Just as a fine thoroughbred steed…
]]>… as a fragile bridge of reeds…
]]>The rain falls and the wind blows…
]]>Crested peacocks…
]]>birth to even more goodness…
]]>Oh so well was the goad
shown to me by my mother…
A monk celebrates the wise women in his life.
]]>I’ve entered the path to realize freedom from death
]]>One who gets drowsy from overeating
]]>In the past my mind wandered how it wished…
]]>What is this hullabaloo to you?
A fun, simple poem to learn in the original Pāḷi.
]]>I stepped up on the path for walking meditation…
]]>one accomplished in vision is a disciple of the Buddha.
]]>It smashes the mechanism of deeds,
And drops the thunderbolt of knowledge
On the taking up of consciousnesses.
A poem extolling the virtues of the Noble Eightfold Path.
]]>I’ll stay in the grove.
]]>The well-behaved have many friends,
because of their self-restraint.
But one lacking ethics, of bad conduct,
drives away their friends.
]]>Ethical conduct is the starting point and foundation;
the mother at the head
of all good things:
that’s why you should purify your ethics.
A wise person would not be too sure of themselves,
Until they have attained the end…
Again & again farmers plow the fields.
Again & again grain comes to the kingdom.
The Buddha is invited to return home after his enlightenment.
]]>A newly ordained monk who entered the Buddha’s path out of faith, abandoning the home life, should live in the midst of monks. He should learn the code of conduct well.
]]>I shall extol the giant for you,
for he does nothing monstrous.
Gentleness and harmlessness
are two feet of the giant.
I was drunk with the pride of birth…
]]>Sāriputta, see this
young boy coming,
carrying a water pot,
serene inside himself…
Like they’re struck by a sword…
]]>Sensual pleasures are suffering, Eraka!
]]>They get a good reputation and grow in fame,
those who develop the direct route
I used to break off reed grass with my hands and make my hut…
]]>the lazy frogs croak:
“Today isn’t the time to stray from mountain streams”
…the River Ajakaraṇī delights me
These rocky crags delight me!
Read together with Thag 1.113.
]]>Even if a thousand mighty princes and great archers,
well trained, with strong bows,
were to completely surround me;
I would never flee.
The early Saṅgha’s foremost poet praises the Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha and rouses us to practice.
]]>… someone with a mind of love…
]]>See this fancy puppet,
a body built of sores…
Some of the most clever turns of image in Pāli poetry.
]]>I have been aware of loving-kindness,
limitless and well-developed
the fool shut in on every side,
gets carried away by a voice.
Transmigrating, I went to hell…
]]>Oh, when will I stay in a mountain cave,
alone, with no companion,
discerning all states of existence as impermanent?
]]>Oh, when will I rise up,
intent on attaining freedom from death,
hearing, in the mountain cave, the cry of the crested peacock in the forest?
I’m not afraid
of danger
of fear
Sopāka, let this
be your ordination.
The lion’s roar of a seven-year-old Arahant.
]]>In the future
many dangers will arise in the world.
Idiots will defile
the Dhamma that was taught so well.
A prophetic poem about the decline of the sāsana.
]]>When a person lives heedlessly,
craving grows in them…
Some people almost faint trying to climb up the mountain where I live.
A prose translation of Arahant Mahā Kassapa’s verses in praise of his auster home, Gurpa Hill.
]]>When you get angry at an angry person
you just make things worse for yourself.
Hey, mind! Now I will stop you
]]>Whoever has no respect
for their spiritual companions…
I will not perish
]]>A monkey went up to the little hut
A canonical basis for the ubiquitous “monkey mind” metaphor.
]]>doing his manly duties,
[he] won’t fall away
from ease.
A short poem on arousing energy in the practice.
]]>