Vigilance (DHP21-32)

Vigilance is the path to the deathless state.
Negligence is the path to death.
The vigilant do not die;
The negligent are as if already dead.

Knowing this distinction,
Those wise in vigilance rejoice therein,
Delighting in the field of the noble ones.

Absorbed in meditation,
with perseverance and constant effort,
The wise touch Nibbāna,
that ultimate shelter from bondage.

For one who is vigilant and restrained,
Who is energetic and mindful,
Who acts carefully and purely,
Who lives the Dhamma,
Fame grows.

Through effort, vigilance, restraint, and self-
control,
The wise one makes himself an island that a flood
could not overwhelm.

The ignorant and foolish give themselves to
negligence,
While the wise protect vigilance as the supreme
treasure.

Do not give yourself to negligence
Or be intimate with sensual pleasure.
Being meditative and vigilant,
One attains great happiness.

When the wise one expels negligence by vigilance,
Having ascended to the stronghold of wisdom,
And free from sorrow,
He observes the sorrowing crowd,
As a sage, standing on a mountain,
Observes fools on the plain.

Vigilant among the negligent,
Wide awake among the sleeping,
The deeply wise one goes forth,
Like a swift horse who leaves the nag behind.

By vigilance,
Indra went to the highest seat among the gods.
Vigilance they praise; negligence is ever-derided.

The monk, devoted to vigilance and seeing the
danger in negligence,
Goes forth like a fire burning every fetter,
gross and subtle.

The monk, devoted to vigilance and seeing the
danger in negligence,
Is close to Nibbāna and cannot regress.

© Peter Feldmeier, 2013.

First published in Dhammapada — The Way of Truth : A Fresh Translation and Commentary on Buddhism’s Most Beloved Text by Buddhist Publication Society.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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