CHAPTER TWENTY.

[7]Readingvissāsam āpādi. This verse is important as showing the Buddhist ideal in a nutshell.Nibbānais the dying out of craving, the root of all evil.

273.Best is the Eightfold Path: of truths, the four;[1]Dispassion in the best of states sublime.Blest is he of human beings, who hath eyes to see.274.This is the way; no other way can lead yeTo purify the mind and see the truth.Walk this Way and free yourselves from Māra's host of ills.275.Tread ye this Path, and make an end of sorrow.Tread ye this Path for I myself have shown it.Shown it after learning how to pluck away the thorns.[2]276.Strive ye yourselves; Buddha's but preach the wayTo them that strive. To meditation givenThey who walk this Way are free from Māra's every bond.277."All things compounded are impermanent";Whoso sees this with opened inner eyeWearies soon of sorrow. 'Tis the Path of Purity.278."All things compounded are of sorrow made";Whoso sees this with opened inner eye,Wearies soon of sorrow. 'Tis the Path of Purity.279."All states compounded are without a self";[3]Whoso sees this with opened inner eye,Wearies soon of sorrow. 'Tis the Path of Purity.280.Whoso strives not when it is time to strive,Tho' young and strong, to sloth and folly prone,Weak in will and thought, to knowledge never finds the way.281.Who guardeth speech and mind, who doth no wrongWith body, making pure the triple way,[4]He shall tread the Path of Wisdom by the sages shown.282.Wisdom is born of meditation deep,But lost by mind's distraction; knowing theseTwo paths of loss and gain, so let him live,Let him so direct his life that wisdom may increase.283.Cut down trees and undergrowth, and from desire be free![5]For from this jungle fear of danger's born;Cut it down, O mendicants, and from desire be free!284.If but a trace there be, however small,Of lust of man for woman, as a calfClingeth to its dam, the mind in bondage will be held.285.Pluck out the love of self with thine own hand,Just as the hand an autumn lily plucks;Tread the Way of Peace declared by Him who hath it trod.286."Here in the rainy season will I dwell;And here in heat and cold." So thinks the fool,Little recking of the dangers that may him befall.287.Care-stricken, with his thoughts of sons and flocks,Attached to life, Death comes and seizes him,As a sleeping village by a flood is swept away.[6]288.Not all his sons have power to guard that man;No sire, no kinsman can protect him now;How can kinsmen aught avail him in the grasp of Death?289.The wise man, when he sees the truth of this,Restrained by righteous living in the Norm,Soon will clear the path that leadeth unto Perfect Bliss.

[1]The Eightfold Pathis;—Right Views, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Living, Right Effort, Right Concentration, Right Mental Balance.TheFour Noble Truthsare:—Ill, the cause of Ill, the ceasing of Ill, the Path.

[1]The Eightfold Pathis;—Right Views, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Living, Right Effort, Right Concentration, Right Mental Balance.

TheFour Noble Truthsare:—Ill, the cause of Ill, the ceasing of Ill, the Path.

[2]Thethornsare the stings and torments of desire.

[3]These threedictaare the essence of the Buddha's teaching.

[4]The second, third and fourth steps of the Path.

[5]'desire',viz.: 'nibbanā hotha, 'be ye free from the jungle (or forest) of desire (nir-vanā, a pun on the wordnirvāṇa), cf. v.344,vanamutto'.

[6]Cf. V. 47.

290.If in giving up slight pleasureThou a greater bliss discern,Leave the lesser gain and wiselyTo the greater profit turn.291.He who causeth pain to others,Seeking his own selfish bliss,By the bonds of hate encumberedHatred never can dismiss.292. Those who disregard their duty,[1]Doing what should not be done,Insolent and negligent in evil-doingMore and more corrupt become.293.They who mounting guard on body,Ceaseless watch and ward preserve;They who others' things neglecting,From their duty never swerve;They who, self-controlled, aspire,Concentrate in every nerve,Reach destruction of desire.294.Slaying father, slaying mother,With two kings of warrior fame,And a realm with all its subjects,[2]Brāhmana's go free from blame.295.Slaying father, slaying mother,With two kings of saintly name,And a fifth pre-eminent,[3]Brāhmana's go free from blame.

296.They who, watchful night and day,On the Buddha meditate,Are followers of Gotama.297.They who watchful night and day,On the Dhamma meditate,Are followers of Gotama.298.They who, watchful night and day,On the Sangha meditate,Are followers of Gotama.299.They who, watchful night and day,On the body meditate,Are followers of Gotama.300.They who, watchful night and day,Take delight in harmlessness,Are followers of Gotama.301.They who, watchful night and day,Take delight in ecstasy,Are followers of Gotama.

302.O 'tis hard to give the world up,Yet the lonely life is hard;Painful 'tis to dwell in housesWith the uncongenial;Painful travelling to and fro;Cease to be a traveller.[4]Cease to be beset with pain!303.Faithful and of good repute,Full of honour and renown,He is reverenced and honoured,Whereso'er he choose to dwell.304.Holy saints are far-resplendentLike the peaks Himalayan;Like the shaft that flies in darkness,Wicked men are never seen.305.Lonely sitting, lying lonely,Act alone and strenuous;Taming self alone, rejoice theeIn the ending of desire.

[1]Kiccam"minding one's own business."

[2]The Brahmins used to claim that a "twice-born" saint was blameless, whatever his bodiless actions might be. The Buddha here speaks mystically.Fatheris ignorance,Motheris craving; thetwo kingsare the great heresies of non-causation and nihilism.The Kingdom and its subjectsare the six organs of sense (mind being the sixth); and the six objects of sense (form, sound, sight, smell, taste, thoughts), conquest of all these brings liberation from embodied existence.

[3]veyyaggha-pañcamaṁ, lit. 'a tiger-like man, as a fifth'. The Commentator explains this to mean the fifth of the Five Hindrances (lust, malice, sloth, pride, doubt) which beset the Path.

[4]A travelleris one who runs up and down the paths of rebirth.

[1]

306.The liar reaches hell, and he who saysHe did not what he did;Both are the same hereafter, men of crooked ways.307.And many a one the yellow gown who wears,Wicked and uncontrolled,By reason of his evil deeds in hell appears.308.Better for him who lives unworthilyA red-hot ball to swallow,Than eat the food the country gives in charity.309.Four states of ill to reckless men I tellWho seek the wives of others—Ill-luck, a restless bed, an evil name and hell.310.Ill-luck, the Evil Way, short-lived delightOf fearful man with timid woman spent,And from the king a grievous punishment—Let these four evils all adulterers affright.311.Just as a blade of grass not handled wellWill cut the hand that grasps,So doth the ascetic's life ill-handled lead to hell.312.Deeds done with sluggishness, the broken vow,The saintly life befouled—Such evil deeds as these small recompense bestow.313.Act thou with energy, if act thou must:The careless mendicantDoth but stir up a denser cloud of passion's dust.314.Leave evil deeds which afterwards bring pain;Better to do the good;For when 'tis done that deed no sorrow brings again.315.Just as a frontier town that's guarded well,Which ramparts well defend on every side,So guard thyself, let not a moment slide;Time-wasters suffer sorrow when consigned to hell.316.They who feel shame, where shame there should be none,Shameless, where shame should be,Embracing doctrines false, down the Ill Path have gone.317.They who feel fear, where fear there should be none,Fearless, when they should fear,Embracing doctrines false, down the Ill Path have gone.318.They who see sin, where sin there can be none,Who see no harm in sin,Embracing doctrines false, down the Ill Path have gone.319. They who know sin as sin, and right as right,Embracing doctrines true,Those beings enter on the Path of True Delight.

[1]Niraya, the Evil Path, the downward course to destruction,duggati, as opposed tosu-gatithe happy way or state of heaven.

320.As an elephant in battle bears the arrows at him hurled,I must bear men's bitter tongues, for very evil is the world.321.Tamed, they lead him into battle; tamed, the king his back ascends;Tamed is he the best of beings, whom no bitter speech offends.322.Good are well-tamed mules, and good are Scindian steeds of lineage famed;Good indeed the mighty tusker; best of all the man self-tamed.323.Yet such mounts can nought avail us, cannot be Nibbāna's guide;We can only reach The Pathless[1]on the self-tamed self astride.324.With the must from temples streaming, mighty Dhanapālako[2]Captive, tastes no food, but longeth to the Nāga-grove to go.325.Sluggish, gluttonous and sleepy, wallowing idly to and fro,Like a huge and grain-fed hog, a fool again to birth must go.326.Once this mind roamed as it listed, as it pleaded a-wandering went.As the holder of theankuschecks the furious elephant,Now with wisdom I'll restrain it, guide it wholly to my bent.327.Take delight in earnestness; watch thy thoughts and never tire;Lift thee from the Path of Evil, like the tusker sunk in mire.328.Hast thou found a fellow-traveller, upright, firm, intelligent?[3]Leaving all thy cares behind thee, gladly walk with him intent.329.Hast thou found no fellow-traveller, upright, firm, intelligent?As a king deserts his borders, by the enemy pursued,Like the tusker in the forest, go thy way in solitude.330.Better is the lonely life, for fools companions cannot be;Live alone and do no evil, live alone with scanty needs,Lonely, as the mighty tusker in the forest lonely feeds.331.Sweet are friends when need ariseth, sweet is joy whate'er it be;Sweet the blessing of life's ending, sweet to be from sorrow free.332.Sweet it is to be a mother, sweet the lot of fatherhood,Sweet the life of holy hermits, sweet the life of Brāhmans good.333.Sweet is growing old in goodness, sweet is faith established,Sweet to gain the prize of wisdom when desire for sin is dead.

[1]Nibbāna.

[2]A favourite beast of the king of Benares. The elephant, to the East, typifies wisdom, strength and endurance.The Buddha is calledMahā-nāga, "mighty elephant"; Thenāga-groveisNibbāna. Those who wander in the jungle are those still bound by the fetters of rebirth.

[2]A favourite beast of the king of Benares. The elephant, to the East, typifies wisdom, strength and endurance.

The Buddha is calledMahā-nāga, "mighty elephant"; Thenāga-groveisNibbāna. Those who wander in the jungle are those still bound by the fetters of rebirth.

[3]Cf. verse 61.

334.Even as a creeper groweth,Creatures that are indolentFind their craving ever grow;Like a monkey in the forestSeeking fruit from bough to bough,So they wander to and fro.[1]335.He who yields to sordid cravingThat thro' all the world doth go,Like the gadding vine that spreadeth,That man's sorrows ever grow.336.He who quiets sordid craving,Hard in this world to allay,Like the dewdrop from the lotus,All his sorrows fall away.337.Lo! to all of ye assembledThis the good advice I tell:"Dig ye up the root of craving,As men dig the scented grass.Let not Death so oft assail ye,Even as the rushing torrentO'er the river reeds doth pass."338.If the root be still uninjured,Trees cut down will spring again;If the root of craving liveth,Still there is rebirth of pain.339.When the six and thirty currents[2]Bring one under pleasure's sway,Thoughts, like waves, with passion surging.Sweep him all confused away.340.Everywhere those streams are flowing;Now the creeper of desirePlants its roots and standeth fast;Cut it ere it riseth higher,Cut it with the axe of wisdom,Root the creeper up at last.341.Restless, wanton is men's craving;They who wander to and froIn the restless search for pleasureBirth and death must undergo.342.They who in the trap of craving,Like a hare run to and fro,By the fetters' bonds entangled,Long must sorrow undergo.343.Beings, in the trap of cravingLike a hare run to and fro:Mendicants who hope for freedomMust their passions all forego.344.Whoso, free from human passions,Junglewards to run is fain;[3]Who, from lust emancipated,To his lust runs back again;Lo! the man infatuatedPlunges into bonds of pain.345.Not by ties of wood or ironNor of rope (the wise men say)Are men held in bondage strong;But for jewels, wives and children,They who passionately crave,They are held in bondage long.346.But the downward-dragging chain,Yielding, hard to loose again—This is bondage real (they say):Who this chain of craving breaks,Free from lust, the world forsakes.347.They who yield to their desiresDown the stream of craving swim;As we see the spider runIn the net himself hath spun.Wise men cut the net and goFree from craving, free from woe.348.Loose all behind, between, before;[4]Cross thou unto the other shore;[5]With thy mind on all sides freeBirth and death no more shalt see.349.He whose mind is tossed with doubt,Seeing bliss in passion's surge,Makes his craving grow the longer,Rivets all his bonds the stronger.350.He who joys in calming doubt,And the loathsome contemplates,[6]Soon will Māra's bondage leave,Every fetter soon will cleave.351.He who hath attained the goal,Fearless, free from lust and sin,Who hath plucked out every thorn,[7]Nevermore will be reborn.352.Free from lust, to nothing clinging,Who is skilful to interpretAll the wealth of sacred lore;All the mass of letters knowing(Whether after or before),[8]This indeed is his last body,He's a Master of The Wisdom,Mighty Being,He indeed is born no more.353.Conqueror of all am I!Knowing all, from all conditionsOf existence I am free;By the slaying of desireI have ended craving's fire.Who could then my teacher be?I have now forsaken all,I myself, by mine own knowledge.Whom should I my teacher call?[9]354.To give The Norm all gifts transcends;To taste The Norm is sweetest far;No joy can with its joy compare;Who raving slays all sorrow ends.355.Wealth harms the fool; not him who runsTo win the goal intent;By lust of wealth the fool harms selfWith harm for others meant.356.Weeds are the ruin of the fields;This world by lust is spoiled;Then great the fruit of gifts to thoseBy lust who are not soiled.357.Weeds are the ruin of the fields;This world is spoiled by hate;To those by hatred undefiledThe fruit of gifts is great.358.Weeds are the ruin of the fields;Deluded are mankind;Then great the fruit of gifts to thoseWhom folly doth not blind.359.Weeds are the ruin of the fields;Craving pollutes the world;Then great the fruit of gifts to thoseBy craving not enthralled.[10]

[1]In the round of rebirth.

[2]The six sense-organs and the six objects of sense (twelve) are affected by three desires of each, generally taken asKāmatanhā,Rūpatanhā,Arūpatanhā, desire for existence in the world of desire, in the worlds of form, in the worlds of the formless (abstract), thus making thirty-six varieties.

[3]The jungle of passion.

[4]Past, present and future ties.

[5]Cross the stream toNibbāna.

[6]One of the meditation exercises, to inspire loathing for the body and its corrupt nature.

[7]Cf. above v. 275.

[8]Nirutti-pada-kovido: skilled in the true meaning of the language (Pali) in which the Buddha taught.

[9]This was the reply of the Buddha to an ascetic who, struck by the Master's radiance after attainingNibbāna, inquired who was His teacher and what was the cause of His joy.

[10]Bhoga,rāga,dosa,moha,iccha, riches, lust, hate, delusion, craving, are five of the hindrances to the saintly life.

360-1Good is restraint of eye and ear, of nose and tongue,Of body, speech and mind; restraint is goodIn every way; the mendicant restrainedAll sorrow casts away.362.In hand and foot and speech whoso is self restrained;Whoso to ponder inwardly delights,Who liveth lonely and is well-content,Him men call mendicant.363.Whoso controls his lips, and words of wisdom speaks,Is not puffed up, who can elucidateThe meaning and the essence of The Norm—Pleasant is he to hear.364.Who dwelleth in the Norm and in the Norm delights,Who searcheth out and well remembers it—From the True Norm that steadfast mendicantWill never fall away.365.Let him not think of little worth the alms he gains.Nor jealous be of alms to others given;For whoso envies other mendicantsWins not tranquillity.366.Though small the part of charity that falls to him,Whoso despiseth not the alms he gains,If he live clean, not given to slothfulness,E'en by the gods is praised.[1]367.Whoso hath neither part nor lot in Name and Form[2](Who saith not "this is I" or "this is mine")And grieveth not for what existeth not,A mendicant is called.368.Whoso in friendly wise with all mankind abides,Firm in the teaching of the Awakened One;Reaches the bliss where all conditions cease,Reaches the State of Peace.369.O mendicants! bail out the water from this boat![3]Swift will it go when from this burden freed.Of passion and of hatred cut the root;Then shalt thou reach The Peace.370.Cut off the five; desert the five; the five subdue!That mendicant, who from the fetters five[4]Hath freed himself at last, by men is called"A crosser of the Stream".371.O mendicant! be meditative; let not sloth,[5]Let not thy passions toss thee to and fro;[6]Lest, swallowing the ball, thou burning cry,"Ah! this is suffering!"372.Who hath no wisdom cannot ecstasy attain;[7]Who knows not ecstasy, no wisdom gains;Whoso both ecstasy and wisdom hath,Unto The Peace is nigh.373.The mendicant, whose mind hath gained tranquillity,When he hath entered on his empty cell,[8]Hath joy beyond man's power to tell, for heThe Truth discerneth well.374.Soon as he grasps the rise and fall of elements,[9]Such pleasure and delight thereby he winsAs falls to them that rightly know the stateOf immortality.[10]375.Let the wise mendicant in this world thus begin;Guard thou thy senses; next, with mind content,By discipline restrained, seek noble friendsWho zealous live and pure;376.And by the laws of friendship act, live perfectly,And upright walk according to the Norm;Then in the fullness of thy joy thou shaltAn end of suffering make.377.O mendicants! just as the snow-whitevassikâ,The jasmine, putting forth fresh blooms to-day,Sheds down the withered blooms of yesterday,So shed ye lust and hate.378.Tranquil in body, speech and mind, O mendicants,Whoso in every way is well-restrained,Who all this world's desires hath thrown asideHe is "the tranquil" called.379.Rouse thou the self by self, by self examine self;Thus guarded by the self, and with thy mindIntent and watchful, thus, O mendicant,Thou shall live happily.380.Yea! Self is guard of self and refuge takes in self;Just as a dealer trains a thoroughbred,A noble steed, and breaks him to the rein,So do thou self restrain.381.That mendicant, with utter joy and gladness filled,Firm in the teaching of the Awakened One,Reaches the bliss where all conditions cease,Reaches the State of Peace.382.Lo ye! a mendicant, though young he be, that strivesTo grasp the teaching of the Awakened One,Lights up the world, as from a cloud releasedThe moon lights up the night.

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