Chapter Six#
6.1 Uruveḷakassapa#
When I saw the marvels
Of the renowned Gotama,
I didn’t immediately bow to him;
I was blinded by jealousy and conceit.
Knowing what I was thinking,
The trainer of men spurred me on;
And I was struck with a marvellous inspiration,
That gave me goose-bumps.
Rejecting my petty accomplishments
When I used to be a matted-hair ascetic,
I then went forth,
In the conqueror’s teaching.
I used to be content with sacrifice,
Giving priority to the realm of sensual pleasures,
But later I uprooted desire,
And hatred and also delusion.
I know my past life;
My clairvoyance is clarified;
I have psychic powers,
And I know the minds of others;
I have realised the divine ear.
I’ve attained the goal
For the sake of which I went forth
From home life into homelessness—
The ending of all fetters.
6.2 Tekicchakāri#
“The rice has been harvested,
And gathered on the threshing-floor—
But I don’t get any alms-food!
How will I get by?”
“Recollect the immeasurable Buddha!
Confident, your body pervaded with rapture,
You’ll always be full of joy.
Recollect the immeasurable Dhamma!
Confident, your body pervaded with rapture,
You’ll always be full of joy.
Recollect the immeasurable Saṅgha!
Confident, your body pervaded with rapture,
You’ll always be full of joy.”
“You stay in the open,
Though these winter nights are cold.
Don’t perish, overcome with cold;
Enter your dwelling, with its door shut fast.”
“I’ll realise the four immeasurable states,
And dwell happily with them.
I won’t perish, overcome with cold;
I’ll dwell unperturbed.”
6.3 Mahānāga#
Whoever has no respect
For their companions in the spiritual life
Falls away from the true Dhamma,
Like a fish in too little water.
Whoever has no respect
For their companions in the spiritual life
Doesn’t thrive in the true Dhamma,
Like a rotten seed in a field.
Whoever has no respect
For their companions in the spiritual life
Is far from nibbāna,
In the teaching of the Dhamma king.
Whoever does have respect
For their companions in the spiritual life
Doesn’t fall away from the true Dhamma,
Like a fish in plenty of water.
Whoever does have respect
For their companions in the spiritual life
Thrives in the true Dhamma,
Like a quality seed in a field.
Whoever does have respect
For their companions in the spiritual life
Is close to nibbāna,
In the teaching of the Dhamma king.
6.4 Kulla#
I, Kulla, went to a charnel ground
And saw a woman left there,
Discarded in a cemetery,
Full of worms that devoured her.
See this body, Kulla—
Diseased, filthy, rotten,
Oozing and trickling,
A fools’ delight.
Taking Dhamma as a mirror
For realizing knowledge and vision,
I reviewed this body,
Vacant, inside and out.
As this is, so is that;
As that is, so is this.
As below, so above;
As above, so below.
As by day, so by night;
As by night, so by day.
As before, so after;
As after, so before.
Not even music played by a five-piece band,
Can give such pleasure
As there is for one with unified mind,
Discerning the Dhamma rightly.
6.5 Mālukyaputta#
For a person who lives heedlessly,
Craving grows like a parasitic creeper.
They jump from here to there, like a monkey
That wants fruit in a forest grove.
Whoever is overcome by this wretched craving,
This attachment to the world,
Their sorrow grows,
Like grass in the rain.
But whoever overcomes this wretched craving,
This attachment to the world,
Their sorrows fall from them,
Like a water-drop from a lotus.
I say this to you, venerables,
All those who have gathered here:
Dig up the root of craving,
Like someone who is looking for roots
Will dig up the grass.
Don’t let Māra break you again and again,
Like a stream breaking a reed.
Act on the Buddha’s words,
Don’t let the moment pass you by.
Those who pass up the moment
Grieve when they end up in hell.
Heedlessness is always an impurity,
Impurity comes from heedlessness.
With heedfulness and knowledge,
Pluck out your own dart.