The Elephant (DHP320-333)

As an elephant in battle endures arrows shot from
bows,
So shall I endure insult.
Truly, the masses are immoral.

It is the tamed one they lead into the crowd.
It is the tamed one that the king mounts.
Among humans, best is the tamed one
Who endures insult.

Excellent are tamed mules,
Thoroughbred horses of Sindh, and great elephants,
tuskers.
More excellent than these is the one who tames
himself.

For not by these mounts could one go to the
unreached region,
As one tamed goes well-tamed.

A tusker named Dhanapālaka,
Bound, difficult to restrain, and rutting,
Does not eat even a morsel;
He longs for the elephant grove.

The sluggish and gluttonous,
The sleeper, who lies rolling around,
Being dull like a great boar nourished on fodder,
Undergoes rebirth again and again.

Formerly, this mind went wandering as it wished,
According to its desire and pleasure.
Today, I will restrain it thoroughly,
As an elephant driver subdues a rutting elephant.

Be devoted to vigilance;
Guard your mind.
Raise yourself from the bad path,
Like a tusker sunk in mud.

If you should find an intelligent companion,
A fellow-traveler who is wise and virtuous,
You should journey together, joyful and mindful,
Overcoming all dangers.

If you should not find an intelligent companion,
A fellow-traveler who is wise and virtuous,
Then journey alone,
Like a king who has abandoned a conquered
kingdom,
Like the elephant in the Mātaṅga forest.

It is better to travel alone; there is no
companionship with a fool.
Go alone, wanting little, and doing no wrong,
Like the elephant in the Mātaṅga forest.

Happy are friends when need arises.
Happy is contentment in whatever is.
Happy is a meritorious deed at the end of life.
Happy is the abandonment of suffering altogether.

Happy in this world is reverence toward one’s
mother,
And reverence for one’s father as well.
Happy in this world is reverence toward a
renunciant.
Happy is respect for the brahmin.

Happy is virtue through old age.
Happy is a firmly established faith.
Happy is the attainment of wisdom.
Happy is doing no wrong.

© 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.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Aminah Borg-Luck.