Page 15 of 19

[1]

306.
The liar reaches hell, and he who says
He did not what he did;
Both are the same hereafter, men of crooked ways.

307.
And many a one the yellow gown who wears,
Wicked and uncontrolled,
By reason of his evil deeds in hell appears.

308.
Better for him who lives unworthily
A red-hot ball to swallow,
Than eat the food the country gives in charity.

309.
Four states of ill to reckless men I tell
Who seek the wives of others—
Ill-luck, a restless bed, an evil name and hell.

310.
Ill-luck, the Evil Way, short-lived delight
Of fearful man with timid woman spent,
And from the king a grievous punishment—
Let these four evils all adulterers affright.

311.
Just as a blade of grass not handled well
Will cut the hand that grasps,
So doth the ascetic's life ill-handled lead to hell.

312.
Deeds done with sluggishness, the broken vow,
The saintly life befouled—
Such evil deeds as these small recompense bestow.

313.
Act thou with energy, if act thou must:
The careless mendicant
Doth but stir up a denser cloud of passion's dust.

314.
Leave evil deeds which afterwards bring pain;
Better to do the good;
For when 'tis done that deed no sorrow brings again.

315.
Just as a frontier town that's guarded well,
Which ramparts well defend on every side,
So guard thyself, let not a moment slide;
Time-wasters suffer sorrow when consigned to hell.

316.
They who feel shame, where shame there should be none,
Shameless, where shame should be,
Embracing doctrines false, down the Ill Path have gone.

317.
They who feel fear, where fear there should be none,
Fearless, when they should fear,
Embracing doctrines false, down the Ill Path have gone.

318.
They who see sin, where sin there can be none,
Who see no harm in sin,
Embracing doctrines false, down the Ill Path have gone.

319. They who know sin as sin, and right as right,
Embracing doctrines true,
Those beings enter on the Path of True Delight.

---

---

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

THE ELEPHANT.

320.
As an elephant in battle bears the arrows at him hurled,
I must bear men's bitter tongues, for very evil is the world.

321.
Tamed, they lead him into battle; tamed, the king his back ascends;
Tamed is he the best of beings, whom no bitter speech offends.

322.
Good are well-tamed mules, and good are Scindian steeds of lineage famed;
Good indeed the mighty tusker; best of all the man self-tamed.

323.
Yet such mounts can nought avail us, cannot be Nibbna's guide;
We can only reach The Pathless[1] on the self-tamed self astride.

324.
With the must from temples streaming, mighty Dhanaplako[2]
Captive, tastes no food, but longeth to the Nga-grove to go.

325.
Sluggish, gluttonous and sleepy, wallowing idly to and fro,
Like a huge and grain-fed hog, a fool again to birth must go.

326.
Once this mind roamed as it listed, as it pleaded a-wandering went.
As the holder of the ankus checks the furious elephant,
Now with wisdom I'll restrain it, guide it wholly to my bent.

327.
Take delight in earnestness; watch thy thoughts and never tire;
Lift thee from the Path of Evil, like the tusker sunk in mire.

328.
Hast thou found a fellow-traveller, upright, firm, intelligent?[3]
Leaving all thy cares behind thee, gladly walk with him intent.

329.
Hast thou found no fellow-traveller, upright, firm, intelligent?
As a king deserts his borders, by the enemy pursued,
Like the tusker in the forest, go thy way in solitude.

330.
Better is the lonely life, for fools companions cannot be;
Live alone and do no evil, live alone with scanty needs,
Lonely, as the mighty tusker in the forest lonely feeds.

331.
Sweet are friends when need ariseth, sweet is joy whate'er it be;
Sweet the blessing of life's ending, sweet to be from sorrow free.

332.
Sweet it is to be a mother, sweet the lot of fatherhood,
Sweet the life of holy hermits, sweet the life of Brhmans good.

333.
Sweet is growing old in goodness, sweet is faith established,
Sweet to gain the prize of wisdom when desire for sin is dead.

---