Menu
1. Perceived by perception are mental states,
For them is perception supreme,
From perception have they sprung.
If, with perception polluted, one speaks or acts,
Thence suffering follows
As a wheel the draught ox’s foot.
2. Preceded by perception are mental states,
For them is perception supreme,
From perception have they sprung.
If, with tranquil perception, one speaks or acts,
Thence ease follows
As a shadow that never departs.
3. “He reviled me! He struck me!
He defeated me! He robbed me!”
They who gird themselves up with this,
For them enmity is not quelled.
4. “He reviled me! He struck me!
He defeated me! He robbed me!”
They who do not gird themselves up with this,
For them is enmity quelled.
5. Not by enmity are enmities quelled,
Whatever the occasion here.
By the absence of enmity are they quelled.
This is an ancient truth.
6. Others do not realise
“We here are struggling.”
Those who realise this – for them
Are quarrels therefore quelled.
7. Whoever dwells seeing the pleasurable, in senses unrestrained.
Immoderate in food, indolent, inferior of enterprise,
Over him, indeed, Mara prevails,
Like the wind over a weak tree.
8. Whoever dwells seeing the non-pleasurable, in senses well restrained,
And moderate in food, faithful, resolute in enterprise,
Over him, indeed, Mara prevails not,
Like the wind over a rocky crag.
9. One not free of defilements,
Who will don a yellow robe,
That one, devoid of control and truth,
Is not worthy of a yellow robe.
10. But one who, well placed in virtues,
Would be with defilements ejected,
Endowed with control and truth,
That one is worthy of a yellow robe.
11. Those who consider the non-essential as the essential,
And see the essential as the non-essential,
They do not attain the essential,
Being in the pastures of improper intentions.
12. Having known the essential as the essential,
And the superficial as the superficial,
They attain the essential
Who are in the pastures of proper intentions.
13. As rain penetrates
The poorly thatched dwelling,
So passion penetrates
The untended mind.
14. As rain does not penetrate
The well-thatched dwelling,
So passion does not penetrate
The well-tended mind.
15. Here he grieves; having passed away he grieves;
In both places the wrongdoer grieves.
He grieves; he is afflicted,
Having seen the stain of his own action.
16. Here he rejoices; having passed away he rejoices.
In both places he who has done wholesome deeds rejoices.
He rejoices; he is delighted,
Having seen the purity of his own action.
17. Here he is tormented; having passed away he is tormented.
In both places the wrongdoer is tormented.
He is tormented, thinking, “I have done wrong.”
Gone to a state of woe, he is tormented all the more.
18. Here he rejoices; having passed away he rejoices.
In both places he who has done wholesome deeds rejoices.
He rejoices, thinking, “I have done wholesome deeds.”
Gone to a state of weal, he rejoices all the more.
19. If one, though reciting much of texts,
Is not a doer thereof, a heedless man;
He, like a cowherd counting others’ cows,
Is not a partaker in the religious quest.
20. If one, though reciting little of texts,
Lives a life in accord with dhamma,
Having discarded passion, ill will, and unawareness,
Knowing full well, the mind well freed,
He, not grasping here, neither hereafter,
Is a partaker of the religious quest.