Theragāthā (Psalms of the Brethren)

the giant is serene when lying down, and when sitting, the giant is serene. The giant is restrained everywhere: this is the accomplishment of the giant.

He eats blameless things, he doesn’t eat blameworthy things. When he gets food and clothes, he avoids storing them up.

Having severed all bonds, fetters large and small, wherever he goes, he goes without concern.

A white lotus, fragrant and delightful, sprouts in water and grows there, but the water doesn’t cling to it.

Just so the Buddha is born in the world, and lives in the world, but the world doesn’t stick to him, as water does not stick to the lotus.

A great blazing fire dies down when the fuel runs out. And when the coals have gone out it’s said to be “quenched”.

This simile is taught by the discerning to express the meaning clearly. Great giants will understand what the giant taught the giant.

Free of greed, free of hate, free of delusion, undefiled; the giant, giving up his body, undefiled, will be fully quenched.

“Those who we killed in the past, whether for sacrifice or for wealth, without exception were afraid; they trembled and they squealed.

But you’re not scared; you look even calmer than before. Why don’t you cry out in such a terrifying situation?”

“There isn’t any mental suffering for one without concern, village chief. All fears are left behind by one whose fetters have ended.

When the leash to existence is ended, and the truth is seen as it is, there is no fear of death; it’s like laying down a burden.

I’ve lived the spiritual life well, and developed the path well, too. I do not fear death; it’s like the passing of a disease.

I’ve lived the spiritual life well, and developed the path well, too. I’ve seen that there’s nothing gratifying in existences, like someone who has tasted poison, <j>then thrown it out.

One who has gone beyond, without grasping, they’ve completed the task <j>and are free of defilements. They are content at the end of life, like someone released from execution.

Having realized the supreme Dhamma, without needing anything in the whole world, one doesn’t grieve at death; for it’s like escaping from a burning house.

Whatever has come to pass, wherever life is obtained, there is no Lord of all that: so said the great seer.

Whoever understands this as it was taught by the Buddha doesn’t grab on to any new life, like you wouldn’t grab a hot iron ball.

It doesn’t occur to me, ‘I existed in the past’; nor, ‘I will exist in the future’. Conditions will vanish— why weep over that?

Seeing truly the bare arising of phenomena, and the bare process of conditions, there is no fear, village chief.

The world is like grass and sticks: when this is seen with wisdom, not finding any possessiveness, you won’t grieve, thinking ‘I don’t have it’.

I’m fed up with the body; I have no need for another life. This body will be broken up, and there won’t be another.

Do what you want with my corpse. I won’t be angry or attached on account of that.”

When they heard these words, so astonishing and hair-raising, the young men laid down their swords and spoke these words:

“What have you practiced, Venerable? And who is your tutor? Whose instructions do we follow to gain the sorrowless state?”

“The knower of all, the seer of all: the victor is my tutor. He is a Teacher of great compassion, healer of the whole world.

He taught this Dhamma, leading to ending, unsurpassed. Following his instructions, you can gain the sorrowless state.”

When the bandits heard the good words of the seer, they laid down their swords and weapons. Some refrained from their former deeds, while others chose the going-forth.

Having gone forth in the teaching of the Holy One, those astute ones developed <j>the awakening factors and the powers. Elated, happy, their faculties complete, they realized the state of extinguishment, <j>the unconditioned.

This thought came to the ascetic, the monk Pārāsariya, as he was seated alone meditating in seclusion:

“Following what procedure, what observance, what conduct, may a person do what they need for themselves, without harming anyone else?

The faculties of human beings can lead to both welfare and harm. Unguarded they lead to harm; guarded they lead to welfare.

By protecting the faculties, taking care of the faculties, I can do what I need for myself without harming anyone else.

If your eye wanders among sights without check, not seeing the danger, you’re not freed from suffering.

If your ear wanders among sounds without check, not seeing the danger, you’re not freed from suffering.

If, not seeing the escape, you indulge in a smell, you’re not freed from suffering, being besotted by smells.

Recollecting the sour, the superbly sweet and the bitter, captivated by craving for taste, you don’t understand the heart.

Recollecting lovely and pleasurable touches, full of desire, you experience many kinds of suffering because of lust.

Unable to protect the mind from such thoughts, suffering follows them because of all five.

This body is full of pus and blood, it’s home to many carcasses; but cunning people decorate it like a lovely painted casket.

You don’t understand that the sweetness of honey turns bitter, and the bonds to those we love cause pain, like a razor’s edge smeared with honey.

Full of lust for the sight of a woman, for the voice and the smells of a woman, for a woman’s touch, you experience many kinds of suffering.

All of a woman’s streams flow from five to five. Whoever, being energetic, is able to curb these,

purposeful and firm in principle, is clever and clear-seeing. Though he might enjoy himself, his duty is connected with the teaching and its goal.

One who’s diligent and discerning, thinking, ‘This ought not be done’, would avoid a useless task that’s doomed to failure.

Whatever is meaningful, and whatever happiness is principled, let one proceed having undertaken that: this is the best happiness.

They want to get hold of what belongs to others by any means, fair or foul. They kill, injure, and torment, violently plundering what belongs to others.

Just as a strong person when building knocks out a peg with a peg, so the skillful person knocks out the faculties with the faculties.

Developing faith, energy, immersion, mindfulness, and wisdom; destroying the five with the five, the brahmin walks on untroubled.

Purposeful and firm in principle, having fulfilled in every respect the instructions spoken by the Buddha, that person prospers in happiness.”

For a long time, sadly, though I keenly contemplated the teaching, I gained no peace of mind. So I asked this of ascetics and brahmins:

“Who in the world have crossed over? Whose attainment has freedom from death <j>as its objective? Whose teaching do I accept to understand the ultimate goal?

I was hooked inside, like a fish gulping bait; bound like the titan Vepaciti in Mahinda’s trap.

Dragging it along, I’m not free from grief and lamentation. Who will free me from bonds in the world, so that I may know awakening?

What ascetic or brahmin points out what is frail? Whose teaching do I accept to rinse off old age and death?

Tied up with uncertainty and doubt, secured by the power of aggression, stiff as a mind beset by anger; the arrow of covetousness,

propelled by the bow of craving, is stuck in my twice-fifteen ribcage— see how it stands in my breast, breaking my strong heart.

Theories are not abandoned, they are sharpened by memories and intentions; and pierced by this I tremble, like a leaf blowing in the gale.

Having arisen within, what belongs to me burns quickly, in that place where the body always heads with its six sense-fields of contact.

I don’t see a healer who can pull out my dart of doubt without a lance or some other blade.

Without knife or wound, who will pull out this dart that’s stuck inside me, without harming any part of my body?

He really would be the Lord of the Dhamma, the best one to cure the damage of poison; when I have fallen into deep waters, he would show me his hand and the shore.

I’ve plunged into a lake, and I can’t wash off the mud and dirt. It’s full of deceit, jealousy, aggression, and dullness and drowsiness.

Like a thundering cloud of restlessness, like a stormcloud of fetters; lustful thoughts are winds that sweep off a person with bad views.

The streams flow everywhere; a weed springs up and remains. Who will block the streams? Who will cut the weed?”

“Venerable sir, build a dam to block the streams. Don’t let your mind-made streams cut you down suddenly like a tree.”

That is how, when I was full of fear, seeking the far shore from the near, my shelter was the Teacher whose weapon is wisdom, frequented by the Saṅgha of seers.

As I was being swept away, he gave me a strong, simple ladder, made of the heartwood of Dhamma, and he said to me: “Do not fear.”

I climbed the tower of mindfulness meditation, and checked back down at people delighting in substantial reality, as I had obsessed over in the past.

When I saw the path, as I was embarking on the ship, without fixating on the self, I saw the supreme landing-place.

The dart that arises in oneself, and that which stems from the leash to existence: he taught the supreme path for the canceling of these.

For a long time it had lain within me; for a long time it was fixed in me: the Buddha cast aside the knot, curing the damage of poison.

“See this fancy puppet, a body built of sores, diseased, obsessed over, in which nothing lasts at all.

See this fancy figure, with its gems and earrings; it is bones swathed in skin, made pretty by its clothes.

Rouged feet and powdered face may be enough to beguile a fool, but not a seeker of the far shore.

Hair in eight braids and eyeshadow may be enough to beguile a fool, but not a seeker of the far shore.

A rotting body all adorned like a freshly painted makeup box may be enough to beguile a fool, but not a seeker of the far shore.

The hunter laid his snare, but the deer didn’t spring the trap. I’ve eaten the bait and now I go, leaving the trapper to lament.

The hunter’s snare is broken, but the deer didn’t spring the trap. I’ve eaten the bait and now I go, leaving the deer-hunter to grieve.”

“I see rich people in the world who, because of delusion, <j>give not the wealth they’ve earned. Greedily, they hoard their riches, yearning for ever more sensual pleasures.

A king who conquered the earth by force, ruling the land from sea to sea, unsatisfied with the near shore of the ocean, would still yearn for the further shore.

Not just the king, but others too, reach death not rid of craving. They leave the body still wanting, for in this world sensual pleasures never satisfy.

Relatives lament, their hair disheveled, saying ‘Ah! Alas! They’re not immortal!’ They take out the body wrapped in a shroud, heap up a pyre, and burn it there.

It’s poked with stakes while being burnt, in just a single cloth, all wealth gone. Relatives, friends, and companions can’t help you when you’re dying.

Heirs take your riches, while beings fare on according to their deeds. Riches don’t follow you when you die; nor do children, wife, wealth, nor kingdom.

Longevity isn’t gained by riches, nor does wealth banish old age; for the attentive say this life is short, it’s perishable and not eternal.

The rich and the poor feel its touch; the fool and the attentive one feel it too. But the fool lies stricken by their own folly, while the attentive don’t tremble at the touch.

Therefore wisdom’s much better than wealth, since by wisdom <j>you reach consummation in this life. But if because of delusion <j>you don’t reach consummation, you’ll do evil deeds in life after life.

One who enters a womb and the world beyond, will transmigrate from one life to the next. While someone of little wisdom, <j>placing faith in them, also enters a womb and the world beyond.

As a bandit caught in a window is punished for his own bad deeds; so after departing, in the world beyond, people are punished for their own bad deeds.

Sensual pleasures are diverse, sweet, delightful; appearing in disguise they disturb the mind. Seeing danger in sensual stimulations, I went forth, O King.

As fruit falls from a tree, so the sons of Manu fall, young and old, when the body breaks up. Seeing this, too, I went forth, O King; it’s a sure bet that the ascetic life is better.”

“I went forth out of faith joining the victor’s dispensation. My going forth wasn’t wasted; I enjoy my food free of debt.

I saw sensual pleasures as burning, gold as a cutting blade, conception in a womb as suffering, and the hells as very fearful.

Knowing this danger, I was struck with a sense of urgency. I was stabbed, but then I found peace, attaining the end of defilements.

I’ve served the Teacher and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions. The heavy burden is laid down, the leash to existence is eradicated.

I’ve attained the goal for the sake of which I went forth from the lay life to homelessness— the ending of all fetters.”

When you see a sight, mindfulness is lost as you focus on a pleasant feature. Experiencing it with a mind full of desire, you keep clinging to it.

Many feelings grow arising from sights. The mind is damaged by covetousness and cruelty. Heaping up suffering like this, you’re said to be far from extinguishment.

When you hear a sound, mindfulness is lost as you focus on a pleasant feature. Experiencing it with a mind full of desire, you keep clinging to it.