26. Taints (T210.26)

He who while living has done no good,
At death will fall into the evil destinies.
Swiftly he will go with no [rest] in between
And on arriving, he will find no provisions.

You should seek wisdom
To light up the mind lamp.
Remove taints, don’t be defiled;
And you will be rid of the unsatisfactory body.

The wise man, gradually,
Slowly and progressively,
Cleanses his mind of stains;
Like a smith refining gold.

Evil, arisen in a man’s mind
Corrodes his own body,
Even as rust from an iron
Eats away itself.

Non-recitation is the taint of words
Non-exertion is the taint of the home
Non-adornment is the taint of beauty
Heedlessness is the taint of work.

Avarice is the taint of giving
Unskillfulness is the taint of action,
Both in this life and in the next,
Evil dharmas always constitute taints.

The taint of all taints
Is ignorance, the worst.
Train to give up evil,
O bhikṣus! and be taintless.

An easy life is one without shame,
Like a crow with a long beak.
Which brazenly bears dishonour.
—Such is a life of defilement.

A shameful person, though life be hard,
Takes righteously, [remaining] cleanly [of life].
He shuns dishonour and recklessness.
—Such is a life of purity.

A fool is one indulging in killing,
In speaking untruth,
In taking what is not given,
In trespassing on other’s wives.

In conscious moral transgressions
In getting addicted to intoxicating drinks
Such a man, in every life
Digs up his own root.

Understand thus, O man
Do not contemplate on evil;
A fool who draws near to wickedness
Will for long get himself burnt.

People give either out of faith
Or in order to get fame.
If one covets others’ worthless ornaments,
One will not attain pure concentration.

If one completely removes covetousness,
Cutting off the [craving] mind by the root,
And remains one-minded day and night,
One is sure to attain mental concentration.

Sensual attachment constitutes a taint;
From defilement, there is the corruption of taints
Not getting defiled, nor coursing [in sensual attachment]
One becomes pure and leaves behind the fools.

Seeing others corroding themselves,
One should always reflect within:
Corruption in practice is self-humiliation;
Corruptions having ended, there is no taint.

There is no fire hotter than lust.
There is no speed greater than anger.
There is no net denser than delusion.
The vracing stream is more rapid than a river.

There is no track in the sky.
There is no outside thought for a śramaṇa.
Men all delight in evil.
Only the Buddha is pure, without defilement.

There is no track in the sky.
There are no outside thoughts for a śramaṇa.
In the world nothing has permanence.
For the Buddha, there is naught of the self.

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.