Nadīkassapa (THAG5.6)

Verses of the Senior Monks 5.6

The Book of the Fives

Chapter One

Nadīkassapa

It was truly for my benefit

that the Buddha went to the Nerañjara River.

When I heard his teaching,

I shunned wrong view.

I used to perform a diverse spectrum of sacrifices;

I served the sacred flame,

imagining, “This is purity.”

I was a blind, ordinary person.

Caught in the thicket of wrong view,

deluded by misapprehension.

Thinking impurity was purity,

I was blind and ignorant.

I’ve abandoned wrong view;

all rebirths are shattered.

I serve the fire for those worthy of a religious donation:

I bow to the Realized One.

I’ve given up all delusion;

craving for continued existence is shattered;

transmigration through births is finished;

now there’ll be no more future lives.