With attentive mind hear me explain for your benefit the deliverance from the long bondage of worldly existence, together with its causes, and from all misery: a truly wholesome subject. (1)

By the teaching of true knowledge, by the avoidance of ignorance and delusion, and by the destruction of love and hatred, one arrives at final deliverance which is nothing but bliss. (2)

This is the road to it: to serve the teachers and the old, to avoid throughout foolish people, to apply oneself earnestly to study, and to ponder zealously on the meaning of the scriptures. (3)

An ascetic engaged in austerities, who longs for righteousness, should eat the proper quantity of allowed food, should select a companion of right understanding, and should live in a place suited to seclusion. (4)

If he does not meet with a clever companion who surpasses or equals him in virtue, he should live by himself, abstaining from sins and not devoted to pleasures. (5)

As the crane is produced from an egg, and the egg is produced from a crane, so they call desire the origin of delusion, and delusion the origin of desire. (6)

Love and hatred are caused by deeds, and they say that deeds have their origin in delusion; wrong deeds are the root of misery, and birth and death they call misery. (7)

Misery ceases on the absence of delusion, delusion ceases on the absence of desire, desire ceases on the absence of greed, greed ceases on the absence of property. (8)

I shall explain in due order the means which must be adopted by him who wants to thoroughly uproot love, hatred, and delusion. (9)

Pleasant food should not be enjoyed with preference, for it generally makes men over-strong; and desires rush upon the strong, like birds upon a tree with sweet fruits. (10)

As in a forest, full of fuel, a fire fanned by the wind cannot be extinguished, so the fire, as it were, of the senses of him who eats as he lists; it does not benefit any chaste man. (11)

The mind of those who always live in unfrequented lodgings, who eat low food, and who subdue their senses, will not be attacked by the foe, Love, who is vanquished as disease is by medicine. (12)

As it is not safe for mice to live near the dwelling of a cat, so a chaste monk cannot stay in a house inhabited by women. (13)

An ascetic, engaged in penance, should not allow himself to watch the shape, beauty, coquetry, laughter, prattle, gestures, and glances of women, nor retain a recollection of them in his mind. (14)

Not to look at, nor to long for, not to think of, nor to praise, womankind: this is becoming the meditation of the noble ones, and it is always wholesome to those who delight in chastity. (15)

Though those who possess the three restraints, cannot be disturbed even by the most beautifully adorned women, still it is recommended to monks to live by themselves, as this is wholesome in every way. (16)

To a man who longs for liberation, who is afraid of worldly bondage, and lives according to the Law, nothing in the world offers so many difficulties as women who delight the mind of the ignorant. (17)

To those who have overcome the attachment to women, all others will offer no difficulties; even as to those who have crossed the great ocean, no river, though big like the Ganges, will offer any difficulty. (18)

From desire of pleasure arises the misery of the whole world, the mighty included; whatever misery of body and mind there is, the dispassionate will put an end to it. (19)

As the fruit of the Kimpaka is beautiful in taste and colour, when eaten; but destroys the life when digested, being poison; similar in their effect are pleasures. (20)

An ascetic, engaged in austerities, who longs for righteousness, should not fix his thoughts on the pleasant objects of the senses, nor turn his mind from them, if they be unpleasant. (21)

'Colour' attracts the eye; it is the pleasant cause of Love, but the unpleasant cause of Hatred; he who is indifferent to them, namely colours, is called dispassionate. (22)

The eye perceives 'colour,' and 'colour' attracts the eye; the cause of Love is pleasant, and the cause of Hatred is unpleasant. (23)

He who is passionately fond of 'colours,' will come to untimely ruin; just as an impassioned moth which is attracted by the light rushes into death. (24)

He who passionately hates a colour, will at the same moment suffer pain. It is the fault of an undisciplined man that he is annoyed by a colour; it is not the 'colour' itself that annoys him. (25)

He who is very fond of a lovely 'colour,' hates all others; hence a fool will suffer misery, but a dispassionate sage is not affected by it. (26)

He who has a passion for 'colours,' will kill many movable and immovable beings; a passionate fool, intent on his personal interest, pains and torments those beings in many ways. (27)

How can a man who passionately desires 'colours,' be happy while he gets, keeps, uses, loses, and misses those things. Even when he enjoys them, he is never satisfied. (28)

When he is not satisfied with those 'colours,' and his craving for them grows stronger and stronger, he will become discontented, and unhappy by dint of his discontent; misled by greed he will take another's property. (29)

When he is overcome by violent desire, takes another's property, and is not satisfied with those 'colours' and their possession, then his deceit and falsehood increase on account of his greed; yet he will not get rid of his misery. (30)

After and before he has lied, and when he is on the point of lying, he feels infinitely unhappy. Thus when he takes another's property, and is after all not satisfied by the 'colours' he has obtained, he becomes unhappy, and nobody will protect him. (31)

How, then, can a man who is devoted to 'colours,' ever derive any happiness from anything? He suffers pain at the time of their enjoyment to procure which he had suffered misery. (32)

In the same way he who hates 'colours,' incurs a long succession of pains; when his mind is filled with hatred, he accumulates deeds which in the end again produce misery. (33)

But a man who is indifferent to 'colours,' is free from sorrows; though still in the world, he is not affected by that long succession of pains, just as the leaf of the lotus is not moistened by water. (34)

Verses 35-47 treat of sounds; 'sound' is to be substituted for 'colour,' 'ear' for 'eye.' The last line of verse 37, which corresponds to verse 24, runs thus: As an impassioned deer allured by a song rushes into death, without being satisfied with the sound.

In the same way verses 48-60 apply to 'smells'; substitute 'smell' and 'organ of smell.' The corresponding line of verse 50 runs: Just as an impassioned snake which is allured by the smell of a drug, when it comes out of its hole. (50)

Verses 61-73 apply to tastes; substitute 'tastes' and 'tongue.' The corresponding line of verse 63 runs: Just as an impassioned fish which is eager to swallow the bait, has its body transfixed by a hook. (63)

Verses 74-86 apply to touches; substitute 'touches' and 'body.' The corresponding line of verse 76 runs: Just as an impassioned buffalo who dives in cold water, is taken hold of by a crocodile and dies. (76)

Verses 87-99 apply to feelings; substitute 'feelings' and 'mind.' The corresponding line of verse 89 runs: Just as an impassioned elephant who is inflamed by carnal desires, is turned from his way by a female elephant, and is captured and at last killed in battle. (89)

Thus the objects of the senses and of the mind cause pain to passionate men, but they never in the least cause any pain to the dispassionate. (100)

Pleasant things by themselves do not cause indifference nor emotions such as anger; but by either hating or loving them, a man undergoes such a change through delusion. (101)

Anger, pride, deceit, greed; disgust, aversion to self-control and delight in sensual things; mirth, fear, sorrow, carnal desire for women, men, or both; all these manifold passions arise in him who is attached to pleasures; and so do other emotions produced by those before mentioned arise in him who is to be pitied, who ought to be ashamed of himself, and who is hateful. (102, 103)

A monk should not desire a companion, not even one who is able to perform his religious duties; nor, if he regrets having taken the vows, should he desire a worldly reward of his austerities. Such emotions of an infinite variety arise in one who is the slave of his senses. (104)

Desiring happiness and being submerged in the ocean of delusion, he forms many plans for warding off misery; and for their sake an impassioned man exerts himself. (105)

But all kinds of objects of the senses, sounds and the rest, will cause to the indifferent neither a pleasant nor an unpleasant feeling. (106)

He who endeavours to recognise the vanity of all desires, will arrive at perfect indifference. When he ceases to desire the objects of the senses, his desire for pleasures will become extinct. (107)

The dispassionate man who has performed all duties will quickly remove the obstructions to right knowledge and to right faith, and whatever deed produces obstruction to righteousness. (108)

Then he knows and sees all things, he is free from delusion and hindrances, his sinful influences have gone, and he is proficient in meditation and concentration of thoughts, and being pure he will arrive at beatitude when his life is spent. (109)

He will get rid of all misery which always afflicts mankind; recovered from the long illness, as it were, and glorious, he becomes infinitely happy, and obtains the final aim. (110)

We have taught the way how to become exempt from all misery which has afflicted men since long ages; those beings who follow it will in their time become infinitely happy. (111)

Thus I say.