13. The Chapter about Refuge (PDHP216-238)

Patna Dhammapada

13. The Chapter about Refuge

Many people shaken by fear go for refuge

to mountains and woods, to places with beautiful trees.

That is not a secure refuge, that is not the refuge supreme,

nor is it the refuge to come to that liberates from all suffering.

Whoever has gone for refuge to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Saṅgha,

and who sees as it really is the four noble truths.

That is a secure refuge, that is the refuge supreme,

that is the refuge to come to that liberates from all suffering.

If, when cows are crossing a road, their leader goes crookedly,

they all will go crookedly, as their guide crookedly does go.

So it is with humans, he who is agreed upon as chief,

if he lives unrighteously, so will other people.

If, when cows are crossing a road, their leader goes straight,

they all will go straight, as their guide straight does go;

so it is with humans, he who is agreed upon as chief,

if he lives righteously, so will other people.

One should live by Dhamma, with good conduct, not with bad conduct,

living by Dhamma one lives at ease in this world and the next.

One should live by Dhamma, with good conduct, not with bad conduct,

living the holy life one lives at ease in this world and the next.

The one who finds pleasure in the Dhamma, delights in Dhamma, reflects on Dhamma,

the monastic who remembers Dhamma, does not abandon the Dhamma.

The Dhamma protects the one who lives by the Dhamma, the Dhamma well-practised is set on happiness,

this is the advantage of the Dhamma well-practised, he who lives by the Dhamma does not go to a bad destination.

The Dhamma protects the one who lives by the holy life, the Dhamma well-practised is set on happiness,

this is the advantage of the Dhamma well-practised, he who lives the holy life does not go to a bad destination.

Not having lived the holy life, not having gained wealth in their youth,

they waste away like herons in a small lake devoid of fish.

Not having lived the holy life, not having gained wealth in their youth,

they lie like shafts scattered from a bow, wailing about things in the past.

The mindful ones who are striving do not delight in a dwelling,

like geese who abandon a lake, they abandon fondness for homes.

As geese go through the path of the sky, they go through the sky by their power,

the wise are led out in the world, after crushing Māra and his army.

Why this laughter, why this joy, when the world is constantly burning,

when thrown into darkness, do you not seek for a light?

As a town in the border districts is guarded on the inside and the outside,

so one should protect oneself, and you should not let the moment pass,

for when the chance has passed they grieve when consigned to the underworld.

Not through being shaven is one an ascetic, if one lacks vows, speaks lies,

and is endowed with greed and desire, how will one be an ascetic?

The one who quenches wicked deeds, small and great, in every way—

through the appeasing of wicked deeds he is said to be an ascetic.

For the one in whom thirty-six streams consisting of contact with conceit are strong,

the one with wrong view is carried off by the flow of his greedy intentions.

One should abandon anger, one should abandon conceit, one should overcome every fetter,

without clinging to mind and bodily form, sufferings never do befall the one having no possessions.

The Chapter about Refuge