The Tibetan Dhammapada, the Udanavarga – capp 16 – 28 Compiled by DHARMATRATA
Translated into English from Tibetan by Gareth Sparham with guidance from Lobsang Gyatso and Ngawang Thekchok. English editing by Beth Lee. First published in 1979 by The Tibetan Cultural Printing Press (Dharmasala, India). Published in 1983 by Mahayana Publications (New Delhi, India). Re-published in 1986 by Wisdom Publications (London, England) (out of print). The text herein has been checked against the Tibetan, lightly edited and reformatted. Preface, Introduction, Poem and endnotes are omitted.
Chapter 16 – MISCELLANEOUS
1 Do sentry work, one’s task, at the outset
Because the time for work reverts.
2 When first you have done like this ― Seen the task, and the time for work, and want to end
[Misery], since you have beheld that the practice
[Brings] what is desired ―
You should therefore concentrate until
The purpose is fully attained,
And by concentration and fortitude
Become an island unto yourself.
3 Purify all of your stains
Like a silversmith does silver.
Cleansed of stains, no faults arise;
Birth and death no longer arise.
4 Motivated by their wrong views ―
Ashamed when shame need not be felt
And not ashamed of shameful things,
Afraid of what is not fearful
And unafraid of the fearful ―
The living migrate to lower realms.
5 Those who first are careless in this Dharma practice,
Then later on become cautious,
Illuminate the entire world
Just as the unclouded sun and moon.
6 Those who first are careless in this,
Then later on become cautious,
With remembrance, completely
Pass beyond the craving of this world.
7 Those who became ordained in youth,
Embracing what the Buddha taught,
Illuminate the entire world
Just as the unclouded sun and moon.
8 Those who became ordained in youth,
Embracing what the Buddha taught,
With remembrance, completely
Pass beyond the craving of this world.
9 Those who, having done wrong action,
Screen it off with their virtue,
Are outstanding in the world
Just like the unclouded sun and moon.
10 Those who, having done wrong actions,
Screen it off with their virtue,
With remembrance, completely
Pass beyond the craving of this world.
11 Those who feel no joy for life,
Feel no pain even at death.
The steadfast who behold the state [of nirvana]
Feel no sorrow though in the midst of pain.
12 Those who feel no joy for life,
Feel no pain even at death.
The steadfast who behold the state,
Shine out resplendent midst their relatives.
13 The ordained meditate on white [deeds],
Eliminating black ones.
Having left for homelessness
And developing with enjoyment
A capacity for detachment,
They give up even faint desires.
14 Conduct becomes complete in all respects
When always pure in heart,
Pure in the monk’s confessional
And pure in the unsullied path.
15 Just as the weeds are to the field,
The bane [of us all] is desire.
For those without desire, therefore,
A great result comes from giving.
16 Just as the weeds are to the field
The bane [of us all] is anger.
For those without anger, therefore,
A great result comes from giving.
17 Just as the weeds are to the field
The bane [of humans] is ignorance.
For those without ignorance, therefore,
A great result comes from giving.
18 Just as the weeds are to the field
The bane [of us all] is pride.
For those without pride, therefore,
A great result comes from giving.
19 Just as the weeds are to the field
The bane [of humans] is attachment.
For those without attachment, therefore,
A great result comes from giving.
20 Just as the weeds are to the field
The bane [of us all] is craving.
For those without craving, therefore,
A great result comes from giving.
21 The sixth [the thinking mind] is owner and king.
If there is attachment, it has attachment,
And is without if there is none.
[Those with] attachment are ‘infants.’
22 [Mind] lives within a frame of bones
Plastered over with flesh and blood.
It is a town of hate and pride,
Attachment and hypocrisy,
[A town] of misery sprung from motivation and cause:
Those who don’t recognize this are ensnared in it.
23 Once realized, all rivers are quite left behind.
Non-Buddhists are not free from all those attachments.
This completes the chapter on MISCELLANEOUS.
Chapter 17 – WATER
1 They [who realize this misery] do not like home;
With effort and remembrance,
Like swans leaving a stagnant pond,
They quit their homes and cross the river.
2 Steadfast ones who renounce the world
And crush all classes of demons
Go miraculously in space
Like swans on the path of the sun.
3 Those who do not have good conduct
And find no riches in their youth
Become like old worn-out seagulls
In dirty, turbid, fished-out ponds.
4 Those who do not have good conduct
And find no riches in their youth
Curl up like a ball and sleep,
Remembering the things they did before.
5 Don’t think, “The little wrongs I did
Will make no difference afterwards.”
Just as the single water drops fill up the vase,
So infants become filled with wrongs
Collected little by little.
6 Don’t think, “The little virtues that I did
Will make no difference afterwards.”
Just as the single water drops
Fill up the vase,
So steadfast ones are filled with virtue
Collected little by little.
7 All those that have dammed up the dirty pond,
Wanting to cross the river of the sea,
Are those who have the boats:
The navigators are the wise.
8 The Bhagavan Buddha is [first] across.
The Brahmins are on the dry land.
The monks are washing [on the other side].
The Hearers are in their boats.
9 The learned ones who have great faith
Like fathomless great seas,
Free of taint and turbulence,
Listen to the teachings here.
10 Thus there is water everywhere,
So who is there to run and seek [for it]?
What need for springs [to quench a thirst]?
Cut out [all] craving at its root.
11 As launderers clean with water,
And arrow smiths straighten [arrows] with fire,
As carpenters work with the wood,
The learned should subdue themselves.
12 Without attachment, like the sky,
And like a door-step unperturbed,
The wise dislike this cyclic world
That is like a turbulent ocean.
This completes the chapter on WATER.
Chapter 18 – THE FLOWER
1 Who overcomes this stage [of life and death],
The world of gods, [of humans], and of hells?
Who are the skilful teachers of
The four things, much desired like flowers?
2 The trainees overcome this stage,
The world of gods, [of humans], and of hells. ‘
They are the skilful teachers of
The four things, much wanted like flowers.
3 Since fears arise from the forest,
The forest, not the tree, should be cut down.
Cutting the forests and seedlings,
Religious persons [gain] nirvana.
4 But if the seedlings are not cut,
The subtle still makes beings take birth;
Their minds are tightly fixed by this,
Like calves nearby their mothers wanting milk.
5 Having cut off this liking for oneself,
Just as one plucks an autumn lotus,
Then cultivate the path to peace
To gain nirvana that the Buddhas teach.
6 Don’t turn the words of fine teachings
Into something that bears no fruit,
Like pretty flowers ―
Colorful but without fragrance.
7 Conquerors travel to town [to beg],
Just like the bees that do no harm
To fragrances and colors of flowers,
But sip their nectar and fly away.
8 Do not look out for others’ flaws,
For what they do or do not do,
But look out for what one oneself
Should do and should not do.
9 Just as fragrant and beautiful
Pure lotus blooms arise
From dirty rubbish heaps without water,
So too all ordinary beings who are blind
Become transformed, out of the rubbish heap,
Into the Hearers, and into
Complete Buddhas with clear sight.
10 Just as many garlands are made
From heaps of flowers,
So every virtue big and small
Should be done when born a human.
11 Just as the bakula flower
Withers away in the summer,
Monks should likewise give up hate,
Attachment and stupidity.
12 When people have longing in their minds,
Like accumulations of flowers,
The Lord of Death carries them off
Like a surging flood does a sleeping town.
13 When people have longing in their minds,
Like accumulations of flowers,
The Lord of Death gains control over them
Before all their desires are satisfied.
14 When people have longing in their minds;
Like accumulations of flowers,
The Lord of Death gains control over them
Before enjoyments come about.
15 When people have longing in their minds,
Like accumulations of flowers,
The Lord of Death gains control over them
Before their work is at its end.
16 Knowing this body to be like a pot,
And all phenomena like a mirage,
This great flowering of the demon is cut
Here [in this life] and death is seen no more.
17 Knowing existence to be like a pot,
And all phenomena like a mirage,
This great flowering of the demon is cut
Here [in this life] and death is seen no more.
18 Knowing this body to be like foam,
And all phenomena like a mirage,
The great flowering of the demon is cut
Here [in this life] and death is seen no more.
19 Knowing existence to be like foam,
And all phenomena like a mirage,
This great flowering of the demon is cut
Here [in this life] and death is seen no more.
20 Those monks who think existence essenceless,
[A thought as rare] as the udumbara flower,
Go beyond and cast off what’s not beyond
Like old serpents shedding old skin.
21 Those monks who cut off all desire
Like water-flowers in ponds [cut] from the root,
Go beyond and cast off what’s not beyond
Like old serpents shedding old skin.
22 Those monks who cut off all hatred
Like water-flowers in ponds [cut] from the root,
Go beyond and cut off what’s not beyond
Like old serpents shedding old skin.
23 Those monks who cut all ignorance
Like water-flowers in ponds [cut] from the root,
Go beyond and cast off what’s not beyond
Like old serpents shedding old skin.
24 Those monks who cut all pride
Like water-flowers in ponds [cut] from the root,
Go beyond and cast off what’s not beyond
Like old serpents shedding old skin.
25 Those monks who cut all attachment
Like water-flowers in ponds [cut] from the root,
Go beyond and cast off what’s not beyond
Like old serpents shedding old skin.
26 Those monks who cut off all craving
Like water-flowers in ponds [cut] from the root,
Go beyond and cast off what’s not beyond
Like old serpents shedding old skin.
This completes the chapter on FLOWER.
Chapter 19 – THE HORSE
1 Just as fine horses when lashed with the whip
Are scared and gallop fast, all those with faith,
Ethics, stability and knowledge of
All things, with [subdued] powers and equipoise,
The happiness of patience, and friendship ―
These [with such] protectors leave all craving behind.
2 just as fine horses when lashed with the whip
Are scared and gallop fast, all those with faith,
Ethics, stability and knowledge of
All things, with insight and mobility ―
All of the protectors with remembrance
Leave every misery behind.
3 The Mighty who restrain their [sense] powers,
Just as a trainer tames a horse,
Stop anger and end contamination
And obtain even the experience of gods.
4 Like fine horses [leave] lesser nags,
The very wise give up and go
From drowsiness with vigilance
And from carelessness with caution.
5 Just as a fine horse [does not need] a whip,
When someone has a sense of shame,
Wisdom and perfect equipoise
Wrongdoing is removed.
6 One takes the tamed [horse] to the field
[of games or war]
And the king rides forth on that tamed [horse].
Those who are patient when abused,
The tamed, are the finest among all humans.
7 Taming oneself is better than
Taming a high strung thoroughbred,
Taming the mightiest of elephants;
Better than breaking mules.
[Those] skilful ones who properly
Subdue themselves find peace;
All the other mounts
Can never actually achieve that state.
8 Taming oneself is better than
Taming a high strung thoroughbred,
Taming the mightiest of elephants;
Better than breaking mules.
Those with remembrance who properly
Subdue themselves go to the end of pain;
All of the other mounts
Can never actually achieve that state.
9 Taming oneself is better than
Taming a high strung thoroughbred,
Taming the mightiest of elephants;
Better than breaking mules.
Those with remembrance who properly
Subdue themselves give up [bad] migrations;
All of the other mounts
Can never actually achieve that state.
10 Taming oneself is better than
Taming a high strung thoroughbred,
Taming the mightiest of elephants;
Better than breaking mules,
For those who properly subdue themselves
Sever and leave clasping behind;
All of the other mounts
Can never actually achieve that state.
11 Just as a trainer tames a fine horse
Similarly one should tame oneself.
By properly taming oneself,’
The limits of all pain are passed.
12 Since one’s own lord is just oneself
And oneself is one’s own refuge,
Just as a trainer tames a fine horse
Similarly one should subdue oneself.
This completes the chapter on THE HORSE.
Chapter 20 – WRATH
1 When wrath and all conceit are given up,
All clasps are left behind, and attachment
For name and form no more, then there is nothing
At all for which attachments can arise.
2 Give up wrath the moment it occurs,
And attachments [just] when they arise.
The steadfast expel ignorance,
And given up: seeing truth find happiness.
3 One sleeps in peace when wrath is given up
One is not tormented by pain.
4 The fully ordained, destroy wrath [along with]
The root poison that destroys happiness.
By doing so one ends sorrow
And earns praise from Superiors.
5 Whoever becomes enraged and shouts,
“I did it well! There’s nothing wrong!”
Is tormented when the wrath subsides,
As though by burning flames.
6 Without regret or embarrassment
The wrathful lack all shame.
Nobody relies on a person
Completely overcome with rage.
7 The power of strong infantile beings
Is no power at all.
The infantile without religion
Have no hope of accomplishment
8 Those who are powerful, but still
Show tolerance toward the poor,
Their patience, it’s said, is best ―
They always care for and respect the weak.
9 Those who, though in authority
Show tolerance toward the poor,
Their patience, it’s said, is best ―
They always care for and respect the weak.
10 The strong who are patient
Even in the face of gross provocation,
Their patience, it’s said, is best ―
They always care for and respect the weak.
11 The strong who are patient
Even in the face of gross provocations [e.g., being despised / defamed]
Their patience, it’s said, is best ―
They always care for and respect the weak.
12 Those who remain tranquil
When they perceive another’s wrath,
Protect themselves and other beings
From every great anxiety.
13 Those who remain tranquil
When they perceive another’s wrath,
Do work that has advantage for
Both themselves and for other beings.
14 All the beings [who are] unskilled in religion
Think easily, “They are infants”
Of those who do this work which has
Advantage for themselves and others.
15 But holy beings emphasize that the patience
Of those who tolerate inferiors’ words
Excels the patience of one fearing a master’s words,
And the patience toward an equal’s taunt to fight.
16 Infantile beings think they have won
When they hurl abuse in wrath.
The person who tolerates those words
Is always victorious.
17 Don’t be wrathful; say what is true;
Make charity, however small,
To those who beg: these three provide
Foundation for celestial births.
18 Those beside themselves with rage
Don’t even see their own purpose.
Be mindful while in cyclic existence ―
Refrain from speaking words of wrath.
19 Since those who answer wrath with wrath
Turn into wicked beings,
Those answering wrath with wrathlessness
Win the hard battle, valiantly.
20 Wrathlessness can withstand wrath
And good withstands what is not good.
Benevolence can withstand avarice
And truth withstands what is not true.
21 How could a calm person, with right livelihood
And without wrath become wrathful?
Freed by their knowledge of the truth
The wise are without wrath.
22 Though Superiors always devote themselves
To remaining without wrath and cruelty,
All wrathful, wicked beings
Tower like intractable mountains.
23 Those who control their wrath when it rears up,
As they would a horse when it strays loose,
I call ‘the best trainers’; those who
[Must] rope it down are common beings.
This completes the chapter on WRATH.
Chapter 21 – The One Thus Gone – The Tathagata
1 Who could teach me, All-knowing of this world,
Outshining all, untainted here by anything,
Completely free, without craving, released,
Who alone has achieved omniscience?
2 Who could teach me, Unequalled and unique,
Who found enlightenment and who alone can teach it?
I, the One Thus Gone, all-powerful
And omniscient teacher of humans and gods.
3 I am this world’s Foe Destroyer [Arhat],
Matchless throughout the universe.
I am the king throughout celestial realms,
For I have overcome all demons [maras].
4 Since there is no one who is like me
I have no one for a master.
I alone found matchless, complete
Enlightenment here in this world.
5 Know those like me who found the end
Of contamination to be the kings.
I conquered what is wrong
And thereby conquered afflictions.
6 Since worldly people could not know
The origin [of buddhahood] unless they are taught,
I went to Varanasi ―
An all-knowing Buddha in nirvana,
Beyond all craving for the world ―
And beating the drum of the teaching,
Turned the wheel of the dharma
Which no one in this world had turned.
7 Heroic Tathagatas
Subdue this world with their teaching.
No scholar would disdain the way
They pacify with their teaching
8 The gods and humans take pleasure
In beings of quick intelligence
Who have taken final bodies ―
Those reckoned as the perfect Buddhas
Who sit steadfast in samadhi,
Renounced of the world, and abiding in peace.
9 The nature of the completed Buddhas ―
All Buddhas of the past,
And all Buddhas yet to come,
And all those now in perfect buddhahood,
Those who have worked before,
Will work, or who are working now
To eliminate the many sorrows ―
Is to revere the Holy Dharma.
10 So if you like [to help] yourself,
And want eminence in this world,
Have recollection of Buddha’s teaching
And revere the holy doctrine.
11 All those infants who have no faith
In what the Buddha taught
Proceed into the place of sorrow
Like the merchants lured by cannibals.
12 All the wise ones who generate
Faith in the teaching of Buddha
Proceed across to happiness
Like the merchant who had the horse.
13 Ones Thus Gone, unequalled and unique
Buddhas, who work with both conceptions
Of happiness and likewise detachment,
Dispel dullness, go beyond, and have renown.
14 They found the prize, have power over mind,
Are free, uncontaminated, quite free,
Free at heart without strife and contamination,
Looking to help worldly beings.
15 Like people on a mountain peak
Look down on all below,
So too, those pure-hearted and free from pain
Who reach the height of the dharma abode,
Look down on all those suffering
With the burdensome pain of birth and death,
And open the door to immortality.
You who want to hear, remove all doubt.
With this completes the chapter on THE ONE THUS GONE.
Chapter 22 – LISTENING
1 Hearing is excellent; and the deeds are excellent;
Departing the household [life] is excellent.
Encircling (compatibly) the eliminator (i.e., the path of accumulation) is excellent;
Likewise that (path of preparation) which is compatible with religious practice (i.e., the path of seeing).
2 Unwise and infantile beings
Act as though they are immortal.
The wise, like sick people at night,
Work at the Holy Dharma.
3 Just as those living in the gloom
Of a heavily-curtained home
Don’t see the objects which are there
Even though they have the eyes to see,
So too, those with intelligence,
Though of [noble] lineage in this human [world],
Don’t understand, until they hear
The dharma of wrongs and virtue.
Just as those who have eyes can see
All of the objects with a lamp,
So too, understanding occurs [from]
Hearing the dharma of wrongs and virtue.
4 By listening, all religions
Are understood, wrongs are removed.
By listening, what is meaningless
Is given up and nirvana is attained.
5 Though one has listened many times,
Yet if not governed by good ethics
One’s ethics are a cause for scorn:
That listening is not complete.
6 Though one has not listened many times,
Yet if governed by good ethics,
One’s ethics are a cause for praise:
That listening becomes complete.
7 If one has not listened many times
And is not governed by good ethics,
From both sides there is cause for scorn:
There is not complete probity.
8 If one has listened many times
And is governed by good ethics
From both sides there is cause for praise
There is complete probity.
9 Like this earth’s golden ornaments,
No one at all disparages
Those with much listening, who hold
Religion, are wise and in equipoise.
10 All those inferring [me] from form,
Evaluating me from voice,
Those beings who have longing desire,
Have no understanding of me.
11 If there is inner understanding
And the external is not seen,
This inner result is a seeing
Which words can lead astray.
12 If the external is seen
And there is no inner understanding,
This outer result is a seeing
Which words can lead astray.
13 If there’s neither inner understanding
Nor is the external seen,
The infant is completely obscured
And words can lead [that one] astray.
14 If there is inner understanding
And the external is seen,
The wise, renounced, exemplary one
Cannot be led astray by words.
15 Though most everything has been heard
And many things been seen,
The steadfast don’t properly base
Their trust on what they heard and saw.
16 Though the essence is known [from] listening
To fine words, and known [from] all samadhis,
Understanding and listening have no
Great benefit to careless profligates.
17 Whoever likes the doctrine that the Superiors teach,
Whose conduct of body and speech accords with that,
They’re patient, befriended by joy, and restrained,
And achieve hearing, and wisdom’s farther shore.
This completes the chapter on LISTENING.
Chapter 23 – SELF
1 Put into practice the fine words.
Support and serve religious persons.
Retreat in detachment
And pacify your mind.
2 In retreat with one place to sleep,
Avoiding every laziness,
Live in the forest all alone
And all alone subdue yourself.
3 Whoever triumphs over self
Achieves a conquest greater than
The conquerors who win
A hundred thousand victories in war.
4 Those who, by always keeping vows,
Become subdued and conquer self,
Their triumph is supreme;
Other conquests are just common.
5 Neither the demon nor Brahma
Nor any god or spirit can vanquish self.
Abiding with wisdom
Only the bhikshu triumphs over that.
6 After grounding yourself properly
Then tame all others as you did yourself.
If one first grounds oneself properly
When taming [others] one is skilled and unafflicted
7 Just as you first did for yourself
Likewise do the same for others too.
Being tamed and peaceful oneself,
One effortlessly tames others.
8 Just as you first did for yourself
Likewise do the same for others too.
Take heed! Tame oneself well.
When one is tamed, one becomes skilled.
9 For your own needs first set aside
The many needs of everybody else;
If one’s need is seen to be great,
One’s need becomes most excellent.
10 I am the master of myself.
Who else can be my master?
The master of myself ― I’m skilled,
And will attain every purpose.
11 I am the master of myself.
Who else can be my master?
The master of myself ― I’m skilled,
And will attain all religion.
12 I am the master of myself.
Who else can be my master?
The master of myself ― I’m skilled
And will become a famous person.
13 I am the master of myself.
Who else can be my master?
The master of myself ― I’m skilled
And will achieve great happiness.
14 I am the master of myself.
Who else can be my master?
The master of myself ― I’m skilled
And will gain birth in happy realms.
15 I am the master of myself.
Who else can be my master?
The master of myself ― I’ll attain
The lasting happiness of heaven.
16 I am the master of myself.
Who else can be my master?
The master of myself ― I stand out
Eminent amongst my friends.
17 I am the master of myself.
Who else can be my master?
The master of myself; in the midst
Of pain there is no suffering.
18 I am the master of myself.
Who else can be my master?
The master of myself ― I cut off
All [attachments’] bonds.
19 I am the master of myself.
Who else can be my master?
The master of myself ― I give up
Birth in every bad migration.
20 I am the master of myself.
Who else can be my master?
The master of myself ― I gain
Liberation from all sorrow.
21 I am the master of myself.
Who else can be my master?
The master of myself ― I will
Attain mastery of myself.
22 I am the master of myself
Who else can be my master?
The master of myself ― I’m close
To actual nirvana.
This completes the chapter on SELF.
Chapter 24 – COMPARISONS
1 It is better to listen to
One line with the meaning of peace,
Than to recite a hundred lines
Of meaningless verse.
2 It is better to listen to
One line about the truth of peace,
Than to recite a hundred lines
Of truthless verse.
3 It is better to live a day or two
Ethically, with equipoise,
Than live one hundred years
In licentious agitation.
4 It is better to live a day or two
In steady perseverance,
Than live one hundred years
In slothful inactivity.
5 It is better to live a day or two
With equipoise and great wisdom,
Than live one hundred years
In foolish agitation.
6 It is better to live a day or two
Seeing arising and perishing,
Than live one hundred years
Without that sight.
7 It is better to live a day or two
Seeing feelings’ end,
Than live one hundred years
Without that sight.
8 It is better to live a day or two
Seeing contaminations’ end,
Than live one hundred years
Without that sight.
9 It is better to live a day or two
Seeing the immutable state,
Than live one hundred years
Without that sight.
10 It is better to live a day or two
Discerning that state so hard to see,
Than live one hundred years
Without that sight.
11 It is better to live a day or two
Discerning that exalted state,
Than live one hundred years
Without that sight.
12 It is better to live a day or two
Discerning the holy state,
Than live one hundred years
Without that sight.
13 It is better to live a day or two
Discerning the immortal state,
Than live one hundred years
Without that sight.
14 It is better to live a day or two
Discerning the nectarous state,
Than live one hundred years
Without that sight.
15 It is better to live a day or two
Discerning the dustless state,
Than live one hundred years
Without that sight.
16 It is better to live a day or two
Discerning the dust-free state,
Than live one hundred years
Without that sight.
17 An offering for just a little time
To one meditating on self is far better
Than a century of fire offerings ―
A hundred years devoted to
One’s jungle sacrificial fire.
18 Only eating food with the tip
Of kusha grass each month,
Can’t match even a sixteenth part
Of faith in the Enlightened One.
19 Only eating food with the tip
Of kusha grass each month,
Can’t match even a sixteenth part
Of faith in the Holy Doctrine.
20 Only eating food with the tip
Of kusha grass each month,
Can’t match even a sixteenth part
Of faith in the [Spiritual] Community.
21 Only eating food with the tip
Of kusha grass each month,
Can’t match even a sixteenth part
Of compassion for all sentient beings.
22 Only eating food with the tip
Of kusha grass each month,
Can’t match even a single part
Of compassion for all living beings.
23 Only eating food with the tip
Of kusha grass each month,
Can’t match even a sixteenth part
Of compassion for the malevolent.
24 Only eating food with the tip
Of kusha grass each month,
Can’t match even a sixteenth part
Of harboring kind thoughts.
25 Only eating food with the tip
Of kusha grass each month,
Can’t match even a sixteenth part
Of the holy dharma of fine words.
26 Making a century of
A thousand offerings each month,
Can’t match even a sixteenth part
Of faith in the Enlightened One.
27 Making a century of
A thousand offerings each month,
Can’t match ever. a sixteenth part
Of faith in the Holy Doctrine.
28 Making a century of
A thousand offerings each month,
Can’t match even a sixteenth part
Of faith in the Community.
29 Making a century of
A thousand offerings each month,
Can’t match even a sixteenth part
Of [love and] compassion for all sentient beings.
30 Making a century of
A thousand offerings each month,
Can’t match even a sixteenth part
Of [love and] compassion for all living beings.
31 Making a century of
A thousand offerings each month,
Can’t match even a sixteenth part
Of [love and] compassion for the malevolent.
32 Making a century of
A thousand offerings each month,
Can’t match even a sixteenth part
Of harboring kind thoughts.
33 Making a century of
A thousand offerings each month,
Can’t match even a sixteenth part
Of the holy dharma of fine words.
34 Any burnt offerings and gifts to worldly [beings]
Made by a person who wants merits
Cannot match even one quarter
Of a prostration made with sincere thought.
This completes the chapter on COMPARISIONS.
FOLIO THREE
Chapter 25 – INTIMATE FRIENDS
1 Wise ones, do not befriend
The faithless, who are mean
And slanderous and cause schism.
Don’t take bad people as your companions.
2 Wise ones, be intimate
With the faithful who speak gently,
Are ethical and do much listening.
Take the best as companions.
3 Do not devote yourself
To bad companions and wicked beings.
Devote yourself to holy people,
And to spiritual friends.
4 By devotion to people like that
You will do goodness, not wrong.
5 By devotion to faithful and wise people
Who have heard much and pondered many things,
By heeding their fine words, even from afar,
Their special qualities are attained here.
6 Since those devoted to inferiors degenerate,
Those to equals mark time,
And those to great ones attain sanctity,
Be devoted to those great ones.
7 By devotion to ethical,
Calm, and most knowledgeable great beings,
One attains to a greatness
Greater even than the great.
8 Just as the clean kusha grass
That wraps a rotten fish
Will also start to rot,
So too will those devoted to an evil person.
9 Just as a leaf folded
To contain an incense offering
Also becomes sweet,
So too will those devoted to the virtuous.
10 When one does no wrong yet
Is devoted to evil people,
One will still be abused,
For others suppose that this one too is bad.
11 The devotee acquires the same faults
As the person not worthy of devotion,
Like an untainted arrow smeared
With the poison of a tainted sheath.
12 Steadfast ones who fear the taint of faults,
Do not befriend bad people.
By close reliance and devotion
To one’s companion,
Soon one becomes just like
The object of one’s devotion.
13 Therefore, knowing that one’s devotion
Is like the casing of the fruit,
The wise devote themselves to holy,
Not to unholy people,
And drawn along the monk’s path
They find the end of misery.
14 Just as a spoon cannot taste the sauce,
Infantile ones do not understand
The doctrine, even after
A lifetime of devotion to the wise.
15 Just as the tongue can taste the sauce.
Those with wisdom can understand
The entire doctrine, after just
A brief attendance on the wise.
16 Because infantile ones lack eyes to see,
Though they devote their lifetimes
To the wise, they never
Understand the entire doctrine.
Those with wisdom fully understand
The entire doctrine after just
A brief attendance on the wise.
They have eyes to see.
17 Though they devote their lifetimes
To wise beings, infantile ones
Do not understand the doctrine
Of the Buddha in its entirety.
Those with wisdom understand
The doctrine of the Buddha
In its entirety after just
A brief attendance on the wise.
18 Even just one meaningful line
Sets the wise ones to their task,
But all the teaching that the Buddhas gave
Won’t set infantile ones to work.
19 The intelligent will understand
A hundred lines from one,
But for the infantile beings
A thousand lines do not suffice for one.
20 [If one must choose between them],
Better the wise even if unfriendly.
No infant is suited to be a friend.
Sentient beings intimate with
The infant-like are led to hell.
21 Wise persons are those who know
Infantile ones for what they are:
‘Infantile ones’ are those
Who take infants to be the wise.
22 The censure of the wise
Is far preferable
To the eulogy or praise
Of the infant.
23 Devotion to infants brings misery.
Since they are like one’s foe,
It is best to never see or hear
Or have devotion for such people.
24 Like meeting friends, devotion to
The steadfast causes happiness.
25 Therefore, like the revolving stars and moon,
Devote yourself to the steadfast, moral ones
Who have heard much, who draw on what is best ―
The kind, the pure, the best superior ones.
This completes the chapter on INTIMATE FRIENDS.
Chapter 26 – NIRVANA
1 The monk contracts conceptual thought,
Like the tortoise his limbs into his shell,
Not relying, nor doing others harm ―
In nirvana, not scorned by anyone.
2 Patience, the Buddha says, is the best austerity,
And the best patience is nirvana.
3 Ordained people who harm others
Are certainly not religious people.
4 Do not speak even one harsh word.
Once spoken there will be response.
From words which sow discord,
Come misery and later punishments.
5 If I retaliate
It is like striking on a gong.
The experience of life and death
In cyclic existence goes on and on.
6 If I do not retaliate
It’s like not striking on a gong.
Then discord does not pile up
And nirvana is thus attained.
7 Freedom from sickness is a holy gift;
Contentment is opulence.
[Indulgence] the finest friend,
And nirvana the finest bliss.
8 Pervading misery is odious,
Of all sickness, hunger unbearable.
To the extent that this is known
Nirvana becomes the best.
9 Few go to happy migrations,
Uncountable numbers to bad.
When the fault is realized
Nirvana is quickly attained.
10 Happy migration has its cause,
And bad migration has its cause.
Going to nirvana is caused,
So there are causes for them all.
11 Fine woods are the animals’ range,
The sky the range of all the birds;
The dharma is the range of intellect,
Nirvana is the Foe Destroyers’ range.
12 A feeble effort and small mind,
And lack of understanding in this [task],
Will not procure the liberation
Where every knot has been severed.
13 Just as the rowboat is lightened
When you bail all the water out,
So too nirvana is attained
When hate and greed are given up.
14 That which arose before does not [now]
That which has not arisen arises.
[In nirvana there is no affliction] that arose or will arise
Or which arises at present.
15 Understanding the hard to see, the limitless,
A happiness unseen, [having become a] knower of truth,
And seeing no craving and liking:
The end of misery is, then, like this.
16 All craving is severed,
Attachment really given up,
From the lake now dry there is no flow:
The end of misery is, then, like this.
17 The body destroyed, feelings cooled down,
Discrimination stopped, volition
At peace, and consciousness subdued:
The end of misery is, then, like this.
18 When looking becomes just seeing,
When listening becomes just hearing,
When realizing just realization,
When being conscious just consciousness:
The end of misery is, then, like this.
19 This, mother, pain and great pain:
The end of misery is, then, like this.
20 No hope, no loves, in complete peace,
Free from attachment always:
The end of misery is, then, like this.
Where the basis exists, deeds come about. Where deeds exist, straying comes about. Where straying exists, inflexibility comes about. Where inflexibility exists, going and coming come about. Where going and coming exist, transmigration at death comes about.
Where transmigration has taken place in this way, birth, old age, sickness and death, sorrow, cries of anguish, miseries, mental unhappiness and strife arise. This which is simply a great heap of misery arises.
Where the basis does not exist, deeds do not come about. Where deeds no not exist, straying does not come about. Where straying has not come about, flexibility comes into being. Where there is flexibility, going and coming do not come about. Where going and coming do not exist, transmigration does not come about. Where transmigration does not exist, birth, old age, sickness and death, sorrow, cries of anguish, miseries, mental unhappiness and strife are all stopped. This which is simply a great heap of misery is stopped.
Oh monks! The unborn, un-originated, un-fabricated, uncompounded, un-arising exists. Birth, origination, fabrication, mental production, composition, and interdependent arising exist.
Oh monks! Were the unborn, un-originated, un-fabricated, uncompounded, un-arising not to exist, I would not state that there is the definite emergence from birth, origination, fabrication, mental production, composition, and interdependent arising.
Oh monks! It is because the unborn, un-originated, un-fabricated, uncompounded, un-arising exists that I state there is the definite emergence from birth, origination, fabrication, composition, mental production and interdependent arising.
21 Don’t like what will perish, what is
Born, arisen, and originated,
Is fabricated, composite and unstable
And arises from the stream of food.
22 Happiness is peace on the basis
Of renunciation and rough and subtle
Investigation, [when] every misery
Is stopped and composites are at peace.
Oh monks! With clairvoyance I see [it] does not abide anywhere. For it does not abide in the earth, the water, the fire or the wind. It does not abide in the source of boundless space, in the source of boundless consciousness, in the source of nothingness, or in the source of neither existence nor nonexistence of discrimination. And it does not abide in this world or the next, on the moon or on the sun. There is no observation of it.
Oh monks! I do not state that going and coming exist there, for there is no abiding. I do not state that there is transmigration for there is no arising. The end of misery is, then, like this.
23 It does not abide anywhere:
In earth, in water, fire or wind.
There whiteness does not illuminate
Nor does darkness exist there.
There the moon does not appear.
There the sun does not shine out.
24 It is the knowledge of those
Who are Brahmin Conquerors.
It is freedom from formlessness,
From forms and every misery.
25 [Nirvana is] the destination, [is] fearlessness,
[Is] without regrets and vanity.
The pains of life are chopped to bits,
So the last body is reached.
26 The ultimate destination ―
This is a state of peace without equal
Where all signification ends ―
A pure freedom which is immortal.
27 Emerging from what is and what is not
Comparable, Buddhas give up the composite,
With inner joy and equipoise
They crack open the shell and emerge.
28 The gift of teaching surpasses all gifts,
The happiness of [hearing] teaching, all happiness,
The power of patience surpasses all power,
The end of craving surpasses all bliss.
This completes the chapter on NIRVANA.
Chapter 27 – SEEING
1 Like chaff that is tossed up,
Somebody else’s faults
Are seen more easily than one’s own.
One’s own faults are hard to see.
2 The person always finding fault
Is like a cheater playing dice:
Hiding the truth about himself
And looking out for others’ faults.
Dharma recedes far from sight ―
It makes the crooked dharma thrive.
3 Chattering, and stealing unabashed,
Raven-like, with filthy actions,
Those whose habits are most afflicted
Live an easy shameless life.
4 Always seeking for cleanliness,
Not being coarse, exercising restraint,
Pure in livelihood and beliefs:
Life with a sense of shame is hard.
5 These worldly beings are blind.
Those with insight are few.
As [few] birds escape from a snare
Hardly any enjoy high birth.
6 Infants ensnared by their bodies
Revolve through a cycle of darkness.
Worldly beings attached to wealth
Look, as it were, on other stuff.
7 Thinking “I brought these people forth”
And “That other being has done it”,
They see as truth what is not true
And therefore do not see at all.
8 Hardly any see this [selflessness],
They do not see the sharp pain.
9 Beings who crave objects have attachment.
Those who have already seen that sharp pain
Hold neither the view “I have done it,”
Nor, “It was done by someone else.”
10 All the living beings have pride
Are attached and fettered by pride.
These disputatious people
Do not reverse the wheel [of life].
11 All that has been achieve
And all that is to be achieved
Are both covered over by dust.
After [understanding this, Superiors] train as sick persons.
Those who make an essence and are at one extreme, are those who are ethical and train themselves, have good conduct, pure behavior, undertake austerities and attend on protectors, etc.
Those holding such a belief in self say, “Desire [for sex] is clean, desire is meritorious, desire is to be enjoyed, desire is without fault”; all who take [as path to liberation] the conduct which falls into what is intensely desired are also at an extreme.
All those two extremes [of action] make bigger the [living] graveyards. For by those actions the graveyards have become bigger. Some of those who do not see these two extremes are lustful, [believe enjoyment from desires to be virtue]. Others chase after things, [exhaust themselves in meaningless practices]. Those who [realize the two extremes for what they are] see those people to be lustful and chasing after things.
Those who do see these two extremes are not lustful and do not chase after things. Those who have eyes also see that these people do not have intense lust and do not chase after things intensely. Those who see selflessness do not act like that [take enjoyment of desire as path]. They do not think like that. They do not designate [a course of action followed by a person substantially different to aggregates] to be the path. The end of misery is like this.
12 Those who look at this transient world
Just as one looks at a bubble,
And as one looks at a mirage,
Are not seen by the King of Death.
13 Those who look upon the body
Just as one looks tit a bubble,
And as one looks at a mirage,
Are not seen by the King of Death.
14 The wise do not become attached
To what attracts infantile beings.
Look on this body always
As a colorful royal chariot.
15 The wise do not become confused
By what confuses infantile beings.
Look on this body always,
As a colorful royal chariot.
16 Through this [attachment to body] infants degenerate,
Like old elephants stuck in mud.
Look on this body always
As a colorful royal chariot.
17 Always look upon this body
Which does not abide unchangingly
As a diseased and transient thing
Similar to a wound one has received.
18 Look on this body all adorned
With rubies, earrings and bracelets
As a diseased and transient thing
Which does not abide continuously.
19 Hair-styles ornamented with braids,
And eyes made up with eye-shadow
Confuse the infant-like beings,
But not those working for the other side.
20 Eyes freshly painted with make-up,
Ornamented bodies of pus,
Confuse the infant-like beings,
But not those working for the other side.
21 The body, fragrant with perfume,
With legs bedaubed with red color,
Confuses infant-like beings,
But not those working for the other side.
22 Those who, clasped to desire, have attachment
And do not see the fault in clasping,
Who are attached to having what they desire
Do not cross the vast endless river.
23 The best, final, and fully unattached ones
Do not view self or mine in this [world],
And thus freed, they cross over the river
Not crossed before, and are not reborn again.
24 Come here! Have a look at this person
In freedom bonds, who left the thicket
And thicket-less gave up the woods
And ran away to the forest.
25 Behold the travel, without wickedness
In carriages spread with white canopies,
With matching spokes, and pleasing parts.
Cut the continuum of chains.
26 Most of those petrified with fright
Go for refuge to the woods,
To gardens, and to sacred groves,
To temples and to trees.
27 Those are not the foremost refuge.
Those are not the finest refuge.
By taking refuge in those things
One is not freed from all misery.
28 When those who’ve gone for refuge to
The Buddha, Doctrine and Community
Are travelling to nirvana,
It is the Eightfold Path
Of Superiors that sees with wisdom
All four truths of Superior beings:
The misery, its origin,
Complete passing from misery,
And happiness [the path].
That is the finest refuge,
That is the holy refuge.
By taking refuge in that place
One is freed from all misery.
29 See by seeing; with sight, see the unseen.
[Those who] see with non sight don’t see what should be seen.
Simulated sight is said to be separate from insight,
Just as day and night don’t meet in one place.
30 There is no seeing from simulated sight;
If there is seeing, it isn’t simulated ―
This seeing is not affected:
One with affected sight doesn’t see.
31 One with affected sight doesn’t see anything;
If one sees what [it is], seeing isn’t simulated.
One who sees like that is separate from
The one with simulated sight.
32 When one does not see suffering
Then one sees ‘self’;
To the extent that suffering is perceived,
Seeing is not affected.
33 If [seeing] the arising of events is obscured by anything,
Then composites are not seen as suffering.
Therefore, if [obscured], seeing is simulated;
If without [obscuration], it is not.
This completes the chapter on SEEING.
Chapter 28 – EVIL
1 Here is the teaching of Buddha:
Do not do any evil deed.
Completely perfect all virtue.
Completely pacify your mind.
2 Merit increases greatly from giving.
The well-controlled don’t collect enemies.
Virtue eliminates evil.
Nirvana is the end of affliction.
3 Better live with the wise or even alone,
Than with the infantile and those alloyed.
Those who are wise abandon evil beings
Like swans which extract milk from water.
4 Superiors who see the flaw
Of this world and see the cessation of it
Do not take pleasure in evil.
The evil do not like virtue.
5 Tasting the excellent flavor
Of peace and complete detachment,
Plagues and evil are no more:
The taste of liking dharma is imbibed.
6 When mental contamination
Is gone and chains don’t warp the mind,
When virtue and evil are left behind,
All bad migrations hold no fear.
7 Rely on people who turn one from
Unfounded ways and speak of good,
Who show the consequence, and are
Scholars, confuting [falsity] and speaking [truth].
If one relies on such people
Good not evil comes about.
8 Liberated and in great peace,
Speaking gently without conceit,
They shake out every evil deed
Like wind shaking the leaves from trees.
9 Like dust that’s thrown into the wind,
Pure ones who have no afflictions,
Nor wrath, stop the evil response
To the infants who become angry with them.
10 To the doer of virtue, virtue;
To the doer of evil, evil.
All deeds that someone has done
Will each be met by that very same person.
11 The afflictive response is mine alone
If I have done an evil deed,
And mine alone the purity
If I did not do evil.
12 No one does another’s work,
Pure or impure, [the person alone] does the work.
13 The evil I myself have done,
And accumulated quickly,
Ruins and overcomes my mind
Like diamonds boring into gems.
14 Just as pedestrians with [open] eye
Proceed along a frightful path,
The wise here in this world
Abandon every evil deed.
15 The wise abandon evil beings
Like the wealthy a glut of friends,
Like merchant traders fearful roads,
Like those who want to live, poison.
16 Just as poison has no effect
Even when taken in the palm
Which has no open wound, so too
There is no evil unless the deed was done.
17 To do wrong and what is without
Benefit to oneself is easy.
That most excellent work which brings
Pleasure and benefits is hard.
18 That evil which is easy for bad persons
Superiors find hard to do.
The holy find goodness easy,
And evil most difficult to do.
19 Pleasures delight the infants’ minds
Until fruition of evil.
Their minds are filled with torment
When fruition of evil occurs.
20 Until fruition of evil
They view the evil deed as fine.
They look on it as evil
When fruition of evil occurs.
21 Until fruition of goodness
They view the goodness as evil.
They look on it as goodness
When fruition of goodness occurs.
22 Since it amasses misery
Don’t take pleasure in evil deeds.
Though done once in a hundred times
Don’t do them time and time again.
23 Since it amasses happiness,
Take pleasure in making merit.
Even if merit has been made
Keep doing so time and time again.
24 Instead of loving evil deeds
And leisurely making merit,
Make haste to make merit and turn
The mind away from wickedness.
25 Even a tiny evil deed
Can cause great ruin and trouble
In the world that lies beyond ―
Like poison that has entered the body.
26 Even small meritorious acts
Bring happiness to future lives,
Accomplishing a great purpose
Like seeds becoming bounteous crops.
27 The one who becomes enraged at those
Without anger, and [who] hurts the innocent,
Will quickly achieve [in return]
Simply one of ten endowments:
Unbearable experience,
Or physical dismemberment,
Or else excruciating pain,
Or becoming mentally disturbed,
Or wrenched away from kin and friends,
Or running out of all enjoyments,
Or facing the cruelty of the king,
Or hearing unbearable abuse,
Or else a great conflagration
Will certainly burn down that person’s home,
Or tenth, that person obtains a bad rebirth
After death as a simpleton.
28 When evil has been done there is no ease.
There is no ease even though it was done
In solitude, long past or far away.
There is fruition, so there is no ease.
29 When merits have been made, then there is ease.
There is an experience of ease, though they were made
In solitude, long past or far away.
There is fruition, therefore there is ease.
30 The evil I have done causes anguish,
Causes torment even though it was done
In solitude, long past or far away.
There is fruition which causes anguish.
Seeing that I myself possess black deeds
Causes anguish here and elsewhere as well.
The evil done causes twofold anguish ―
Anguish that is intense torment.
31 The merits I have made bring happiness,
Bring gladness even though they were made
In solitude, long past or far away.
There is fruition which brings happiness.
Seeing that I myself possess pure deeds
Brings happiness here and elsewhere as well.
The merit made brings twofold happiness
Happiness that is intense gladness.
32 The evil I have done causes sorrow,
Causes grief even though it was done
In solitude, long past or far away.
There is fruition which causes sorrow.
Seeing that I myself possess black deeds
Causes sorrow here and in the beyond.
The evil done causes twofold sorrow ―
Sorrow that is intense grief.
33 The merits I have made bring happiness,
Bring delight even though they were made
In solitude, long past or far away.
There is fruition which brings happiness.
Seeing that I myself possess white deeds
Brings happiness here and in the beyond.
The merits made bring twofold happiness ―
Happiness that is intense delight.
34 Like rotten ships sinking into the sea,
Death brings terror to those with evil deeds ―
Irreligious persons who spurned dharma,
Who have done evil and have made no merit.
35 Like a strong ship reaching the farther shore,
Death never brings terror to me
Who has made merit and done no evil,
And has done the dharma taught by the holy ones.
With this completes the chapter on EVIL.