9.1 Bhūta#
When a wise person fully understands
That old age and death—
To which an ignorant unawakened person is bound—
Are suffering; and they are mindful, practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.
When attachment, the carrier of suffering,
And craving, the carrier of the suffering
Of this mass of proliferation,
Are destroyed; and they are mindful, practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.
When the blissful eightfold way,
The supreme path, cleanser of all stains,
Is seen with wisdom;
And they are mindful, practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.
When one develops that peaceful state,
Sorrowless, stainless, unconditioned,
Cleanser of all stains,
And cutter of fetters and bonds:
There is no greater pleasure than this.
When the thunder-cloud rumbles in the sky,
And the rain falls in torrents
On the path of birds everywhere,
And a monk has gone to a mountain cave,
Practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.
When sitting on a riverbank covered in flowers,
Garlanded with many-coloured forest plants
One is truly happy, practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.
When it is midnight in a lonely forest,
And the sky rains, and the lions roar,
And a monk has gone to a mountain cave,
Practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.
When one’s own thoughts have stopped,
Meditating between two mountains,
Sheltered inside a cleft,
Without stress or heartlessness, practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.
When one is happy, destroyer of stains,
Heartlessness, and sorrow,
Without obstructions, entanglements, and darts,
And with all defilements annihilated, practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.