Minor Collection

Sayings of the Dhamma 235–255

18. Stains

dhp235:1 Today you’re like a withered leaf,

dhp235:2 Yama’s men await you.

dhp235:3 You stand at the departure gates,

dhp235:4 yet you have no supplies for the road.

dhp236:1 Make an island of yourself!

dhp236:2 Swiftly strive, learn to be wise!

dhp236:3 Purged of stains, flawless,

dhp236:4 you’ll go to the Garden of the noble ones.

dhp237:1 You’ve journeyed the stages of life,

dhp237:2 and now you set out to meet Yama.

dhp237:3 Along the way there’s nowhere to stay,

dhp237:4 yet you have no supplies for the road.

dhp238:1 Make an island of yourself!

dhp238:2 Swiftly strive, learn to be wise!

dhp238:3 Purged of stains, flawless,

dhp238:4 you’ll find peace, beyond old age.

dhp239:1 A smart person would purge

dhp239:2 their own stains gradually,

dhp239:3 bit by bit, moment by moment,

dhp239:4 like a smith smelting silver.

dhp240:1 It is the rust born on the iron

dhp240:2 that eats away the place it arose.

dhp240:3 And so it is their own deeds

dhp240:4 that lead the overly-ascetic to a bad place.

dhp241:1 Not rehearsing is the stain of hymns.

dhp241:2 The stain of houses is neglect.

dhp241:3 Laziness is the stain of beauty.

dhp241:4 A guard’s stain is negligence.

dhp242:1 Misconduct is a woman’s stain.

dhp242:2 A giver’s stain is stinginess.

dhp242:3 Bad qualities are a stain

dhp242:4 in this world and the next.

dhp243:1 But a worse stain than these

dhp243:2 is ignorance, the worst stain of all.

dhp243:3 Having given up that stain,

dhp243:4 be without stains, mendicants!

dhp244:1 Life is easy for the shameless.

dhp244:2 With all the rude courage of a crow,

dhp244:3 they live pushy,

dhp244:4 rude, and corrupt.

dhp245:1 Life is hard for the conscientious,

dhp245:2 always seeking purity,

dhp245:3 neither clinging nor rude,

dhp245:4 pure of livelihood and discerning.

dhp246:1 Take anyone in this world

dhp246:2 who kills living creatures,

dhp246:3 speaks falsely, steals,

dhp246:4 commits adultery,

dhp247:1 and indulges in drinking

dhp247:2 beer and wine.

dhp247:3 Right here they dig up

dhp247:4 the root of their own self.

dhp248:1 Know this, my man:

dhp248:2 they are unrestrained and wicked.

dhp248:3 Don’t let that greed and unrighteousness

dhp248:4 inflict pain on you for long.

dhp249:1 The people give according to their faith,

dhp249:2 according to their confidence.

dhp249:3 If you get upset over that,

dhp249:4 over others’ food and drink,

dhp249:5 you’ll not, by day or by night,

dhp249:6 become immersed in samādhi.

dhp250:1 Those who have cut that out,

dhp250:2 dug it up at the root, eradicated it,

dhp250:3 they will, by day or by night,

dhp250:4 become immersed in samādhi.

dhp251:1 There is no fire like greed,

dhp251:2 no crime like hate,

dhp251:3 no net like delusion,

dhp251:4 no river like craving.

dhp252:1 It’s easy to see the faults of others,

dhp252:2 hard to see one’s own.

dhp252:3 For the faults of others

dhp252:4 are tossed high like hay,

dhp252:5 while one’s own are hidden,

dhp252:6 as a cheat hides a bad hand.

dhp253:1 When you look for the flaws of others,

dhp253:2 always finding fault,

dhp253:3 your defilements only grow,

dhp253:4 you’re far from ending defilements.

dhp254:1 In the atmosphere there is no track,

dhp254:2 there’s no true ascetic outside here.

dhp254:3 People enjoy proliferation,

dhp254:4 the Realized Ones are free of proliferation.

dhp255:1 In the atmosphere there is no track,

dhp255:2 there’s no true ascetic outside here.

dhp255:3 No conditions last forever,

dhp255:4 the Awakened Ones are not shaken.