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[3] These three dicta are the essence of the Buddha's teaching.
[4] The second, third and fourth steps of the Path.
[5] 'desire', viz.: 'nibban hotha, 'be ye free from the jungle (or forest) of desire (nir-van, a pun on the word nirva), cf. v.344, vanamutto'.
[6] Cf. V. 47.
290.
If in giving up slight pleasure
Thou a greater bliss discern,
Leave the lesser gain and wisely
To the greater profit turn.
291.
He who causeth pain to others,
Seeking his own selfish bliss,
By the bonds of hate encumbered
Hatred never can dismiss.
292. Those who disregard their duty,[1]
Doing what should not be done,
Insolent and negligent in evil-doing
More and more corrupt become.
293.
They who mounting guard on body,
Ceaseless watch and ward preserve;
They who others' things neglecting,
From their duty never swerve;
They who, self-controlled, aspire,
Concentrate in every nerve,
Reach destruction of desire.
294.
Slaying father, slaying mother,
With two kings of warrior fame,
And a realm with all its subjects,[2]
Brhmana's go free from blame.
295.
Slaying father, slaying mother,
With two kings of saintly name,
And a fifth pre-eminent,[3]
Brhmana's go free from blame.
296.
They who, watchful night and day,
On the Buddha meditate,
Are followers of Gotama.
297.
They who watchful night and day,
On the Dhamma meditate,
Are followers of Gotama.
298.
They who, watchful night and day,
On the Sangha meditate,
Are followers of Gotama.
299.
They who, watchful night and day,
On the body meditate,
Are followers of Gotama.
300.
They who, watchful night and day,
Take delight in harmlessness,
Are followers of Gotama.
301.
They who, watchful night and day,
Take delight in ecstasy,
Are followers of Gotama.
302.
O 'tis hard to give the world up,
Yet the lonely life is hard;
Painful 'tis to dwell in houses
With the uncongenial;
Painful travelling to and fro;
Cease to be a traveller.[4]
Cease to be beset with pain!
303.
Faithful and of good repute,
Full of honour and renown,
He is reverenced and honoured,
Whereso'er he choose to dwell.
304.
Holy saints are far-resplendent
Like the peaks Himalayan;
Like the shaft that flies in darkness,
Wicked men are never seen.
305.
Lonely sitting, lying lonely,
Act alone and strenuous;
Taming self alone, rejoice thee
In the ending of desire.
[1] Kiccam "minding one's own business."
[2] The Brahmins used to claim that a "twice-born" saint was blameless, whatever his bodiless actions might be. The Buddha here speaks mystically. Father is ignorance, Mother is craving; the two kings are the great heresies of non-causation and nihilism. The Kingdom and its subjects are the six organs of sense (mind being the sixth); and the six objects of sense (form, sound, sight, smell, taste, thoughts), conquest of all these brings liberation from embodied existence.
[3] veyyaggha-pañcama, lit. 'a tiger-like man, as a fifth'. The Commentator explains this to mean the fifth of the Five Hindrances (lust, malice, sloth, pride, doubt) which beset the Path.
[4] A traveller is one who runs up and down the paths of rebirth.
