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146.
Laugh ye, rejoice ye, when this world is burning?
O wrapped in darkness, will ye not seek light?
147.
Behold this body decked, a mass of sores,
Sickly and swayed by multitudinous thoughts.
Impermanent, unstable, uncomposed!
148.
Poor worn-out carcase, home of sicknesses,
Fragile, corrupting mass, mere life in death!
149.
What joy to look upon these bleached bones,
Like useless gourds in autumn thrown aside!—
150.
A township built of bones and plastered o'er
With flesh and blood, the home and dwelling-place
Of age and death, pride and hypocrisy!
151.
Just as a royal chariot gaily decked
Falls to decay, so grows this body old;
But Truth and Norm old age cannot assail,
The holy ones indeed know no decay.
152.
Just like an ox, the witless man grows old;
His flesh grows, but his wits do not increase.
153-4.
Thro' many a round of birth and death I ran,
Nor found the builder that I sought. Life's stream
Is birth and death and birth, with sorrow filled.
Now, housebuilder, thou'rt seen! No more shalt build!
Broken are all thy rafters, split thy beam!
All that made up this mortal self is gone;
Mind hath slain craving; I have crossed the stream![1]
155.
They who in youth have never trod the way
Of righteousness, nor garnered wisdom's store.
Like herons in a fishless pool decay.
156.
They who in youth have never trod the way
Of righteousness, nor garnered wisdom's store.
Like broken bows, lie weeping their lost day.
[1] The triumphant words of the Buddha, when at last He attained enlightenment, Nibbna, beneath the Bo-tree.
157.
Hast thou regard for self? Then keep thyself well guarded.
Be wise and keep good watch for one of the three watches.[1]
158.
First ground thyself in fitness; next, another teach.
Thus shalt thou wisdom gain and suffer no reproach.
159.
First carry out thyself whate'er thou teachest others.
Self-tamed, thou'lt tame another; but self is hard to tame.
160.
Self is the lord of self; who else could be the lord?
By taming self one gains a lord most hard to gain.
161.
The evil done by self, self-born and self-begotten,
Crushes the senseless fool, as a bolt the jar of stone.[2]
162.
He who is choked by sins, as a creeper chokes a tree,
Doth to himself what e'en his foes would have him do.
163.
Easy is ill to do and harmful to oneself;
But what is good and wholesome, that is hard to do.
164.
Whose rejects the words of noble righteous saints
On his own head brings ruin by his perversity,
As bamboo trees put forth their fruit and die away.
165.
By self is evil done; by self is one defiled;
Ill deeds not done by self to self bring purity;
Each for himself is pure; each for himself impure;
Thou can'st not cleanse another man's impurity.
166.
Mind thy affairs, not others', however great they be;[3]
Right knowledge of one's own brings more prosperity.
[1] The night is divided into three watches of three hours each. Some regard this passage as referring to childhood, youth and age.
[2] This may be translated, "as a diamond crushes the stony gem".
[3] Cf. Bhagavad Gt: "Better one's own dharma, however ill-performed, than others' dharma, well-performed tho' it be."
167.
Follow not the way unworthy;
Live not thou in slothfulness;
Let not doctrines false allure thee;
Turn thy thoughts from worldliness.
168-9.
Stand! Arise! Throw sloth away;
Follow the path of righteousness;
Happy he who walks aright,
Here and in the world to come.
170.
As a bubble on the water,
As a phantom of the sands,
Him who thus the world despiseth,
Death the king[1] cannot behold.
171.
Lo! this world in all its splendour,
Like a royal car adorned,
Wherein many a fool is seated,[2]
Hath no power to bind the wise.
172.
He who formerly was slothful,
But is slothful now no more,
Lighteth up the world with splendour,
As the moon from clouds released.
173.
He who, having once done evil,
Covers up his ill with good,
Lighteth up the world with splendour,
As the moon from clouds released.
174.
All this world is wrapped in darkness;
Few be they that are not blind;
Like the birds that 'scape the fowler,
Few be they that go to heaven.
175.
Lo! the swans fly on the sun's path,[3]
Fly by magic through the air;
Wise men from the world departing
Conquer Death and all his hosts.
176.
He who by false words transgressing
Breaks one tittle of the Norm;[4]
He who future life renounceth
Every wicked deed will do.
177.
Those who covet reach not heaven;
Fools care not for charity;
He who charity approveth
Reacheth heavenly joy thereby.
178.
Rule on earth and joy in heaven,
Sovreignty of all the worlds—
These are all by him transcended
Who hath entered on the stream.[5]
