Flowers (DHP44-59)

Who will conquer this earth,
The worlds of Yama, and those of the gods?
Who will select a well-taught Dhamma word,
As an expert gardener selects a flower?

The disciple will conquer this earth,
The worlds of Yama, and those of the gods.
The disciple will select the well-taught Dhamma
word,
As an expert gardener selects a flower.

Knowing this body to be like foam,
Realizing its mirage-like nature,
Cutting off the flowers of Māra,
One may go unseen by the King of Death.

The one with a clinging mind,
Who is just gathering flowers,
Is carried away by death,
As a sleeping village is carried away by a great flood.

The one with a clinging mind,
Who is only gathering flowers,
Is overpowered by death.

As a bee departing the flower,
Having taken its nectar,
Does no harm to its color or fragrance,
So should a sage go through a village.

Do not attend to others’ wrong doings,
What they have done or failed to do.
Attend only to yourself,
And what you have done and failed to do.

Like a beautiful flower
That is full of color but lacking fragrance,
So too are well-said words,
Fruitless when not lived.

Like a beautiful flower
That is full of color and fragrant,
So too are well-said words,
Fruitful when lived.

As many garland strands could be made from a heap
of flowers,
So should one born mortal do much good.

Neither the fragrance of the flower,
Nor that of sandalwood, tagara, or jasmine,
Can go against the wind,
But the fragrance of the good does go against the
wind;
It pervades all directions.

Sandalwood, tagara, jasmine, and lotus,
Among these perfumes the fragrance of virtue is
unbounded.

Faint is this fragrance of tagara and sandalwood,
But the scent of the virtuous one blows supreme;
It wafts even among the gods.

Māra does not find the tracks of those
Consummate in virtue,
Who dwell in vigilance,
And are freed by perfect knowledge.

Just as from a rubbish heap on the roadside,
A lotus flower, so pure of smell and pleasing to the
mind, can grow;

So in the midst of the rubbish heap of blind,
ordinary people,
A disciple of the Fully Awakened One shines
radiantly with wisdom.

© 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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