All 423 verses

“Intention is the leader of things; intention is first, they’re made by intention. If with corrupt intent you speak or act, suffering follows you, like a wheel, the ox’s foot.”

Verse 1 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Intention is the leader of things; intention is first, they’re made by intention. If with pure intent you speak or act, happiness follows you like a shadow that never leaves.”

Verse 2 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

““They abused me, they hit me! They beat me, they robbed me!” For those who bear such a grudge, hatred is never laid to rest.”

Verse 3 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

““They abused me, they hit me! They beat me, they robbed me!” For those who bear no such grudge, hatred is laid to rest.”

Verse 4 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“For never is hatred laid to rest by hate, it’s laid to rest by love: this is an ancient teaching.”

Verse 5 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“When others do not understand, let us, who do understand this, restrain ourselves in this regard; for that is how conflicts are laid to rest.”

Verse 6 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Those who contemplate the beautiful, their faculties unrestrained, immoderate in eating, lazy, lacking energy: Māra strikes them down like the wind, a feeble tree.”

Verse 7 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Those who contemplate the ugly, their faculties well-restrained, eating in moderation, faithful and energetic: Māra cannot strike them down, like the wind, a rocky mountain.”

Verse 8 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One who, not free of stains themselves, would wear the robe stained in ocher, bereft of self-control and truth: they are not worthy of the ocher robe.”

Verse 9 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One who’s purged all their stains, steady in ethics, possessed of self-control and of truth, they are truly worthy of the ocher robe.”

Verse 10 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Thinking the inessential is essential, seeing the essential as inessential; they don’t realize the essential, for wrong thoughts are their habitat.”

Verse 11 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Having known the essential as essential, and the inessential as inessential; they realize the essential, for right thoughts are their habitat.”

Verse 12 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Just as rain seeps into a poorly roofed house, lust seeps into an undeveloped mind.”

Verse 13 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Just as rain doesn’t seep into a well roofed house, lust doesn’t seep into a well developed mind.”

Verse 14 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Here they grieve, hereafter they grieve, an evildoer grieves in both places. They grieve and fret, seeing their own corrupt deeds.”

Verse 15 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Here they rejoice, hereafter they rejoice, one who does good rejoices in both places. They rejoice and celebrate, seeing their own pure deeds.”

Verse 16 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Here they’re tormented, <j>hereafter they’re tormented, an evildoer is tormented in both places. They’re tormented <j>thinking of bad things they’ve done; when gone to a bad place, <j>they’re tormented all the more.”

Verse 17 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Here they delight, hereafter they delight, one who does good delights in both places. They delight thinking of good things they’ve done; when gone to a good place, they delight all the more.”

Verse 18 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Much though they may recite scripture, if a negligent person does not apply them, then, like a cowherd who counts the cattle of others, they miss out on the blessings of the ascetic life.”

Verse 19 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Little though they may recite scripture, if they live in line with the teaching, having given up greed, hate, and delusion, with deep understanding and heart well freed, not grasping to this life or the next, they share in the blessings of the ascetic life.”

Verse 20 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Heedfulness is the state free of death; heedlessness is the state of death. The heedful do not die, while the heedless are like the dead.”

Verse 21 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Understanding this distinction when it comes to heedfulness, the astute rejoice in heedfulness, happy in the noble ones’ domain.”

Verse 22 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They who regularly meditate, always staunchly vigorous; the attentive realize extinguishment, the supreme sanctuary from the yoke.”

Verse 23 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“For the hard-working and mindful, pure of deed and attentive, restrained, living righteously, and diligent, their reputation only grows.”

Verse 24 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“By hard work and diligence, by restraint and by self-control, a smart person would build an island that the floods cannot overflow.”

Verse 25 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Fools and simpletons devote themselves to negligence. But the wise protect diligence as their best treasure.”

Verse 26 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Don’t devote yourself to negligence, or delight in erotic intimacy. For if you’re diligent and meditate, you’ll attain abundant happiness.”

Verse 27 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“When the astute dispel negligence by means of diligence, ascending the palace of wisdom, sorrowless, they behold this generation of sorrow, as an attentive one on a mountain top beholds the fools below.”

Verse 28 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Heedful among the heedless, wide awake while others sleep— a true sage leaves them behind, like a swift horse passing a feeble.”

Verse 29 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Maghavā became chief of the gods by means of diligence. People praise diligence, while negligence is always deplored.”

Verse 30 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A mendicant who loves diligence, seeing fear in negligence— advances like fire, burning up fetters big and small.”

Verse 31 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A mendicant who loves diligence, seeing fear in negligence— such a one can’t decline, and has drawn near to extinguishment.”

Verse 32 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The mind quivers and quakes, hard to guard, hard to curb. The discerning straighten it out, like a fletcher an arrow.”

Verse 33 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Like a fish pulled from the sea and cast upon the shore, this mind flounders about, trying to throw off Māra’s dominion.”

Verse 34 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Hard to hold back, flighty, alighting where it will; it’s good to tame the mind; a tamed mind leads to bliss.”

Verse 35 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“So hard to see, so subtle, alighting where it will; the discerning protect the mind, a guarded mind leads to bliss.”

Verse 36 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The mind travels far, wandering alone; incorporeal, it lies hidden in the heart. Those who will restrain the mind are freed from Māra’s bonds.”

Verse 37 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Those of unsteady mind, who don’t understand the true teaching, and whose confidence wavers, do not perfect their wisdom.”

Verse 38 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One whose mind is not festering, whose heart is undamaged, who’s given up right and wrong, alert, has nothing to fear.”

Verse 39 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Knowing this body breaks like a pot, and fortifying the mind like a citadel, attack Māra with the sword of wisdom, guard your conquest, and never settle.”

Verse 40 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“All too soon this body will lie upon the earth, bereft of consciousness, tossed aside like a worthless log.”

Verse 41 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A wrongly directed mind would do you more harm than a hater to the hated, or an enemy to their foe.”

Verse 42 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A rightly directed mind would do you more good than your mother or father or any other relative.”

Verse 43 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Who bestirs this earth, and the Yama realm with its gods? Who sets out the well-taught word of truth, as an expert a flower?”

Verse 44 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A trainee bestirs this earth, and the Yama realm with its gods. A trainee sets out the well-taught word of truth, as an expert a flower.”

Verse 45 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Knowing this body’s like foam, realizing it’s all just a mirage, and cutting off Māra’s blossoming, vanish from the King of Death.”

Verse 46 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“As a mighty flood sweeps off a sleeping village, death steals away a man even as he gathers flowers, his mind caught up in them.”

Verse 47 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The terminator gains control of the man who has not had his fill of pleasures, even as he gathers flowers, his mind caught up in them.”

Verse 48 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A bee takes the nectar and moves on, doing no damage to the flower’s beauty and fragrance; and that’s how a sage should walk in the village.”

Verse 49 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Don’t find fault with others, with what they’ve done or left undone. You should only watch yourself, what you’ve done or left undone.”

Verse 50 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Just like a glorious flower that’s colorful but lacks fragrance; eloquent speech is fruitless for one who does not act on it.”

Verse 51 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Just like a glorious flower that’s both colorful and fragrant, eloquent speech is fruitful for one who acts on it.”

Verse 52 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Just as one would create many garlands from a heap of flowers, when a person has come to be born, they should do many skillful things.”

Verse 53 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The fragrance of flowers doesn’t spread upwind, nor sandalwood, pinwheel, or jasmine; but the fragrance of the good spreads upwind; a true person’s virtue spreads in every direction.”

Verse 54 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Among all the fragrances— sandalwood or pinwheel or lotus or jasmine— the fragrance of virtue is supreme.”

Verse 55 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Faint is the fragrance of sandal or pinwheel; but the fragrance of the virtuous floats to the highest gods.”

Verse 56 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“For those accomplished in ethics, meditating diligently, freed through the highest knowledge, Māra cannot find their path.”

Verse 57 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“From a heap of trash discarded on the highway, a lotus might blossom, fragrant and delightful.”

Verse 58 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“So too, among those thought of as trash, a disciple of the perfect Buddha outshines with their wisdom the blind ordinary folk.”

Verse 59 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Long is the night for the wakeful; long is the league for the weary; long transmigrate the fools who don’t understand the true teaching.”

Verse 60 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“If while wandering you find no partner equal or better than yourself, then firmly resolve to wander alone— there’s no fellowship with fools.”

Verse 61 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

““Sons are mine, wealth is mine”— thus the fool frets. For even your self is not your own, let alone your sons or wealth.”

Verse 62 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The fool who thinks they’re a fool is wise at least to that extent. But the true fool is said to be one who imagines that they are wise.”

Verse 63 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Though a fool attends to the wise even for the rest of their life, they still don’t understand the teaching, like a spoon the taste of the soup.”

Verse 64 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“If a clever person attends to the wise even just for an hour or so, they swiftly understand the teaching, like a tongue the taste of the soup.”

Verse 65 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Fools and simpletons behave like their own worst enemies, doing wicked deeds that ripen as bitter fruit.”

Verse 66 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“It’s not good to do a deed that plagues you later on, for which you weep and wail, as its effect stays with you.”

Verse 67 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“It is good to do a deed that doesn’t plague you later on, that gladdens and cheers, as its effect stays with you.”

Verse 68 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The fool imagines that evil is sweet, so long as it has not yet ripened. But as soon as that evil ripens, they fall into suffering.”

Verse 69 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Month after month a fool may eat food from a grass-blade’s tip; but they’ll never be worth a sixteenth part of one who has appraised the teaching.”

Verse 70 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“For a wicked deed that has been done does not curdle quickly like milk. Smoldering, it follows the fool, like a fire smothered over with ash.”

Verse 71 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Whatever fame a fool may get, it only gives rise to harm. Whatever good features they have it ruins, and blows their head into bits.”

Verse 72 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They’d seek the esteem that they lack, and status among the mendicants; authority over monasteries, and honor among other families.”

Verse 73 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

““Let both layfolk and renunciants think the work was done by me alone. In anything at all that’s to be done, let them fall under my sway alone.” So thinks the fool, their greed and pride only growing.”

Verse 74 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“For the means to profit and the path to quenching are two quite different things. A mendicant disciple of the Buddha, understanding what this really means, would never delight in honors, but rather would foster seclusion.”

Verse 75 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Regard one who sees your faults as a guide to a hidden treasure. Stay close to one so intelligent and astute who curbs you when you need it. Sticking close to such an impartial person, things get better, not worse.”

Verse 76 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Advise and instruct; curb wickedness: for you shall be loved by the good, and disliked by the bad.”

Verse 77 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Don’t mix with bad friends, nor with the worst of men. Mix with spiritual friends, and with the best of men.”

Verse 78 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Through joy in the teaching you sleep at ease, with clear and confident heart. An astute person always delights in the teaching proclaimed by the Noble One.”

Verse 79 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“While irrigators guide water, fletchers bend arrows straight, and carpenters bend timber straight, the astute tame themselves.”

Verse 80 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“As the wind cannot stir a solid mass of rock, so too blame and praise do not affect the wise.”

Verse 81 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Like a deep lake, clear and unclouded, so clear are the astute when they hear the teachings.”

Verse 82 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“True persons give up everything, they don’t cajole for the things they desire. Though touched by sadness or happiness, the astute appear neither depressed nor elated.”

Verse 83 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Never wish for success by unjust means, for your own sake or that of another, desiring children, wealth, or nation; rather, be virtuous, wise, and just.”

Verse 84 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Few are those among humans who cross to the far shore. The rest just run around on the near shore.”

Verse 85 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“When the teaching is well explained, the people who practice accordingly will cross over Death’s dominion so hard to pass.”

Verse 86 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Rid of dark qualities, an astute person would develop the bright. Having left home for homelessness in seclusion, where joy is hard,”

Verse 87 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“they’d long for satisfaction there. Forsaking sensual pleasures, owning nothing, an astute person would cleanse themselves of mental corruptions.”

Verse 88 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“And those whose minds are rightly developed in the awakening factors; who, letting go of attachments, delight in not grasping: with defilements ended, brilliant, they are quenched in this world.”

Verse 89 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“At journey’s end, rid of sorrow; everywhere free, all ties given up, no fever is found in them.”

Verse 90 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The mindful apply themselves; they delight in no abode. Like a swan gone from the marsh, they leave home after home behind.”

Verse 91 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Those with nothing stored up, who have understood their food, whose domain is the liberation of the signless and the empty: their path is hard to trace, like birds in the sky.”

Verse 92 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One whose defilements have ended; who’s not attached to food; whose domain is the liberation of the signless and the empty: their track is hard to trace, like birds in the sky.”

Verse 93 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Whose faculties have become serene, like horses tamed by a charioteer, who has abandoned conceit and defilements; the unaffected one is envied by even the gods.”

Verse 94 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Undisturbed like the earth, true to their vows, steady as Indra’s pillar, like a lake clear of mud; such a one does not transmigrate.”

Verse 95 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Their mind is peaceful, peaceful are their speech and deeds. Such a one is at peace, rightly freed through enlightenment.”

Verse 96 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Lacking faith, a house-breaker, one who acknowledges nothing, purged of hope, they’ve wasted their chance: that is indeed the supreme person!”

Verse 97 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Whether in village or wilderness, in a valley or the uplands, wherever the perfected ones live is a delightful place.”

Verse 98 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Delightful are the wildernesses where no people delight. Those free of greed will delight there, not those who seek sensual pleasures.”

Verse 99 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Better than a thousand meaningless sayings is a single meaningful saying, hearing which brings you peace.”

Verse 100 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Better than a thousand meaningless verses is a single meaningful verse, hearing which brings you peace.”

Verse 101 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Better than reciting a hundred meaningless verses is a single saying of Dhamma, hearing which brings you peace.”

Verse 102 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The supreme conqueror is not he who conquers a million men in battle, but he who conquers a single man: himself.”

Verse 103 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“It is surely better to conquer oneself than all those other folk. When a person has tamed themselves, always living restrained,”

Verse 104 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“no god nor centaur, nor Māra nor divinity, can undo the victory of such a personage.”

Verse 105 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Rather than a thousandfold sacrifice, every month for a full century, it’s better to honor for a single hour one who has developed themselves. That offering is better than the hundred year sacrifice.”

Verse 106 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Rather than serve the sacred flame in the forest for a hundred years, it’s better to honor for a single hour a personage who has developed themselves. That offering is better than the hundred year sacrifice.”

Verse 107 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Whatever sacrifice or offering in the world a seeker of merit may make for a year, none of it is worth a quarter of bowing to the sincere.”

Verse 108 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“For one in the habit of bowing, always honoring the elders, four blessings grow: lifespan, beauty, happiness, and strength.”

Verse 109 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Better to live a single day ethical and absorbed in meditation than to live a hundred years unethical and lacking immersion.”

Verse 110 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Better to live a single day wise and absorbed in meditation than to live a hundred years witless and lacking immersion.”

Verse 111 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Better to live a single day energetic and strong, than to live a hundred years lazy and lacking energy.”

Verse 112 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Better to live a single day seeing rise and fall than to live a hundred years blind to rise and fall.”

Verse 113 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Better to live a single day seeing the state free of death than to live a hundred years blind to the state free of death.”

Verse 114 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Better to live a single day seeing the supreme teaching than to live a hundred years blind to the supreme teaching.”

Verse 115 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Rush to do good, shield your mind from evil; for when you’re slow to do good, your thoughts delight in wickedness.”

Verse 116 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“If you do something bad, don’t do it again and again, don’t set your heart on it, for piling up evil is suffering.”

Verse 117 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“If you do something good, do it again and again, set your heart on it, for piling up goodness is joyful.”

Verse 118 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Even the wicked see good things, so long as their wickedness has not ripened. But as soon as that wickedness ripens, then the wicked see wicked things.”

Verse 119 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Even the good see wicked things, so long as their goodness has not ripened. But as soon as that goodness ripens, then the good see good things.”

Verse 120 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Think not lightly of evil, that it won’t come back to you. The pot is filled with water falling drop by drop; the fool is filled with wickedness piled up bit by bit.”

Verse 121 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Think not lightly of goodness, that it won’t come back to you. The pot is filled with water falling drop by drop; the attentive one is filled with goodness piled up bit by bit.”

Verse 122 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Avoid wickedness, as a merchant with rich cargo and small escort would avoid a dangerous road, or one who loves life would avoid drinking poison.”

Verse 123 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“You can carry poison in your hand if it has no wound, for poison does not infect without a wound; nothing bad happens unless you do bad.”

Verse 124 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Whoever wrongs a man who has done no wrong, a pure man who has not a blemish, the evil backfires on the fool, like fine dust thrown upwind.”

Verse 125 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Some are born in a womb; evildoers go to hell; the virtuous go to heaven; the undefiled are fully extinguished.”

Verse 126 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Not in midair, nor mid-ocean, nor hiding in a mountain cleft; you’ll find no place on the planet to escape your wicked deeds.”

Verse 127 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Not in midair, nor mid-ocean, nor hiding in a mountain cleft; you’ll find no place on the planet where you won’t be vanquished by death.”

Verse 128 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“All tremble at the rod, all fear death. Treating others like oneself, neither kill nor incite to kill.”

Verse 129 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“All tremble at the rod, all love life. Treating others like oneself, neither kill nor incite to kill.”

Verse 130 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Creatures love happiness, so if you harm them with a stick in search of your own happiness, after death you won’t find happiness.”

Verse 131 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Creatures love happiness, so if you don’t harm them with a stick in search of your own happiness, after death you will find happiness.”

Verse 132 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Don’t speak harshly, they may speak harshly back. For aggressive speech is painful, and the rod may spring back on you.”

Verse 133 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“If you still yourself like a broken gong, you reach extinguishment and know no conflict.”

Verse 134 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“As a cowherd drives the cows to pasture with the rod, so too old age and death drive life from living beings.”

Verse 135 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The fool does not understand the evil that they do. But because of those deeds, that simpleton is tormented as if burnt by fire.”

Verse 136 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One who violently attacks the peaceful and the innocent swiftly falls to one of ten bad states:”

Verse 137 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“harsh pain; loss; the breakup of the body; serious illness; mental distress;”

Verse 138 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“hazards from rulers; vicious slander; loss of kin; destruction of wealth;”

Verse 139 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“or else their home is consumed by fire. When their body breaks up, that witless person is reborn in hell.”

Verse 140 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Not nudity, nor matted hair, nor mud, nor fasting, nor lying on bare ground, nor wearing dust and dirt, or squatting on the heels, will cleanse a mortal not free of doubt.”

Verse 141 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Dressed up they may be, but if they live well— peaceful, tamed, committed to the spiritual path, having laid aside violence toward all creatures— they are a brahmin, an ascetic, a mendicant.”

Verse 142 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Can a person constrained by conscience be found in the world? Who shies away from blame, like a fine horse from the whip?”

Verse 143 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Like a fine horse under the whip, be keen and full of urgency. With faith, ethics, and energy, immersion, and investigation of principles, accomplished in knowledge and conduct, mindful, give up this vast suffering.”

Verse 144 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“While irrigators guide water, fletchers bend arrows straight, and carpenters bend timber straight, those true to their vows tame themselves.”

Verse 145 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“What is joy, what is laughter, when the flames are ever burning? Swathed in darkness, would you not seek a light?”

Verse 146 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“See this fancy puppet, a body built of sores, diseased, obsessed over, in which nothing lasts at all.”

Verse 147 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“This body is decrepit and frail, a nest of disease. This foul carcass falls apart, for life ends in death.”

Verse 148 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“These dove-grey bones are tossed away like dried gourds in the autumn— what joy is there in such a sight?”

Verse 149 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“In this city built of bones, plastered with flesh and blood, old age and death are stashed away, along with conceit and contempt.”

Verse 150 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Fancy chariots of kings wear out, and even this body gets old. But the truth of the good never gets old— so the good proclaim to the good.”

Verse 151 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A person of little learning ages like an ox— their flesh grows, but not their wisdom.”

Verse 152 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Transmigrating through countless rebirths, I’ve journeyed without reward, searching for the house-builder; painful is birth again and again.”

Verse 153 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“I’ve seen you, house-builder! You won’t build a house again! Your rafters are all broken, your roof-peak demolished. The mind, set on demolition, has reached the end of cravings.”

Verse 154 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“When young they spurned the spiritual path and failed to earn any wealth. Now they brood like old cranes in a pond bereft of fish.”

Verse 155 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“When young they spurned the spiritual path and failed to earn any wealth. Now they lie like spent arrows, bemoaning over things past.”

Verse 156 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“If you knew your self as beloved, you’d look after it so well. In one of the night’s three watches, an astute person would remain alert.”

Verse 157 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The astute would avoid being corrupted by first grounding themselves in what is suitable, and then instructing others.”

Verse 158 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“If one were to treat oneself as one instructs another, the well-tamed indeed would tame: for the self, it seems, is hard to tame.”

Verse 159 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One is indeed the lord of oneself, for who else would be one’s lord? By means of a well-tamed self, one gains a lord that’s rare indeed.”

Verse 160 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“For the evil that is done by oneself, born and produced in oneself, grinds down a simpleton, as diamond grinds a lesser gem.”

Verse 161 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One choked by immorality, as a sal tree by a creeper, does to themselves what a foe only wishes.”

Verse 162 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“It’s easy to do bad things harmful to oneself, but good things that are helpful are the hardest things to do.”

Verse 163 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“On account of wicked views— scorning the guidance of the perfected ones, the noble ones living righteously— the idiot begets their own self’s demise, like the bamboo bearing fruit.”

Verse 164 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“For it is by oneself that evil’s done, one is corrupted by oneself. It’s by oneself that evil’s not done, one is purified by oneself. Purity and impurity are personal matters, no one can purify another.”

Verse 165 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Never neglect what is good for yourself for the sake of another, however great. Knowing well what is good for yourself, be intent upon your heart’s goal.”

Verse 166 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Don’t resort to lowly things, don’t abide in negligence, don’t resort to wrong views, don’t perpetuate the world.”

Verse 167 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Get up, don’t be heedless, live by principle, with good conduct. For one of good conduct sleeps at ease, in this world and the next.”

Verse 168 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Live by principle, with good conduct, don’t conduct yourself badly. For one of good conduct sleeps at ease, in this world and the next.”

Verse 169 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Look upon the world as a bubble or a mirage, then the King of Death won’t see you.”

Verse 170 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Come, see this world decked out like a fancy royal chariot. Here fools founder, but the discerning are not chained.”

Verse 171 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“He who once was heedless, but turned to heedfulness, shines upon this world like the moon freed from clouds.”

Verse 172 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Someone whose bad deed is supplanted by the good, shines upon this world, like the moon freed from clouds.”

Verse 173 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Blind is the world, few are those who clearly see. Only a handful go to heaven, like a bird freed from a net.”

Verse 174 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Swans fly by the sun’s path, psychic sages fly through space. The attentive leave the world, having vanquished Māra with his legions.”

Verse 175 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“When a personage, spurning the hereafter, transgresses in just one thing— lying— there is no evil they would not do.”

Verse 176 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The miserly don’t ascend to heaven, it takes a fool to not praise giving. The attentive celebrate giving, and so find happiness in the hereafter.”

Verse 177 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The fruit of stream-entry is better than being the one king of the earth, than going to heaven, than lordship over all the world.”

Verse 178 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“He whose victory may not be undone, a victory unrivaled in all the world; by what track would you trace that Buddha, who leaves no track in his infinite range?”

Verse 179 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Of craving, the weaver, the clinger, he has none: so where can he be traced? By what track would you trace that Buddha, who leaves no track in his infinite range?”

Verse 180 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The attentive intent on absorption, who love the peace of renunciation, the Buddhas, ever mindful, are envied by even the gods.”

Verse 181 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“It’s hard to gain a human birth; the life of mortals is hard; it’s hard to hear the true teaching; the arising of Buddhas is hard.”

Verse 182 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Not to do any evil; to embrace the good; to purify one’s mind: this is the instruction of the Buddhas.”

Verse 183 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Patient acceptance is the ultimate fervor. Extinguishment is the ultimate, say the Buddhas. No true renunciate injures another, nor does an ascetic hurt another.”

Verse 184 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Not speaking ill nor doing harm; restraint in the monastic code; moderation in eating; staying in remote lodgings; commitment to the higher mind— this is the instruction of the Buddhas.”

Verse 185 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Even if it were raining money, you’d not be sated in sensual pleasures. An astute person understands that sensual pleasures offer little gratification and much suffering.”

Verse 186 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Thus they find no delight even in celestial pleasures. A disciple of the fully awakened Buddha delights in the ending of craving.”

Verse 187 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“So many go for refuge to mountains and forest groves, to shrines in tended parks; those people are driven by fear.”

Verse 188 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“But such refuge is no sanctuary, it is no supreme refuge. By going to that refuge, you’re not released from all suffering.”

Verse 189 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One gone for refuge to the Buddha, to his teaching and to the Saṅgha, sees the four noble truths with right understanding:”

Verse 190 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“suffering, suffering’s origin, suffering’s transcendence, and the noble eightfold path that leads to the stilling of suffering.”

Verse 191 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Such refuge is a sanctuary, it is the supreme refuge. By going to that refuge, you’re released from all suffering.”

Verse 192 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“It’s hard to find a thoroughbred man: they’re not born just anywhere. A family where that attentive one is born prospers in happiness.”

Verse 193 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Happy, the arising of Buddhas! Happy, the teaching of Dhamma! Happy is the harmony of the Saṅgha, and the striving of the harmonious is happy.”

Verse 194 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“When a person venerates the worthy— the Buddha or his disciple, who have transcended proliferation, and have left behind grief and lamentation,”

Verse 195 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“quenched, fearing nothing from any quarter— the merit of one venerating such as these, cannot be calculated by anyone, saying it is just this much.”

Verse 196 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Let us live so very happily, loving among the hostile. Among hostile humans, let us live with love.”

Verse 197 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Let us live so very happily, healthy among the ailing. Among ailing humans let us live healthily.”

Verse 198 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Let us live so very happily, content among the greedy. Among greedy humans, let us live content.”

Verse 199 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Let us live so very happily, we who have nothing. We shall feed on rapture, like the gods of sublime luminosity.”

Verse 200 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Victory breeds enmity; the defeated sleep badly. The peaceful sleep at ease, having left victory and defeat behind.”

Verse 201 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“There is no fire like greed, no crime like hate, no suffering like the aggregates, no bliss beyond peace.”

Verse 202 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Hunger is the worst illness, conditions are the worst suffering. When one has known this as it is, extinguishment is the ultimate happiness.”

Verse 203 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Health is the ultimate blessing; contentment, the ultimate wealth; trust is the ultimate family; extinguishment, the ultimate happiness.”

Verse 204 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Having drunk the nectar of seclusion and the nectar of peace— free of stress, free of evil, drink the joyous nectar of truth.”

Verse 205 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“It’s good to see the noble ones, staying with them is always good. Were you not to see fools, you’d always be happy.”

Verse 206 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“For one who consorts with fools grieves long. Painful is living with fools, like being stuck with your enemy. Happy is living with an attentive one, like meeting with your kin.”

Verse 207 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Therefore: An attentive one, wise and learned, a behemoth of virtue, true to their vows, noble: follow a true and intelligent person such as this, as the moon tracks the path of the stars.”

Verse 208 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Applying yourself where you ought not, neglecting what you should be doing, forgetting your goal, you cling to what you hold dear, jealous of those devoted to their heart’s goal.”

Verse 209 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Don’t ever get too close to those you like or dislike. For not seeing the liked is suffering, and so is seeing the disliked.”

Verse 210 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Therefore don’t hold anything dear, for it’s bad to lose those you love. No ties are found in they who hold nothing loved or loathed.”

Verse 211 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Sorrow springs from what we hold dear, fear springs from what we hold dear; one free from holding anything dear has no sorrow, let alone fear.”

Verse 212 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Sorrow springs from attachment, fear springs from attachment; one free from attachment has no sorrow, let alone fear.”

Verse 213 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Sorrow springs from relishing, fear springs from relishing; one free from relishing has no sorrow, let alone fear.”

Verse 214 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Sorrow springs from desire, fear springs from desire; one free from desire has no sorrow, let alone fear.”

Verse 215 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Sorrow springs from craving, fear springs from craving; one free from craving has no sorrow, let alone fear.”

Verse 216 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One accomplished in virtue and vision, firmly principled, and truthful, doing oneself what ought be done: that’s who the people love.”

Verse 217 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One eager to realize the ineffable would be filled with awareness. Their mind not bound to pleasures of sense, they’re said to be heading upstream.”

Verse 218 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“When a man returns safely after a long time spent abroad, family, friends, and loved ones celebrate his return.”

Verse 219 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Just so, when one who has done good goes from this world to the next, their good deeds receive them there, as family welcomes home one they love.”

Verse 220 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Give up anger, get rid of conceit, and escape every fetter. Sufferings don’t befall one who has nothing, not clinging to name and form.”

Verse 221 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“When anger surges like a lurching chariot, keep it in check. That’s what I call a charioteer; others just hold the reins.”

Verse 222 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Defeat anger with kindness, villainy with virtue, stinginess with giving, and lies with truth.”

Verse 223 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Speak the truth, do not be angry, and give when asked, if only a little. By these three means, you may enter the presence of the gods.”

Verse 224 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Those harmless sages, always restrained in body, go to the state that does not pass, where there is no sorrow.”

Verse 225 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Always wakeful, practicing night and day, focused only on extinguishment, their defilements come to an end.”

Verse 226 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“It’s always been this way, Atula, it’s not just today. They blame you when you’re silent, they blame you when you speak a lot, and even when you speak just right: no one in the world escapes blame.”

Verse 227 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“There never was, nor will be, nor is there today, someone who is wholly praised or wholly blamed.”

Verse 228 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“If, after watching them day in day out, discerning people praise that sage of impeccable conduct, endowed with ethics and wisdom;”

Verse 229 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“like a pendant of Black Plum River gold, who is worthy to criticize them? Even the gods praise them, and by the Divinity, too, they’re praised.”

Verse 230 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Guard against ill-tempered deeds, be restrained in body. Giving up bad bodily conduct, conduct yourself well in body.”

Verse 231 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Guard against ill-tempered words, be restrained in speech. Giving up bad verbal conduct, conduct yourself well in speech.”

Verse 232 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Guard against ill-tempered thoughts, be restrained in mind. Giving up bad mental conduct, conduct yourself well in mind.”

Verse 233 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“An attentive one is restrained in body restrained also in speech, in thought, too, they are restrained: they are restrained in every way.”

Verse 234 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Today you’re like a withered leaf, Yama’s men await you. You stand at the departure gates, yet you have no supplies for the road.”

Verse 235 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Make an island of yourself! Swiftly strive, learn to be wise! Purged of stains, flawless, you’ll go to the heavenly realm of the noble ones.”

Verse 236 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“You’ve journeyed the stages of life, and now you set out to meet Yama. Along the way there’s nowhere to stay, yet you have no supplies for the road.”

Verse 237 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Make an island of yourself! Swiftly strive, learn to be wise! Purged of stains, flawless, you’ll not come again to rebirth and old age.”

Verse 238 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A smart person would purge their own stains gradually, bit by bit, moment by moment, like a smith smelting silver.”

Verse 239 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“It is the rust born on the iron that eats away the place it arose. And so it is their own deeds that lead the overly-ascetic to a bad place.”

Verse 240 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Not rehearsing is the stain of hymns. The stain of houses is neglect. Laziness is the stain of beauty. A guard’s stain is negligence.”

Verse 241 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Misconduct is a woman’s stain. A giver’s stain is stinginess. Bad qualities are a stain in this world and the next.”

Verse 242 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“But a worse stain than these is ignorance, the worst stain of all. Having given up that stain, be without stains, mendicants!”

Verse 243 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Life is easy for the shameless. With all the rude courage of a crow, they live pushy, rude, and corrupt.”

Verse 244 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Life is hard for the conscientious, always seeking purity, neither clinging nor rude, pure of livelihood and discerning.”

Verse 245 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Take anyone in this world who kills living creatures, speaks falsely, steals, commits adultery,”

Verse 246 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“and indulges in drinking beer and wine. Right here they dig up the root of their own self.”

Verse 247 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Know this, my man: they are unrestrained and wicked. Don’t let that greed and unrighteousness inflict pain on you for long.”

Verse 248 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The people give according to their faith, according to their confidence. If you get upset over that, over others’ food and drink, you’ll not, by day or by night, become immersed in samādhi.”

Verse 249 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Those who have cut that out, dug it up at the root, eradicated it, they will, by day or by night, become immersed in samādhi.”

Verse 250 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“There is no fire like greed, no crime like hate, no net like delusion, no river like craving.”

Verse 251 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“It’s easy to see the faults of others, hard to see one’s own. For the faults of others are tossed high like hay, while one’s own are hidden, as a cheat hides a bad hand.”

Verse 252 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“When you look for the flaws of others, always finding fault, your defilements only grow, you’re far from ending defilements.”

Verse 253 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“In the atmosphere there is no track, there’s no true ascetic outside here. People enjoy proliferation, the Realized Ones are free of proliferation.”

Verse 254 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“In the atmosphere there is no track, there’s no true ascetic outside here. No conditions last forever, the Awakened Ones are not shaken.”

Verse 255 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“You don’t become just by passing hasty judgment. An astute person evaluates both what is pertinent and what is irrelevant.”

Verse 256 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A wise one judges others without haste, justly and impartially; that guardian of the law is said to be just.”

Verse 257 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“You’re not an astute scholar just because you speak a lot. One who is secure, free of enmity and fear, is said to be astute.”

Verse 258 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“You’re not one who has memorized the teaching just because you recite a lot. Someone who directly sees the teaching after hearing only a little is truly one who has memorized the teaching, for they can never forget it.”

Verse 259 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“You don’t become a senior by getting some grey hairs; for one ripe only in age, is said to have aged in vain.”

Verse 260 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One who is truthful and principled, harmless, restrained, and self-controlled, attentive, purged of stains, is said to be a senior.”

Verse 261 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Not by mere enunciation, or a beautiful complexion does a person become holy, if they’re jealous, stingy, and devious.”

Verse 262 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“But if they’ve cut that out, dug it up at the root, eradicated it, that intelligent one, purged of vice, is said to be holy.”

Verse 263 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A liar and breaker of vows is no ascetic just because they shave their head. How on earth can one be an ascetic who’s full of desire and greed?”

Verse 264 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One who stops all wicked deeds, great and small, because of stopping wicked deeds is said to be an ascetic.”

Verse 265 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“You don’t become a mendicant just by begging from others. One who has undertaken domestic duties has not yet become a mendicant.”

Verse 266 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“But one living a spiritual life, who has banished both merit and evil, who wanders having appraised the world, is said to be a mendicant.”

Verse 267 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“You don’t become a sage by being sagelike, while still confused and ignorant. The astute one who holds the scales, taking only the best,”

Verse 268 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“and shunning the bad— that is a sage, <j>and that is how one becomes a sage. One who sagely weighs both in the world, is thereby said to be a sage.”

Verse 269 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“You don’t become a noble one by harming living beings. One harmless toward all living beings is said to be a noble one.”

Verse 270 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Not by precepts and observances, nor by much learning, nor by meditative immersion, nor by living in seclusion,”

Verse 271 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“do I experience the bliss of renunciation not frequented by ordinary people. A mendicant cannot rest confident without attaining the end of defilements.”

Verse 272 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Of paths, the eightfold is the best; of truths, the four statements; dispassion is the best of things, and the Clear-eyed One is the best of humans.”

Verse 273 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“<em>This</em> is the path, there is no other for the purification of vision. You all must practice this, it is the way to baffle Māra.”

Verse 274 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“When you all are practicing this, you’ll make an end of suffering. I have explained the path to you for extracting the thorn with wisdom.”

Verse 275 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“You yourselves must do the work, the Realized Ones just show the way. Meditators practicing absorption are released from Māra’s bonds.”

Verse 276 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“All conditions are impermanent— when this is seen with wisdom, one grows disillusioned with suffering: this is the path to purity.”

Verse 277 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“All conditions are suffering— when this is seen with wisdom, one grows disillusioned with suffering: this is the path to purity.”

Verse 278 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“All things are not-self— when this is seen with wisdom, one grows disillusioned with suffering: this is the path to purity.”

Verse 279 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They don’t get going when it’s time to start; they’re young and strong, but given to sloth. Their mind depressed in sunken thought, lazy and slothful, they can’t discern the path.”

Verse 280 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Guarded in speech, restrained in mind, doing no unskillful bodily deed. Purify these three ways of performing deeds, and win the path known to seers.”

Verse 281 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“From meditation springs wisdom, without meditation, wisdom ends. Knowing these two paths— of progress and decline— you should conduct yourself so that wisdom grows.”

Verse 282 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Cut down the jungle, not just a tree; from the jungle springs fear. Having cut down jungle and snarl, be free of jungles, mendicants!”

Verse 283 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“So long as the vine, no matter how small, that ties a man to women is not cut, his mind remains trapped, like a calf suckling its mother.”

Verse 284 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Cut out affection for oneself, like plucking an autumn lotus. Foster only the path to peace, the extinguishment the Holy One taught.”

Verse 285 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

““Here I will stay for the rains; here for winter, here the summer”; thus the fool thinks, not realizing the danger.”

Verse 286 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“As a mighty flood sweeps away a sleeping village, death steals away a man who dotes on children and cattle, his mind caught up in them.”

Verse 287 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Children provide you no shelter, nor does father, nor relatives. When you’re seized by the terminator, there’s no shelter in family.”

Verse 288 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Knowing the reason for this, astute, and ethically restrained, one would quickly clear the path that leads to extinguishment.”

Verse 289 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“If by giving up material happiness one sees abundant happiness, the attentive would give up material happiness, seeing the abundant happiness.”

Verse 290 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Seeking their own happiness by imposing suffering on others, intimate with enmity, they’re not freed from enmity.”

Verse 291 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They dump what should be done, and do what should not be done. For the insolent and the negligent, their defilements only grow.”

Verse 292 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Those that have properly undertaken constant mindfulness of the body, don’t cultivate what should not be done, but always do what should be done. Mindful and aware, their defilements come to an end.”

Verse 293 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Having slain mother and father, and two aristocratic kings, and having wiped out <j>the kingdom with its tax collector, the brahmin walks on untroubled.”

Verse 294 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Having slain mother and father, and two prosperous kings, and a tiger as the fifth, the brahmin walks on untroubled.”

Verse 295 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The disciples of Gotama always wake up refreshed, who day and night constantly recollect the Buddha.”

Verse 296 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The disciples of Gotama always wake up refreshed, who day and night constantly recollect the teaching.”

Verse 297 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The disciples of Gotama always wake up refreshed, who day and night constantly recollect the Saṅgha.”

Verse 298 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The disciples of Gotama always wake up refreshed, who day and night are constantly mindful of the body.”

Verse 299 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The disciples of Gotama always wake up refreshed, whose minds day and night delight in harmlessness.”

Verse 300 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The disciples of Gotama always wake up refreshed, whose minds day and night delight in meditation.”

Verse 301 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Going forth is hard, it’s hard to be happy; life at home is hard too, and painful, it’s painful to stay when you’ve nothing in common. A traveler is a prey to pain, so don’t be a traveler, don’t be prey to pain.”

Verse 302 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One who is faithful, accomplished in ethics, blessed with fame and wealth, is honored in whatever place they frequent.”

Verse 303 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The good shine from afar, like the Himalayan peaks, but the wicked are not seen, like arrows scattered in the night.”

Verse 304 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Sitting alone, sleeping alone, tirelessly wandering alone; one who tames themselves alone would delight within a forest.”

Verse 305 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A liar goes to hell, as does one who denies what they did. Both are equal in the hereafter, those men of base deeds.”

Verse 306 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Many who wear a scrap of ocher cloth are unrestrained and wicked. Being wicked, they are reborn in hell due to their bad deeds.”

Verse 307 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“It’d be better for the immoral and unrestrained to eat an iron ball, scorching, like a burning flame, than to eat the nation’s alms.”

Verse 308 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Four things befall a heedless man who sleeps with another’s wife: wickedness, poor sleep, ill-repute, and rebirth in hell.”

Verse 309 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“He accrues wickedness and is reborn in a bad place, all so a frightened couple <j>may snatch a moment’s pleasure, for which rulers impose a heavy punishment. That’s why a man should not <j>sleep with another’s wife.”

Verse 310 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“When kusa grass is wrongly grasped it only cuts the hand. So too, the ascetic life, when wrongly taken, drags you to hell.”

Verse 311 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Any lax act, any corrupt observance, or suspicious spiritual life, is not very fruitful.”

Verse 312 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“If one is to do what should be done, one should staunchly strive. For the life gone forth when laxly led just stirs up dust all the more.”

Verse 313 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A bad deed is better left undone, for it will plague you later on. A good deed is better done, one that does not plague you.”

Verse 314 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“As a frontier city is guarded inside and out, so you should ward yourselves— don’t let the moment pass you by. For if you miss your moment you’ll grieve when sent to hell.”

Verse 315 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Unashamed of what is shameful, ashamed of what is not shameful; beings who uphold wrong view go to a bad place.”

Verse 316 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Seeing danger where there is none, and blind to the actual danger, beings who uphold wrong view go to a bad place.”

Verse 317 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Seeing fault where there is none, and blind to the actual fault, beings who uphold wrong view go to a bad place.”

Verse 318 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Knowing a fault as a fault and the faultless as faultless, beings who uphold right view go to a good place.”

Verse 319 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Like an elephant struck with arrows in battle, I shall endure abuse, for so many folk are badly behaved.”

Verse 320 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The well-tamed beast is the one led to the crowd; the tamed elephant’s the one the king mounts; the tamed person who endures abuse is the best of human beings.”

Verse 321 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Those who have tamed themselves are better than fine tamed mules, thoroughbreds from Sindh, or giant tuskers.”

Verse 322 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“For not on those mounts would you go to the untrodden place, whereas, with the help of one <j>whose self is well tamed, you go there, tamed by the tamed.”

Verse 323 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The tusker named Dhanapāla is musky in rut, hard to control. Bound, he eats not a morsel, for he misses the elephant forest.”

Verse 324 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One who gets drowsy from overeating, fond of sleep, rolling round the bed like a great hog stuffed with grain: that dullard returns to the womb again and again.”

Verse 325 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“In the past my mind wandered how it wished, where it liked, as it pleased. Now I’ll carefully guide it, as a trainer with a hook guides a rutting elephant.”

Verse 326 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Delight in diligence! Take good care of your mind! Pull yourself out of this pit, like an elephant sunk in a bog.”

Verse 327 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“If you find an alert companion, an attentive friend to live happily together, then, overcoming all adversities, wander with them, joyful and mindful.”

Verse 328 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“If you find no alert companion, no attentive friend to live happily together, then, like a king who flees his conquered realm, wander alone like a tusker in the wilds.”

Verse 329 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“It’s better to wander alone, there’s no fellowship with fools. Wander alone and do no wrong, at ease like a tusker in the wilds.”

Verse 330 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A friend in need is a blessing; it’s a blessing to be content with whatever; good deeds are a blessing at the end of life, and giving up all suffering is a blessing.”

Verse 331 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“In this world it’s a blessing to serve one’s mother and one’s father. And it’s a blessing also to serve ascetics and brahmins.”

Verse 332 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“It’s a blessing to keep precepts until you grow old; a blessing to be grounded in faith; the getting of wisdom’s a blessing; and it’s a blessing to avoid doing wrong.”

Verse 333 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“When a man lives heedlessly, craving grows in them like a camel’s foot creeper. They jump from one thing to the next, like a langur greedy for fruit in a forest grove.”

Verse 334 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Whoever is beaten by this wretched craving, this attachment to the world, their sorrow grows, like grass in the rain.”

Verse 335 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“But whoever prevails over this wretched craving, so hard to get over in the world, their sorrows fall from them, like a drop from a lotus-leaf.”

Verse 336 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“I say this to you, good people, all those who have gathered here: dig up the root of craving, as you’d dig up grass in search of roots. Don’t let Māra break you again and again, like a stream breaking a reed.”

Verse 337 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A tree grows back even when cut down, so long as its roots are strong and undamaged; suffering springs up again and again, so long as the tendency to craving is not pulled out.”

Verse 338 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A person of low views in whom the thirty-six streams that flow to pleasure are mighty, is swept away by lustful thoughts.”

Verse 339 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The streams flow everywhere; a weed springs up and remains. Seeing this weed that has been born, cut the root with wisdom.”

Verse 340 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A personage’s joys flow from senses and cravings. Seekers of happiness, bent on pleasure, continue to be reborn and grow old.”

Verse 341 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“People governed by thirst, crawl about like a trapped rabbit. Bound and fettered, for a long time they return to pain time and again.”

Verse 342 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“People governed by thirst, crawl about like a trapped rabbit. That’s why one who longs for dispassion should dispel thirst.”

Verse 343 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Unsnarled, they set out for the jungle, then they run right back to the jungle they left behind. Just look at this individual! Freed, they run to bondage.”

Verse 344 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The attentive say that shackle is not strong that’s made of iron, wood, or knots. But obsession with jeweled earrings, concern for your partners and children:”

Verse 345 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“this, say the attentive, is a strong shackle dragging the indulgent down, hard to escape. Having cut this one too they go forth, unconcerned, having given up sensual pleasures.”

Verse 346 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Besotted by lust they fall into the stream, like a spider caught in the web she wove. The attentive proceed, having cut this one too, unconcerned, having given up all suffering.”

Verse 347 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Let go of the past, let go of the future, let go of the present, having gone beyond rebirth. With your heart freed in every respect, you’ll not come again to rebirth and old age.”

Verse 348 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“For a personage churned by thoughts, very lustful, focusing on beauty, their craving grows and grows, tying them with a stout bond.”

Verse 349 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“But one who loves to calm their thoughts, developing perception of ugliness, ever mindful, will surely eliminate that craving, cutting off the bonds of Māra.”

Verse 350 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One who is confident, unafraid, rid of craving, free of blemish, having struck down the arrows flying to future lives, this bag of bones is their last.”

Verse 351 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Rid of craving, free of grasping, expert in the definition of terms, knowing the correct structure and sequence of syllables, they are said to be one who bears their final body, one of great wisdom, a great person.”

Verse 352 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“I am the vanquisher of all, the knower of all, unsullied in the midst of all things. I’ve given up all, freed in the ending of craving. Since I know for myself, whose follower should I be?”

Verse 353 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The gift of the teaching surmounts all other gifts; the taste of the teaching surmounts all other tastes; the joy of the teaching surmounts all other joys; the ending of craving surmounts all suffering.”

Verse 354 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Riches ruin a simpleton, but not a seeker of the far shore. From craving for wealth, a simpleton ruins themselves and others.”

Verse 355 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Weeds are the bane of crops, but greed is these folk’s bane. That’s why a gift to one rid of greed is so very fruitful.”

Verse 356 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Weeds are the bane of crops, but hate is these folk’s bane. That’s why a gift to one rid of hate is so very fruitful.”

Verse 357 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Weeds are the bane of crops, but delusion is these folk’s bane. That’s why a gift to one rid of delusion is so very fruitful.”

Verse 358 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Weeds are the bane of crops, but desire is these folk’s bane. That’s why a gift to one rid of desire is so very fruitful.”

Verse 359 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Restraint of the eye is good; good is restraint of the ear; restraint of the nose is good; good is restraint of the tongue.”

Verse 360 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Restraint of the body is good; good is restraint of speech; restraint of mind is good; everywhere, restraint is good. The mendicant restrained everywhere is released from all suffering.”

Verse 361 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One restrained in hand and foot, and in speech, the supreme restraint; happy inside, serene, solitary, content, I call a mendicant.”

Verse 362 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“When a mendicant of restrained mouth, thoughtful in counsel, not restless, explains the text and its meaning, their words are sweet.”

Verse 363 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Delighting in the teaching, enjoying the teaching, contemplating the teaching, a mendicant who recollects the teaching doesn’t fall away from the true teaching.”

Verse 364 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A well-off mendicant ought not look down on others, nor should they be envious. A mendicant who envies others does not achieve immersion.”

Verse 365 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“If a mendicant is poor in offerings, the well-to-do ought not look down on them. For the gods indeed praise them, who are tireless and pure of livelihood.”

Verse 366 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One who has no sense of ownership in the whole realm of name and form, who does not grieve for that which is not, is said to be a mendicant.”

Verse 367 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A mendicant who meditates on love, devoted to the Buddha’s teaching, would realize the peaceful state, the blissful stilling of conditions.”

Verse 368 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Bail out this boat, mendicant! When bailed out it will float lightly. Having cut off desire and hate, you shall reach extinguishment.”

Verse 369 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Five to cut, five to drop, and five more to develop. When a mendicant slips five chains they’re said to have crossed the flood.”

Verse 370 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Practice absorption, don’t be negligent! Don’t let the mind delight in the senses! Don’t heedlessly swallow a hot iron ball! And when it burns, don’t cry, “Oh, the pain!””

Verse 371 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“No absorption for one without wisdom, no wisdom for one without absorption. But one with absorption and wisdom— they have truly drawn near to extinguishment.”

Verse 372 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A mendicant who enters an empty hut with mind at peace finds a superhuman delight as they rightly discern the Dhamma.”

Verse 373 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Whenever they are mindful of the rise and fall of the aggregates, they feel rapture and joy: that is freedom from death for one who knows.”

Verse 374 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“This is the very start of the path for a wise mendicant here: guarding the senses, contentment, and restraint in the monastic code.”

Verse 375 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Mix with spiritual friends, who are tireless and pure of livelihood. Share what you have with others, being skillful in your conduct. And when you’re full of joy, you’ll make an end to suffering.”

Verse 376 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“As a jasmine sheds its withered flowers, O mendicants, shed greed and hate.”

Verse 377 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Calm in body, calm in speech, peaceful and serene; a mendicant who’s spat out the world’s bait is said to be one at peace.”

Verse 378 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Urge yourself on, reflect on yourself. A mendicant self-controlled and mindful will always dwell in happiness.”

Verse 379 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Self is indeed the lord of self, for who else would be one’s lord? Self is indeed the home of self, so restrain yourself, as a merchant his thoroughbred steed.”

Verse 380 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A monk full of joy trusting in the Buddha’s teaching, would realize the peaceful state, the blissful stilling of conditions.”

Verse 381 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A young mendicant devoted to the Buddha’s teaching, shines upon this world, like the moon freed from clouds.”

Verse 382 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Cut the stream, striving! Cast aside sensual pleasures, brahmin. Knowing the ending of conditions, know the uncreated, brahmin.”

Verse 383 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“When a brahmin has gone beyond dualistic phenomena, then they consciously make an end of all fetters.”

Verse 384 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One for whom there is no crossing over or crossing back, or crossing over and back; stress-free, detached, that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 385 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Absorbed, rid of hopes, their task completed, without defilements, arrived at the highest goal: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 386 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The sun blazes by day, the moon radiates at night, the aristocrat shines in armor, and the brahmin shines in absorption. But all day and all night, the Buddha blazes with glory.”

Verse 387 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A brahmin’s so-called <j>since they’ve banished evil, an ascetic’s so-called <j>since they live a serene life. One who has renounced all stains is said to be a “renunciant”.”

Verse 388 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One should never strike a brahmin, nor should a brahmin retaliate. Woe to the one who hurts a brahmin, and woe for the one who retaliates.”

Verse 389 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Nothing is better for a brahmin than to hold their mind back from attachment. From wherever a cruel wish recoils, right there suffering subsides.”

Verse 390 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Who does nothing wrong by body, speech or mind, restrained in these three respects, that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 391 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“You should graciously honor the one from whom you learn the Dhamma taught by the awakened Buddha, as a brahmin honors the sacred flame.”

Verse 392 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Not by matted hair or family, or birth is one a brahmin. Those who are truthful and principled: they are pure, they are brahmins.”

Verse 393 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Why the matted hair, you simpleton, and why the skin of deer? The tangle is inside you, yet you polish up your outsides.”

Verse 394 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“A personage who wears robes of rags, lean, their limbs showing veins, meditating alone in the forest, that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 395 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“I don’t call someone a brahmin after the mother’s womb they’re born from. If they still have attachments, they’re just someone who says “worthy”. Having nothing, taking nothing: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 396 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Having cut off all fetters they have no anxiety. They’ve slipped their chains and are detached: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 397 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They’ve cut the strap and harness, the halter and bridle too, with cross-bar lifted, they’re awakened: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 398 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Abuse, killing, caging: they endure these without anger. Patience is their powerful army: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 399 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Not irritable or pretentious, dutiful in precepts and observances, tamed, bearing their final body: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 400 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Like water from a lotus leaf, like a mustard seed off the point of a pin, sensual pleasures slip off them: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 401 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They understand for themselves the end of suffering in this life; with burden put down, detached: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 402 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Deep in wisdom, intelligent, expert in the path and what is not the path; arrived at the highest goal: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 403 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Mixing with neither householders nor the homeless; a migrant with no bastion, few in wishes: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 404 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They’ve laid aside violence against creatures firm and frail; not killing or making others kill: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 405 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Not fighting among those who fight, quenched among those who have taken up arms, not grasping among those who grasp: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 406 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They’ve discarded greed and hate, along with conceit and contempt, like a mustard seed off the point of a pin: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 407 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“The words they utter are polished, informative, and true, and don’t offend anyone: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 408 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They don’t steal anything in the world, long or short, tiny or huge, beautiful or ugly: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 409 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They have no hope in this world or the next; with no need for hope, detached: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 410 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They have no clinging, knowledge has freed them of indecision, they’ve arrived at the objective, freedom from death: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 411 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They’ve escaped the chain of both good and bad deeds; sorrowless, stainless, pure: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 412 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Pure as the spotless moon, clear and unclouded, they’ve ended relish for rebirth: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 413 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They’ve got past this grueling swamp of delusion, transmigration. Meditating in stillness, free of indecision, they have crossed over to the far shore. They’re quenched by not grasping: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 414 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They’ve given up sensual pleasures, and have gone forth from lay life; they’ve ended rebirth in the sensual realm: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 415 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They’ve given up craving, and have gone forth from lay life; they’ve ended craving to be reborn: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 416 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They’ve thrown off the human yoke, and slipped out of the heavenly yoke; unyoked from all yokes: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 417 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Giving up desire and discontent, they’re cooled and free of attachments; a hero, master of the whole world: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 418 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They know the passing away and rebirth of all beings; unattached, holy, awakened: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 419 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Gods, centaurs, and humans don’t know their destiny; the perfected ones with defilements ended: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 420 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“They have nothing before or after, or even in between. Having nothing, taking nothing: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 421 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“Captain of the herd, excellent hero, great seer and victor; unstirred, washed, awakened: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”

Verse 422 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page

“One who knows their past lives, sees heaven and places of loss, and has attained the end of rebirth; a sage of perfect insight at the summit of spiritual perfection: that’s who I declare a brahmin. The Sayings of the Dhamma are complete.”

Verse 423 · Pali, copy and card on the verse page