5. Agreeable Things (UV-KG5)

From those things that are agreeable comes sorrow; from those things that are agreeable comes fear: if one casts off agreeable things he will be without sorrow, without fear.

From that which is enjoyable comes fear; from the agreeable comes misery, from the agreeable fear: if that which is pretty changes, one reaps but despair.

The miseries of the world are numerous—sorrow, lamentations, cries, etc.; they all arise from holding on to those things that are agreeable: if one gives up what is agreeable they will all cease to be.

They for whom there is nothing whatever agreeable in the world are happy and without sorrow; they therefore who would be without affliction, free from human passions, must never do that which is agreeable.

Not to see what is agreeable is painful, so likewise is the sight of what is not agreeable; one must never seek what is agreeable; he must not seek what is not agreeable.

It is by being deprived of what is agreeable and by finding what is disagreeable that men create (for themselves) the intolerable sorrow of age.

When that in which one delights does die, such as one's kinsfolk or friends, it brings one a great and enduring sorrow, for to be separated from that which brings pleasure is painful.

He who knows neither agreeable or disagreeable is without bonds; he, therefore, who considers the agreeable as sinful will give up what is agreeable.

He who, having ceased to consider what is agreeable, has nought to do with attachment to (worldly) happiness, who has attachment to the happiness that is not that of the individual, seeks the object of his fond desires (nirvāṇa).

He who among gods and men is held by fondness for what is pleasing in the body (rūpa), does evil and suffers affliction, he falls into the power of age and death.

He who is steadfast both by day and night, who casts away what is pleasing in the body (rūpa), which is difficult to do, pulls up by the very roots sin, that food of Māra.

The foolish people, who consider what is not good as good, what is not agreeable as agreeable, what is misery as happiness, will surely come to destruction.

He who, doing evil, would be made happy by it, finds no contentment, let him not do evil.

He who, doing what is right, would be made happy by it, finds contentment, let him not do evil.

As the frontier town is protected by strong retrenchments, so let him who would be happy protect himself by strong defences.

The wise man who would be made happy watches during all the three watches; his watchfulness makes him safe.

When the frontier town is well guarded within and without, its peace is not disturbed: do likewise and watch thyself; for when one has been born in hell his peace is gone and he repents him (of what he has left undone).

Look where you will, there is nothing dearer to man than himself; therefore, as it is the same thing that is dear to you and to others, hurt not others with what pains yourself.

To all men this life is dear; all men fear punishment; you, who are like unto them, strike not, put not to death.

He who has been to a great distance and who returns from afar without mishap, his assembled kinsfolk and friends receive him with joyful cries of “Alala!”

So likewise he who has been virtuous, on arriving from this world into another, his good works receive him like kinsfolk and welcome him.

Lay up, therefore, good works in view of the other world; for it is good works that receive beings in the other world.

He whose life is one of virtue is praised by the gods; he in whom there is nothing to be blamed finds perfect joy in heaven.

He who observes the law, who is perfectly virtuous, modest, speaking the truth, doing what he ought to do, delights the rest of mankind.

He who, doing what he ought to do, and who, extolling the true law, gives to others pleasure, shall find joy in the other world.

His speech is edifying, and he has given up all wrong doings, in this delights the righteous, and delights not the unrighteous.

Therefore what is good and what is not good are separated at death; the unrighteous go to hell, the righteous go to heaven.

Chapter on Pleasure, the Fifth.

Translated by Woodville Rockhill.

1975, Udânavarga: a collection of verses from the Buddhist canon compiled by Dharmatrâta, Oriental Press, Amsterdam (reprint of original from 1883).

Translated (into Tibetan) by the Indian Pandit Vidyaprabhakara and the Lotsāva Bande-rin-tchen-mtchog; revised and arranged by the corrector, the Lotsāva Bande-dpal-brtsegs.

Original taken from University of Oslo, faculty of humanities.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Yasoj and Ayya Vimala.