Theragatha

The grain: harvested.
The rice: gone to be threshed.
But I don't get any alms.
How will I get by?

Confident, recollect
the immeasurable Buddha.
Your body pervaded with rapture,
    you'll be at the height
    of continual joy.
    Confident, recollect
    the immeasurable Dhamma.
    Your body pervaded with rapture,
        you'll be at the height
        of continual joy.
    Confident, recollect
    the immeasurable Sangha.
    Your body pervaded with rapture,
        you'll be at the height
        of continual joy.

You live in the open air.
Cold are these wintry nights.
Don't suffer, overcome with the cold.
Go into your hut, with its fastened bolt.

    I'll fasten the four
    immeasurables.
    With them, I'll dwell
        in comfort.
    I won't suffer from the cold,
        dwelling
        unperturbed.

Twenty five years since my going forth,
and no peace of awareness
-- not a finger-snap's worth --
    attained.
Having gained no oneness of mind,
I was wracked with lust.
Wailing, with my arms upheld,
I ran amok from my dwelling --
"Or... or shall I take the knife?
What's the use of life to me?
If I were to renounce the training,
what sort of death would I have?"
So, taking a razor,
I sat down on a bed.
And there was the razor,
placed ready to cut my own vein,
    when apt attention arose in me,
the drawbacks appeared,
    disenchantment stood
    at an even keel:

With that, my heart was released.
See the Dhamma's true rightness!
The three knowledges
have been attained;
the Awakened One's bidding,
        done.

    I was
drunk with the intoxication
of my birth, wealth, & sovereignty.
Drunk with the intoxication
of my body's build, coloring, & form,
I wandered about,
regarding no one
as my equal or better,
    foolish, arrogant, haughty,
    my banner held high.
I -- disrespectful, arrogant, proud --
bowed down to no one,
not even     mother,
        father,
or those commonly held
in respect.

Then -- seeing the ultimate leader,
supreme, foremost of charioteers,
    like a blazing sun,
arrayed with a squadron of monks --
casting away pride & intoxication
through an awareness serene & clear,
    I bowed down
    my
    head
to him, supreme
among all living beings.

Haughtiness & contempt
    have been abandoned
    -- rooted out --
the conceit "I am" is extracted,
all forms of pride, destroyed.

When I was seven
& newly gone forth,
having conquered with my power
the great powerful serpent,
I was fetching water for my preceptor
from the great lake, Anotatta,[1]
when the Teacher saw me & said:

"Look, Sariputta, at that one,
the young boy coming there,
carrying a pot of water,
well-centered within,
his practices -- inspiring;
his bearing -- admirable.
He's Anuruddha's novice,
mature in his powers,
made thoroughbred by a thoroughbred,
good by one who is good,
tamed by Anuruddha,
trained by one whose task
    is done.

He,     having reached the highest peace
    & realized the unshakable,
Sumana the novice
    wants this:
'Don't let anyone know me.'"

Note:

1. Anotatta: A fabulous lake located in the Himalayas, famed for the purity of its cool waters. Sumana would have had to use his psychic powers to fetch water from there. [Go back]

Rain soddens what's covered
& doesn't sodden what's exposed.
So open up what's covered up,
so that it won't get soddened by the rain.

Attacked by death
    is the world,
surrounded by aging,
beset by the arrow of craving,
always obscured by desire.

Attacked by death
    is the world,
& encircled by aging,
constantly beaten, with no shelter,
    like a thief
sentenced to punishment.

They encroach like masses of flame,
    these three:
    death, aging, & illness.
There's no strength to confront them,
no speed to run away.

Make the day not-in-vain,
a little or a lot.
However much
the day passes,
that's how much less
    is life.
Your last day approaches.
    This isn't your time
    to be heedless.