22. On The Buddha (T210.22)

Having made the conquest he is not subject to evil,
He is completely victorious over the world;
Saintly wise, and of boundless sphere,
[The Buddha] initiates the ignorant into the Path.

Disentangled from [craving’s] net and unimpeded;
Lust exhausted, amassing nothing;
The Buddha’s mind is profound, without a limit.
He leads those not on the Path to embark on it.

Steadfastly established in one-mindedness,
Left home, in quiescence day and night,
Root cut off, with no lustful thoughts
—[Such are] the awakened ones, the clearly mindful.

He has seen the Truth, and is pure, undefiled,
Having crossed the sea of the five pathways,
—The Buddha—arises, illuminating the world,
In order to remove sufferings.

Difficult it is to be born as a human.
Difficult too the obtaining of longevity for mortals.
Difficult is the arising of Buddhas in the world.
Difficult it is to hear the Buddha-dharma.

I had no one for a master,
Alone, nor had I any companion.
Accumulating one practice I have become a Buddha
By myself I have mastered the Noble Path.

A boatman can cross over water;
Vigour serves as the bridge.
Men are bound by their castes;
He who can cross it is a hero.

Those having destroyed evil and crossed over are the Buddhas.
Those on the land are brahmins.
Those who remove famine are Dharma-trainees.
Those who cut off the caste lineage are disciples.

Of mental devotion, endurance is foremost.
’Nirvāṇa is supreme” say the Buddhas.
He who has left home to be a śramaṇa.
Does no harm to others.

Do not harass by speech or harm;
Restrain fully in accordance with the precepts;
Be moderate in food and give up bodily greed;
Maintain your practice in a secluded abode;
Apply your mind to the gaining of wisdom.
—This is practicing the Buddhas’ teaching.

Not to do evil,
To cultivate all good,
To purify one’s own mind,
—This is the Teaching of the Buddhas.

[I,] the Buddha am the Exalted One;
[I] have eradicated the cankers and have no lust;
[I] am the hero among the Sakyans;
The whole lot [of gods and men] accords with [my] mind.

Happy indeed is the result of merit;
Whereby all wishes are fulfilled.
[One with merit] promptly moves to quiescence
And arrives by himself at Nirvāṇa.

Many go for refuge
To spirits in hills, rivers and trees,
And to images in shrines;
Offering sacrifices and praying for blessings.

Refuges like these
Are neither safe nor supreme.
They cannot come
To deliver us from unsatisfactoriness.

If one goes for refuge
To the Buddha, Dharma and saṅgha;
The virtuous Four Truths;
One will definitely see [with] Right Knowledge:

[Namely], That saṁsāra is extremely unsatisfactory;
That from [seeing] the Truths one crosses over.
That the Eight-fold Path which transcends existence,
Eradicates all unsatisfactoriness.

Refuge in the Three Treasured Ones,
Is most safe, is supreme;
Only if one has these [refuges]
Can one transcend all unsatisfactoriness.

If a man [accords with] the middle and the proper,
And sets his mind on the Way, without miserliness,
Propitious indeed such a man is,
Who goes for refuge in the Buddha.

A man of wisdom is hard to encounter,
And he is not to be found everywhere;
Where such a man is born,
The kinsmen are blessed.

Happy is the arising of Buddhas.
Happy is the preaching of the Doctrine.
Happy is the unity of the Saṅgha;
Unity brings constant peace.

Translated from the Chinese by Bhikkhu Kuala Lumpur Dhammajoti

From his book The Chinese Version of Dharmapada, Translated with introduction and annotations.

Published here with the kind permission of the author.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Ayya Vimala.