Miscellaneous (DHP290-305)

If by renouncing a small happiness
One could see a great happiness,
Then, let the wise one, seeing the great happiness,
Renounce the small happiness.

One who, contaminated by anger,
Would seek happiness at the expense of another’s
affliction,
Is hostility’s prisoner.

The toxins increase for the proud and negligent.
They reject what should be done
And do what should not be done.

But those who are well-resolved, ever-mindful of
the body,
Who do not practice what should not be done,
But persevere in what should be done;
For those, mindful and knowing, the toxins
dissipate.

Having slain mother, father,
And two warrior kings;
Having slain the kingdom and its subjects,
The brahmin, undisturbed, proceeds.

Having slain mother, father,
And two learned kings, with a tiger as fifth,
The brahmin, undisturbed, proceeds.

The disciples of Gotama,
They awaken well-awake,
As their mindfulness, day and night,
Is ever-directed to the Buddha.

The disciples of Gotama,
They awaken well-awake,
Their mindfulness, day and night,
Is ever-directed to the Dhamma.

The disciples of Gotama,
They awaken well-awake.
Their mindfulness, day and night,
Is ever-directed to the Sangha.

The disciples of Gotama,
They awaken well-awake.
Their mindfulness, day and night,
Is ever-directed to the body.

The disciples of Gotama,
They awaken well-awake.
Their mind, day and night,
Is ever-devoted to non-violence.

The disciples of Gotama,
They awaken well-awake.
Their mind, day and night,
Is ever-devoted to meditation.

Difficult it is to go forth, difficult to delight thus.
Difficult it is to inhabit households, which are
afflictive.
Painful is the company of people so different.
Suffering afflicts a traveler.
So be neither a traveler nor befallen by suffering.

The one who is faithful, endowed in virtue,
Possessed of fame and wealth—
Wherever he goes, he is honored.

The good are seen from afar,
Like snowy mountains.
The bad are unseen here,
Like arrows shot into the night.

Sitting alone, resting alone,
Roaming alone, keenly attentive,
Mastering himself in solitude:
Such a one would delight in the forest.

© 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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