresponding objects;
both: I-ness and my-ness.
v.394. In the time of the Buddha, such
ascetic practices as wearing matted hair and garments of hides
were considered marks of holiness.
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