Sarabhaṅga (THAG7.5)

Verses of the Senior Monks 7.5

The Book of the Sevens

Chapter One

Sarabhaṅga

I broke the reeds off with my hands,

made a hut, and stayed there.

That’s how I became known

as “Reed-breaker”.

But now it’s not appropriate

for me to break reeds with my hands.

The training rules have been laid down for us

by Gotama the renowned.

Previously, I, Sarabhaṅga,

didn’t see the disease in its entirety.

But now I have seen the disease,

as I’ve practiced what was taught by he who is beyond the gods.

Gotama traveled by that direct route;

the same path traveled by Vipassī,

by Sikhī, Vessabhū,

Kakusandha, Koṇāgamana, and Kassapa.

These seven Buddhas have plunged into the ending,

free of craving, without grasping,

having become Dhamma, unaffected.

They have taught this Dhamma

out of compassion for living creatures—

suffering, origin, path,

and cessation, the ending of suffering.

In these four noble truths,

the endless suffering of transmigration

finally comes to an end.

When the body breaks up,

and life comes to an end,

there are no future lives;

I’m everywhere well freed.