Minor Collection

Sayings of the Dhamma 44–59

4. Flowers

dhp44:1 Who bestirs this earth,

dhp44:2 and the realm of death with its angels?

dhp44:3 Who sets out the well-taught word of truth,

dhp44:4 as an expert a flower?

dhp45:1 A trainee bestirs this earth,

dhp45:2 and the realm of death with its angels.

dhp45:3 A trainee sets out the well-taught word of truth,

dhp45:4 as an expert a flower.

dhp46:1 Knowing this body’s like foam,

dhp46:2 realizing it’s all just a mirage,

dhp46:3 and cutting off Satan’s blossoming,

dhp46:4 vanish from the angel of death.

dhp47:1 As a mighty flood sweeps off a sleeping village,

dhp47:2 death steals away a man

dhp47:3 even as he gathers flowers,

dhp47:4 his mind caught up in them.

dhp48:1 The terminator gains control of the man

dhp48:2 who has not had his fill of pleasures,

dhp48:3 even as he gathers flowers,

dhp48:4 his mind caught up in them.

dhp49:1 A bee takes the nectar

dhp49:2 and moves on, doing no damage

dhp49:3 to the flower’s beauty and fragrance;

dhp49:4 and that’s how a sage should walk in the village.

dhp50:1 Don’t find fault with others,

dhp50:2 with what they’ve done or left undone.

dhp50:3 You should only watch yourself,

dhp50:4 what you’ve done or left undone.

dhp51:1 Just like a glorious flower

dhp51:2 that’s colorful but lacks fragrance;

dhp51:3 eloquent speech is fruitless

dhp51:4 for one who does not act on it.

dhp52:1 Just like a glorious flower

dhp52:2 that’s both colorful and fragrant,

dhp52:3 eloquent speech is fruitful

dhp52:4 for one who acts on it.

dhp53:1 Just as one would create many garlands

dhp53:2 from a heap of flowers,

dhp53:3 when a person has come to be born,

dhp53:4 they should do many skillful things.

dhp54:1 The fragrance of flowers doesn’t spread upwind,

dhp54:2 nor sandalwood, pinwheel, or jasmine;

dhp54:3 but the fragrance of the good spreads upwind;

dhp54:4 a true person’s virtue spreads in every direction.

dhp55:1 Among all the fragrances—

dhp55:2 sandalwood or pinwheel

dhp55:3 or lotus or jasmine—

dhp55:4 the fragrance of virtue is supreme.

dhp56:1 Faint is the fragrance

dhp56:2 of sandal or pinwheel;

dhp56:3 but the fragrance of the virtuous

dhp56:4 floats up to the angels.

dhp57:1 For those accomplished in ethics,

dhp57:2 meditating diligently,

dhp57:3 freed through the highest knowledge,

dhp57:4 Satan cannot find their path.

dhp58:1 From a heap of trash

dhp58:2 discarded on the highway,

dhp58:3 a lotus might blossom,

dhp58:4 fragrant and delightful.

dhp59:1 So too, among those thought of as trash,

dhp59:2 a disciple of the perfect Buddha

dhp59:3 outshines with their wisdom

dhp59:4 the blind ordinary folk.