The East: Confucianism Taoism Buddhism
The West: Stoicism Epicureanism Christianity
The East: Confucianism
Taoism Buddhism
The West: Stoicism
Epicureanism Christianity
BOOKS 1-9 BOOKS 10-18 BOOKS 19-26
XIX: THE RIGHTEOUS
256, 257. Hasty judgment shows no man just. He is called just who discriminates between right and wrong, who judges others not hastily, but with righteous and calm judgment, a wise guardian of the law.
258. Neither is a man wise by much speaking: he is called wise who is forgiving, kindly, and fearless.
259. A man is not a pillar of the law for his much speaking: he who has heard only part of the law and keeps it indeed, he is a pillar of the law and does not slight it.
260. No man is made an "elder" by his grey locks; mere old age is called empty old age.
261. He is called "elder" in whom dwell truth and righteousness, harmlessness and self-control and self-mastery, who is without taint and wise.
262. Not by mere eloquence or comeliness is a man a "gentleman," who is lustful, a miser, and a knave.
263. But he in whom these faults are uprooted and done away, the wise and pure is called a gentleman.
264. Not by his shaven crown is one made a "religious" who is intemperate and dishonourable. How can he be a "religious" who is full of lust and greed?
265. He who puts off entirely great sins and small faults—by such true religion is a man called "religious."
266. Not merely by the mendicant life is a man known as a mendicant: he is not a mendicant because he follows the law of the flesh;
267. But because, being above good and evil, he leads a pure life and goes circumspectly.
268, 269. Not by silence (mona) is a man a sage (muni) if he be ignorant and foolish: he who holds as it were the balance, taking the good and rejecting the bad, he is the sage: he who is sage for both worlds, he is the true sage.
270. A man is no warrior who worries living things: by not worrying is a man called warrior.
271, 272. Not only by discipline and vows, not only by much learning, nor by meditation nor by solitude have I won to that peace which no worldling knows. Rest not content with these, O Bhikkhus, until you have reached the destruction of all taints.
XX: THE PATH
Happiness is for Gautama, as for Aristotle, "the bloom upon virtue." The path which leads to the Supreme Bliss is the path of morality defined as the Noble Eightfold Path. If a man follow this, he is happy here and hereafter.
It consists of:
This is described by Gautama as a Middle Path between the extreme of sensuality on the one hand and asceticism on the other; or between superstitious credulity and sceptical materialism. It is a truly noble ideal: yet one must never forget that "Righteousness" throughout is Buddhistically defined: e.g. "Right Views" means a correct grasp of the Buddhist teaching that all is transient, all is sorrowful, all is unreal. Again, "Right Contemplation" is the practice of Samādhi, concentration of the mind upon Buddhist ideas, such as the above. The highest "Livelihood," again, is to live upon the alms of the faithful.
273. Best of paths is the Eightfold; the four truths are the best of truths: purity is the best state; best of men is the seer.
274. This is the way; there is none other that leads to the seeing of Purity (Nirvāna.) Do you follow this path: that is to befool Mara.
275. Travelling by this way you'll end your grief: it is the way I preached when I learnt to throw off my bonds.
276. ’Tis you who must strive: the Blessed Ones are only preachers. They who strive and meditate are freed from Mara's bonds.
277. "All is passing": when one sees and realises this, he sits loose to this world of sorrow: this is the way of purity.
278. "All is sorrow": when one sees and realises this, he sits loose to this world of sorrow; this is the way of purity.
279. "All is unreal": when one sees and realises this, he sits loose to this world of sorrow this is the way of purity.
280. He who fails to strive when ’tis time to strive, young and strong though he be, slothful and enmeshed in lust, the sluggard, never finds the path to wisdom.
281. Whoso guards his tongue and controls his mind and does nothing wrong: keeping clear these three paths, he will achieve the way shown by the wise.
282. From meditation springs wisdom; from neglect of it the loss of wisdom. Knowing this path of progress and decline, choose the way that leads to growth of wisdom.
283. Cut down the jungle (I do not mean with an axe!). For from the jungle of lust springs fear, and if you cut it down, you will be disentangled, O Bhikkhus!
284. Whilst the entanglement of a man with a woman is not utterly cut away, he is in bondage, running to her as a sucking calf to the cow.
285. Pluck out the bond of self as one pulls up an autumn lotus. Forge thy way along the path of safety, Nirvāna, shown by the Blessed.
286. "Here will I pass the wet season; here the winter and summer," thinks the fool, unmindful of what may befall.
287. Then comes Death and sweeps him away infatuated with children and cattle, and entangled with this world's goods, as a flood carries off a sleeping village.
288. There is no safety in sons, or in father, or in kinsfolk when Death overshadows thee: amongst thine own kith and kin is no refuge:
289. Knowing this clearly, the wise and righteous man straightway clears the road that leads to Nirvāna.
XXI: MISCELLANY
290. If at the cost of a little joy one sees great joy, he who is wise will look to the greater and leave the less.
291. Whoso seeks his own pleasure by another's pain, is entangled in hate and cannot get free.
292. Duty neglected; evil done: the taints of the proud and slothful wax ever more and more.
293. But those who are ever pondering the nature of the body, who run not after evil, who are constant in duty—in these, the vigilant and wise, taints come utterly to an end.
294. Having destroyed Mother and Father and two noble Kings, with the whole Kingdom and its Vizier, innocent goes the Brahmin!
295. Innocent goes the Brahmin having destroyed Mother and Father and two Brahmin Kings, and the five Roads and their fierce guardians.
296. The followers of Gautama are evervigilant; their thought day and night is set upon Buddha.
297-301. The followers of Gautama are ever vigilant; day and night is their thought set upon the Dhamma, the Sangha, the body, compassion (not harming), mind-culture.
302. Hard it is to leave home as a recluse! hard also to live at home as a householder; hard is the community life; the lot of the wanderer in the world is also hard.
303. The faithful, upright man is endowed with (the true) fame and wealth, and is honoured wherever he goes.
304. Far off are seen the Holy Ones, like the Himālayas: the unholy pass unseen as arrows shot in the darkness.
305. Alone when eating, alone when sleeping, alone when walking, let a man strongly control himself and take his pleasure in the forest glade.
XXII: HELL
306. The liar goes to hell, and the villain who denies his crime; these mean ones are alike in the world beyond.
307. Though clad in yellow robe, the man of many sins who is uncontrolled is born in hell: the sinner is punished by his sin.
308. Better to swallow a ball of red-hot iron than to live uncontrolled upon the bounty of the faithful.
309. Four evil consequences follow the sluggard and the adulterer: retribution, broken slumber, an evil name, and in the end hell.
310. That way lie retribution and an evil character, the short-lived joy of trembling sinners, and a heavy penalty from the ruler. Therefore run not after thy neighbour's wife.
311. As pampas-grass clumsily handled cuts the hand, so is the community life: abused, it brings a man to hell.
312. All duties carelessly performed; all vows slightingly observed; the recluse life that is open to suspicion—these bear no great fruit.
313. If a duty is to be done, do it with thy might: a careless recluse scatters contagion broadcast.
314. Better leave undone a bad deed; one day the doer will lament: good it is to do the good deed which brings no remorse.
315. As a fortress guarded within and without, so guard thyself. Leave no loophole for attack! They who fail at their post mourn here, and hereafter go to hell.
316. Some are ashamed at what is not shameful, and blush not at deeds of shame: these perverse ones go to hell.
317. They who see fear where there is no fear, and tremble not at fearful things: these perverse ones go to hell.
318. They who think evil where there is no evil, and make light of grievous sin: these perverse ones go to hell.
319. But whoso calls sin sin, and innocence innocence: these right-minded ones go to happiness.
XXIII: THE ELEPHANT
The elephant is the symbol in Buddhism of endurance and solitary strength.
320. I will endure abuse as the elephant endures the arrow in the battle: evil is the crowd.
321. Men lead the tamed elephant into battle; upon his back the king rides: he who is tamed and endures abuse patiently is praised of men.
322. Noble are the tamed mules; noble the blood-horses of Sindh, and the great elephants of war: better is he who has tamed himself.
323. Not by bridling them will one journey to the unknown shore (Nirvāna), but by bridling himself.
324. Dhānapālako, the great elephant, is hard to control in the time of rut: he will not taste his food in captivity, but longs after the elephant-grove.
325. If one becomes a sluggard or a glutton, rolling over in gross sleep like a stall-fed hog, again and again does he come to the womb, the foolish one!
326. This mind of mine would wander in days of old whither desire and lust and caprice led it: now will I control it as a mahout controls the elephant in rut.
327. Be ye zealous: guard your thoughts. As an elephant sunk in the mud extricate yourselves from the clutches of evil.
328. If you can find a dutiful friend to go with you, a righteous and prudent man not caring for hardships, go with him deliberately.
329. If you cannot find such a one, travel alone as a king leaving a conquered realm, or as the elephant in the jungle.
330. It is better to be alone; there is no companionship with a fool: travel alone and sin not, forgetting care as the elephant in the jungle.
331. Good are companions in time of need; contentment with thy lot is good; at the hour of death, merit is a good friend, and good is the leaving of all sorrow.
332. Good is reverence for mother and father: good, too, reverence for recluses and sages.
333. Good is lifelong righteousness; and rooted faith is good: good is the getting of wisdom, and good the avoiding of sin.
XXIV: DESIRE
Tanhā (desire) is defined as the hankering after pleasure, or existence, or success (or all three). (Mahavagga xvi. 20.) It is the germ from which springs all human misery: birth, old age, and suffering. To be rid of Tanhā is to be free of pain, to pass into the Beyond, the painless dream-world of Nirvāna.
334. As the "maluwa" creeper, so spreads the desire of the sluggard. From birth to birth he leaps like a monkey seeking fruit.
335. Whoso is subdued by this sordid clinging desire, his sorrows wax more and more, like "birana" grass after rain.
336. But his sorrows drop off like water from the lotus leaf, who subdues this sordid, powerful desire.
337. I give you this good counsel, all ye who are gathered here: cut out desire as one digs up the grass to find the fragrant root. Let not Mara break you again and again as the river breaks the rushes.
338. A tree, though it be cut down, yet springs up again, if its roots are safe and firm: thus sorrow, if it be not uprooted, springs repeatedly to birth.
339. If man's desires flow unchecked, the waves of his lust and craving bear him off—misguided one!
340. Everywhere flow the streams; everywhere the creeper sprouts and takes hold. If thou seest this creeper growing, be wise! pluck it out by the roots.
341. Men hug delights; they foster some pet sin, hankering after which they suffer birth and old age.
342. Dogged by lust, men double like a hunted hare. Fast bound in its fetters, they go through long ages to misery.
343. Dogged by lust, they double like a hunted hare. Throw off thy lust, O Bhikkhu, if thou wouldst be free.
344. Whoso has left the tangle of home-life for the solitude of the jungle, and goes back to it, regard him thus: "Lo, one who was freed, and ran back to his chains."
345. Iron and wood and hemp—these sages call not heavy bonds, but rather love of bejewelled women, and the care for children and wives.
346. This is a heavy bond indeed: light though it seem, it drags men down, and is not easily cut off. Yet some there are who cut even this asunder, and leave behind them pleasure and lust, with no backward glance.
347. Some again there are who fall into the meshes of their own lust as the spider falling into her own net: even this the wise cut through, leaving sorrow behind, with no backward glance.
348. Lay aside past, future, and present, escaping the world: wholly freed in mind, thou shalt not again return to birth and old age.
349. Desire waxes great in him who is oppressed by wandering thoughts, fired with lust and seeking after pleasure. So doth he make his fetters strong.
350. Whoso delights in calming his thoughts and looks askance at the things of sense, will thus come to an end, and cut the bonds of Mara.
351. This will be his last body, who has reached the goal, who is fearless, detached, and un-blameable: who has pulled out the rivets of existence.
352. He who is detached and not grasping, a clever student of the law and its meaning, knowing the words and their order, he is called the enlightened; this is his last birth.
353. "All conquering and all knowing am I, detached, untainted, untrammelled, wholly freed by destruction of desire. Whom shall I call Teacher? Myself found the way."
354. The gift of the Law surpasses every gift; the savour of the Law surpasses every savour; the pleasure of the Law surpasses every pleasure. The destruction of desire conquers all sorrow.
355. Wealth kills the fool if he look not to the Beyond: for greed of wealth fools kill each other.
356. Weeds are the bane of fields, and lust the bane of the crowd. Therefore a gift given where there is no lust bears much fruit.
357-9. Weeds are the bane of fields; wrath, infatuation, and avarice are the bane of the crowd. A gift given where there is neither wrath, nor infatuation, nor avarice bears much fruit.
XXV: THE BHIKKHU
360. Good is restraint of eye and ear: of smell and taste.
361. Good is restraint of action and of speech; restraint of mind and of every sense is good. The Bhikkhu restrained in all things casts aside every care.
362. Best amongst the temperate is he who is temperate in hand and foot and tongue: the man of inward joy and calm, him I call Bhikkhu.
363. The Bhikkhu who is temperate and moderate in speech, not puffed up, but a wise preacher and interpreter—sweet are his words!
364. He who abides in the law and takes his pleasure therein, revolving it in his mind and pondering it, he is a Bhikkhu who falls not away from the Law.
365. Let him neither make much of his own gain, nor envy that of others: the Bhikkhu who envies others attains not the true meditation.
366. Even the gods praise that Bhikkhu whose own gain is slight, yet who covets not the gain of other men, but lives pure and strenuous.
367. He who clings not to self-hood and to existence, but mourns at the vanity of this fleeting world, he is called Bhikkhu.
368. The Bhikkhu who lives kindly and trusts in Buddha's Teaching he approaches Nirvāna, the calm and blissful end of rebirth.
369. Bale out the ship, O Bhikkhu, then will it go lightly; cut the thongs of lust and hate; so wilt thou come to Nirvāna.
370. Cut the five bonds, leave other five, and take in their place five more: he who has got beyond the five evil states is said to have crossed the flood.
371. Keep vigil, O Bhikkhu, be not slothful, let not your mind dally with delights: suffer not the pangs of hell, and wail not as the flames devour you, "O day of woe"!
372. There is no meditation apart from wisdom; there is no wisdom apart from meditation. Those in whom wisdom and meditation meet are not far from Nirvāna.
373. Divine pleasure is his who enters into solitude, the Bhikkhu who is calmed and sees the law with the seeing eye:
374. Whenever he ponders the beginning and the end of the elements of being, he finds joy and bliss; nectar it is to those who know.
375. This is the beginning in my teaching for a wise Bhikkhu; self-mastery, contentment, and control by the precepts: to cultivate those who are noble, righteous, and zealous friends;
376. To be hospitable and courteous, this is to be glad and to make an end of sorrow.
377. As jasmine sheds its withered blossoms so, O Bhikkhus, do you put away lust and hatred.
378. He who is controlled in act, in speech, in thought, and altogether calmed, having purged away worldliness, that Bhikkhu is called calm.
379. Come, rouse thyself! Examine thine own heart. The Bhikkhu who is thus self-guarded and mindful will live in happiness.
380. Each man is his own helper, each his own host; therefore curb thyself as the merchant curbs a spirited horse.
381. The glad Bhikkhu who puts his trust in Buddha's Preaching goes to Nirvāna, calm and blissful end of rebirth.
382. Let the young Bhikkhu apply himself to Buddha's Preaching: so will he light up the world as the moon escaped from the clouds.
XXVI: THE BRAHMIN
383. Play the man and stem the flood of passion! Cast off your lusts, O Brahmin; having known the ending of the perishable, thou knowest the imperishable, O Brahmin.
384. When the Brahmin has travelled the twofold path of meditation, then indeed his chains fall off him, for he knows the truth.
385. Him I call the Brahmin whom desire assails not from within nor from without, in whom is no fear, he is indeed free.
386. Him I call Brahmin who is meditative, clean of heart, solitary, who has done his duty and got rid of taints, who has reached the goal of effort.
387. The sun shines by day, the moon lights up the night; radiant is the soldier in his panoply, radiant the Brahmin in his meditation; but the Buddha in his brightness is radiant day and night.
388. By Brahmin mean one who has put away evil; for his serenity is a man called Samano; for excluding his own sin is a man called recluse.
389. Do no evil to a Brahmin; let not the Brahmin return evil for evil. Woe to him who kills a Brahmin; yea, rather, woe to that Brahmin who loses his temper!
390. It is no slight benefit to a Brahmin when he learns to hold his impulses in check; from whatever motive evil temper is controlled, by that control grief is truly soothed.
391. By whomsoever no evil is done in deed, or word, or thought, him I call a Brahmin who is guarded in these three.
392. As the Brahmin honours the burnt-sacrifice, so do thou honour him, from whomsoever is learnt the law of the true Buddha.
393. Not by matted locks, nor by lineage, nor by caste is one a Brahmin; he is the Brahmin in whom are truth and righteousness and purity.
394. What boots your tangled hair, O fool, what avails your garment of skins? You have adorned the outer parts, within you are full of uncleanness.
395. A man clothed in cast-off rags, lean, with knotted veins, meditating alone in the forest, him I call a Brahmin.
396. Not him do I call Brahmin who is merely born of a Brahmin mother; men may give him salutation as a Brahmin, though he be not detached from the world: but him I call a Brahmin who has attachment to nothing.
397. Him I call a Brahmin who has cut the bonds, who does not thirst for pleasures, who has left behind the hindrances.
398. Whoso has cut the cable, and the rope and the chain with all its links, and has pushed aside the bolt, this wise one I call a Brahmin.
399. Whoever bears patiently abuse and injury and imprisonment, whose bodyguard is fortitude, he is the Brahmin.
400. He is the Brahmin who does not give way to anger, who is careful of religious duties, who is upright, pure, and controlled, who has reached his last birth.
401. He who clings not to pleasures as water clings not to the lotus leaf, nor mustard-seed to the needle-point, him I call Brahmin.
402. He is the Brahmin who in this very world knows the end of sorrow, who has laid the burden aside and is free.
403. Whoso is wise with deep wisdom, seeing the right way and the wrong, and has reached the goal, him I call Brahmin.
404. He is the Brahmin who is not entangled either with householders or with recluses, who has no home and few wants.
405. He who lays down the rod, who neither kills, nor causes the death of creatures, moving or fixed, he is the Brahmin.
406. Not opposing those who oppose, calm amidst the fighters, not grasping amidst men who grasp, he is the Brahmin.
407. He is the Brahmin from whom anger, and hatred, and pride, and slander have dropped away, as the mustard-seed from the needlepoint.
408. If one were to preach gentle, and instructive, and truthful words by which no man is offended, he is the Brahmin.
409. Whoso takes nothing small or great, good or bad, unless it be given him, he is the Brahmin.
410. In whom are found no longings, who is free and detached from this world and the next, he is the Brahmin.
411. Him I call a Brahmin in whom lust is not found, who has cast off doubt, who knows the path that leads to Nirvāna (the deathless state) and reaches it.
412. Who in this life has passed from the grip of either merit or demerit, free of sorrow, cleansed and purified, him I call Brahmin.
413. Who is clear as the moon, pure, and limpid, and serene, who has quenched his thirst for life;
414. Who has passed through this impassable quagmire of rebirth, and infatuation, has waded through it and got beyond it, who is meditative and supplies no fuel to the fires of lust and doubt, him I call a Brahmin.
415. Who in this life, deserting his lusts, goes from home into solitude, and has quenched lust, and with it the desire to be reborn;
416. Who in this life deserts craving, and goes from home into solitude, who has quenched craving, and with it the desire to be reborn, him I call Brahmin.
417. Who has left behind him human pleasures and passed beyond heavenly ones, and is freed from all entanglement of delight;
418. Who has left aside both gusto and disgust, who is cooled and has in him no spark of rebirth, victor in all worlds, and hero, him I call Brahmin.
419. He is the Brahmin who fully knows the perishing of living things and their uprising, who is detached and happy and wise.
420. He is the Brahmin whose way is not known to gods, nor heavenly minstrels, nor immortals; the Arahat pure of all taint, him I call the Brahmin.
421. Whoso has nothing left, of past or future or present states, who is poor and grasps at nothing, him I call Brahmin.
422. The Leader Supreme, the heroic, the great Rishi, the Victor without lust and purified, the Buddha, he is the Brahmin.
423. He is the Brahmin indeed who knows his former lives, and who knows heaven and hell, who has reached the end of births, the sage whose knowledge is perfect, and who is perfect with all perfection.
BOOKS 1-9 BOOKS 10-18 BOOKS 19-26
a project of John Trapp
