15. The Chapter about the Pollutants (PDHP261-277)

Patna Dhammapada

15. The Chapter about the Pollutants

Amongst humans few people go beyond,

the rest of the people run down the bank,

but those who live righteously, conforming with this well-taught Dhamma,

those folk will go beyond the realm of death, which is very hard to cross.

Having abandoned the dark state, the wise ones should develop the bright,

having gone forth to homelessness from home; in solitude, where it is hard to delight,

one should seek to delight in that place, having given up sense pleasures, and having no possessions,

he should purify the self of defilements of mind in every way.

For he who has well developed with peaceful mind the factors of complete awakening,

having given up the self, those who delight in being unattached,

pollutant-free, shining forth, are emancipated in the world.

That to be done is rejected, but what is not to be done is done,

for the insolent, the heedless, their pollutants increase.

But for those who always properly undertake mindfulness of the body

who do not practice what is not to be done, persisting in what is to be done,

for those mindful ones, those fully aware, their pollutants are destroyed.

Those who look for others’ fault, who constantly perceive offence,

for them the pollutants increase, they are far from their destruction.

For those devoted to being alert, who train both by day and by night,

who are intent on Nibbāna, the pollutants are laid to rest.

For those whose pollutants are destroyed, who are not dependent on the foods,

for those whose resort is the liberation that is empty or signless,

like the birds in the sky, their footprint is hard to find.

Not even through virtue or vows, or again through great learning,

or through the attainment of concentration, or through a secluded dwelling,

do we attain the happiness of renunciation, not practised by worldly people;

let a monastic not be confident as long as the destruction of the pollutants is unattained.

This is not the time to be heedless, while the destruction of the pollutants is unattained,

heedless he follows suffering, like the mother of deer follows the lion.

Some fall back into the womb, but those who are wicked in the underworld,

the righteous go to heaven, those who are pollutant-free are emancipated.

Like a lake that is deep, clear and unruffled,

just so the wise are confident after listening to Dhamma.

He whose victory cannot be undone, whose victory does not come to an end,

the Buddha, the one of superior effort, by what path will you lead the pathless one?

For him there is no desire, attachment, or craving to lead him anywhere,

the Buddha, whose range is endless, by what path will you lead the pathless one?

The Chapter about the Pollutants