Even as a creeper groweth,
Creatures that are indolent
Find their craving ever grow;
Like a monkey in the forest
Seeking fruit from bough to bough,
So they wander to and fro.[1]
335.
He who yields to sordid craving
That 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 assembled
This 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 torrent
O'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 desire
Plants 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 fro
In the restless search for pleasure
Birth 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 craving
Like a hare run to and fro:
Mendicants who hope for freedom
Must 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 infatuated
Plunges into bonds of pain.
345.
Not by ties of wood or iron
Nor 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 desires
Down the stream of craving swim;
As we see the spider run
In the net himself hath spun.
Wise men cut the net and go
Free 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 free
Birth 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 interpret
All 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 conditions
Of existence I am free;
By the slaying of desire
I 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 runs
To win the goal intent;
By lust of wealth the fool harms self
With 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 those
By lust who are not soiled.
357.
Weeds are the ruin of the fields;
This world is spoiled by hate;
To those by hatred undefiled
The fruit of gifts is great.
358.
Weeds are the ruin of the fields;
Deluded are mankind;
Then great the fruit of gifts to those
Whom folly doth not blind.
359.
Weeds are the ruin of the fields;
Craving pollutes the world;
Then great the fruit of gifts to those
By 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 as _Kāmatanhā_,
_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 to _Nibbāna_.
[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 attaining _Nibbāna_, 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.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE.
THE MENDICANT.
360-1
Good is restraint of eye and ear, of nose and tongue,
Of body, speech and mind; restraint is good
In every way; the mendicant restrained
All 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 elucidate
The 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 mendicant
Will 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 mendicants
Wins 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 he
The Truth discerneth well.
374.
Soon as he grasps the rise and fall of elements,[9]
Such pleasure and delight thereby he wins
As falls to them that rightly know the state
Of 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 friends
Who 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 shalt
An end of suffering make.
377.
O mendicants! just as the snow-white _vassikâ_,
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 aside
He is "the tranquil" called.
379.
Rouse thou the self by self, by self examine self;
Thus guarded by the self, and with thy mind
Intent 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 strives
To grasp the teaching of the Awakened One,
Lights up the world, as from a cloud released
The moon lights up the night.
[1] Cf. vv. 229-30.
[2] _Nāma rūpa_, a traditional Vedic term for "mind and Matter," the
immortal and the perishable, borrowed by the Buddha to stand for the
mental and bodily compound in the individual, cf. _Buddhist Psychology_,
Mrs. C.A. Rhys-Davids, pp. 23-5.
[3] The body with its needs and passions (water in the boat) hampers the
progress across the stream.
[4]
I. The first five fetters of _delusion of self_, _doubt_, _ceremonial
observance_, _lust_ and _ill-will_.
II. The second five fetters of _desire for form_, _desire for the
formless_, _pride_, _vanity_ and _ignorance_.
III. If the verb of the third clause, _vuttaribhāvaye_, be translated
"pay attention to," as is possible, the meaning will be, "develop the
five good qualities of _faith_, _zeal_, _concentration_, _meditation_,
_wisdom_."
IV. This may refer to the second five fetters, by throwing off which one
becomes an Arahat.
[5] "Toss thee," reading _kāmagunā bhamiṁsu_ (for _kāmagune bhamassu_)
as Prof. Dines Andersen suggests (p. 192, _Glossary to Dhammapada._ Pt.
2).
[6] Cf. v. 107. One of the tortures in the hells.
[7] "ecstasy," _jhāna_. There are four stages of mystic meditation
leading to rebirth in the higher worlds.
[8] "Empty cell," _suññāgāram_, may refer to the meditation in the "cave
of the heart," when all thought vibrations are stilled, cf. v. 37.
[9] "The rise and fall," reading _udayavyayam_. cf. v. 113.
[10] 'immortality': _viz._: 'the Ambrosial'.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX.
THE BRAHMANA.
383.
Cut off the stream,[1] O Brāhmana, right manfully;
Repel desires; when thou hast known the end
Of things conditioned, thou shalt be
A knower of the Uncreate.[2]
384.
When by the twofold law (restraint and ecstasy),
By virtue of the knowledge he hath gained,
The Brāhmana hath crossed the stream;
Then every fetter falls away.
385.
Whoso the stream hath crossed and from this shore hath passed,[3]
Free from all cares, unfettered; one to whom
This shore and that alike are naught;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
386.
Whoso dwells meditiative, passionless,
And free from all Taints, his course hath run,
Whoso hath won the highest Goal--
Him I deem a Brāmaṇa.
387.
"One who is rid of evil" is a Brāmaṇa;
_Samaṇa_ is one who tranquil hath become;
"Gone forth from all impurity";
The hermit is _pabbajjā_ called.[4]
388.
Let not a Brāhmaṇa assail a Brāhmaṇa;
Nor let him with the assailant angry be,
Woe to the striker; greater woe
To him that, stricken, strikes again.
390.
No little profit cometh to the Brāhmaṇa
Who hath his mind from pleasant things restrained;
Soon as the lust to harm is gone
All sorrowing is laid to rest.
391.
Whoso offendeth not in thought and word and deed,
In whom no evil from these three is seen;
Whoso is in these three controlled;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
392.
If there be one from whom thou canst obtain the Norm
Which He, the All-Awakened One, declared,
Revere him, as a Brāhmaṇa
The sacrificial fire reveres.
393.
Not matted hair, nor caste, nor noble birth can make
The Brāhmaṇa; but he that knows the truth
And knows the Norm, is blest indeed;
And him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
394.
Of what avail to thee, O fool, is matted hair?
And what avails thy garment made of skins?
The outer part thou makest clean,
But all is ravening within.[5]
395.
Whoso wears rags from dustheaps picked, whoso is lean,
With veins o'erspread, who in the jungle dwells
And meditates in loneliness;[6]
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
396.
One is not Brāhmaṇa because of race or birth;
"Hail-fellow" is such called, and riches hath.[7]
Possessing naught, free from desire
Is one I call a Brāhmaṇa.
397.
Whoso hath cut all fetters off and hath no fear
Of what may him befall; whoso from bonds
And all attachments is released;
Is one I call a Brāhmaṇa.
398.
Whoso hath cut the strap, the leathern thong, the ropes[8]
And all thereto pertaining, and the bar
Hath lifted; him, the Awakened one;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
399.
He who endures, tho' innocent of all offence,
Abuse and blows and e'en imprisonment
With patience strong, a host in strength;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
400.
Who hath no anger, who to all his vows is true,
Upright in life, from passion free, subdued,
No more on earth to be reborn;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
401.
Who like a dew-drop on a lotus-lily leaf,
Or seed of mustard on a needle's point,
Clings not to any worldly bliss;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
402.
Who knoweth even in this world his sorrow's end,
Who bath laid down the burden of desire,
Emancipated from his bonds;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
403.
Whoso is deep in wisdom and intelligence,
Who can with skill discern the right and wrong,
Who hath attained the highest goal;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
404.
Whoso with householders and wanderers alike
Small dealings hath, who lives the homeless life,
A mendicant of scanty needs;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
405.
Whoso withholds the rod of painful punishment
From living creatures, be they weak or strong,
Who neither strikes nor makes to strike,
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
406.
Whoso forbearance hath to those that hinder him,
And to the angry showeth gentleness,
Among the greedy without greed;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
407.
From whom all anger, hate, hypocrisy and pride
Have fall'n away, as from a needle's point
A grain of mustard-seed falls off;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
408.
Gentle in ways and apt to teach his fellow-men,
Whoso will utter truth and naught but truth,
Whoso in speech offendeth not;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
409.
He that takes nothing in this world that is not given,
Whatever it may be, or great or small,
Or long or short or good or bad;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
410.
In whom is seen no more the longing of desire
For this world or beyond, who hath no lust,
Who hath no fetters any more;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
411.
In whom is seen no craving, who, because he knows,
Asks not in doubt the How or Why, for he
Hath reached Nibbāna's peace profound;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
412.
Whoso on earth hath passed beyond the opposites
Of good and evil, and is free from grief,
From passion and impurity;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
413.
Who, like the moon on high, is stainless, pure and calm,
Translucent and serene, who hath restrained
The rise of all delightful states;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
414.
Whoso hath trod the hard and muddy road of births,
Hath crossed delusion, reached the other shore,
Nor lusts, nor doubts, grasps not, is calm,
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
415.
Who homeless wanders through this world, a mendicant,
Abandoning desires, who hath restrained
The rise of sensual delight;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
416.
Who homeless wanders through this world a mendicant,
Abandoning his lust; who hath restrained
The rise of craving and desire;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
417.
Whoso hath left behind all ties that bind on earth,
And e'en the heavenly world transcended hath;
Whoso from every tie is free;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
415.
Who joy and pain hath left, who from the heat of life
Is cooled, and hath no basis of rebirth,
Heroic conqueror of the worlds;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
419.
Who knows the rise and fall of things in birth and death,
Who is not of the world, who hath the path
Well trod, who hath become awake;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
420.
Whose passage[9] hence the gods themselves cannot discern,
Nor demi-gods nor men; a worthy one
In whom the passions are subdued;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
421.
To whom pertaineth naught of past or future things
Or of the present; one who owneth naught,
Who hath no wish for anything;
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
422.
Dauntless,[10] pre-eminent, heroic mighty seer,
The conqueror, desireless one, made clean,[11]
Whose eyes have opened to the light,[12]
Him I deem a Brāhmaṇa.
423.
Who knows his former births, who sees both heaven and hell,[13]
Who now at last hath reached the end of births;
Perfect in knowledge he who hath done all things well,
That sage I call a Brāhmaṇa.
[1] Cf. v. 178.
[2] _Akataññu_, "unconditioned," Nibbāṇa.
[3] 'lit. one for whom there exists neither this shore (the stream being
not yet entered) nor that shore (Arahantship being yet unattained) nor
both shores (as he has now attained)'.
[4] _Sāhita_, "removed," the supposed etymology of _Brāhmana_; as
_samitatta_, "quieted" is here supposed to be that of _samana_, ascetic
monk. _Pabbajjā_ is one who "goes forth," takes the robes, becomes
ordained a Buddhist mendicant monk.
[5] Cf. the words of the Christ to the Pharisees: "Now do ye Pharisees
make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but your inward part
is full of ravening and wickedness." The word used, _gahanam_,
'grasping,' may also mean 'jungle'.
[6] These were the marks of the early and stricter ascetics; even to-day
the _bhikkhus_ of Ceylon have their robes made of pieces of cloth sewn
together, but these are not picked from the dust-heap.
[7] "Hail-fellow," _bhovādi_, one who uses the disrespectful term of
_bho_, "I say! man". These Brahmins who did not accept the Buddha as
Master would address Him in this way, and of course they were often
wealthy men.
[8] _The strap_ is said to be hate; _the thong_, desire; _the ropes_,
orthodoxy with its attendant narrowness; _the bar_, ignorance that shuts
the door of knowledge.
[9] _Cuti_; _gati_; the "fall" from other worlds into this one, and the
'going' or passage or state of the next birth.
[10] Like a bull.
[11] _Nahātakam_, an allusion to the ceremonial bathing of the Brāhmaṇa
after finishing his course of studies.
[12] The meaning of buddha.
[13] One who knows earth, heaven and hell, and can range them at will,
is called _ñānatilōka_, "knower of the three worlds". Such a one is born
no more, as he has learned the lessons of these worlds.