The Book of the Fourteens

Chapter One

Revata of the Acacia Wood

thag14.1:1 Since I’ve gone forth from the lay life to homelessness, I’ve not been aware of any thought that is ignoble and hateful.

thag14.1:2 “May these beings be killed! May they be slaughtered! May they suffer!”— I’ve not been aware of any such thought in all this long while.

thag14.1:3 I have been aware of loving-kindness, limitless and well-developed; gradually consolidated as it was taught by the Buddha.

thag14.1:4 I’m friend and comrade to all, sympathetic for all beings! I develop a mind of love, always delighting in harmlessness.

thag14.1:5 The unfaltering, the unshakable: I gladden that mind. I develop a divine meditation, which reprobates do not cultivate.

thag14.1:6 When in a meditation free of placing the mind, a disciple of the Buddha is at that moment blessed with noble silence.

thag14.1:7 As a rocky mountain is unwavering and well grounded, so when delusion ends, a monk, like a mountain, doesn’t tremble.

thag14.1:8 To the man who has not a blemish, who is always seeking purity, even a hair-tip of evil seems as big as a stormcloud.

thag14.1:9 As a frontier city is guarded inside and out, so you should ward yourselves— don’t let the moment pass you by.

thag14.1:10 I don’t long for death; I don’t long for life; I await my time, like a worker waiting for their wages.

thag14.1:11 I don’t long for death; I don’t long for life; I await my time, aware and mindful.

thag14.1:12 I’ve served the Teacher and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions. The heavy burden is laid down, the leash to existence is eradicated.

thag14.1:13 I’ve attained the goal for the sake of which I went forth from the lay life to homelessness— the ending of all fetters.

thag14.1:14 Persist with diligence: this is my instruction. Come, I’ll be fully quenched— I’m liberated in every way.

The Book of the Fourteens

Chapter One

Godatta

thag14.2:1 Just as a fine thoroughbred, yoked to a carriage, endures the load. Though oppressed by the heavy burden, it doesn’t shake off the yoke.

thag14.2:2 So too, those who are as full of wisdom as the ocean is with water, don’t look down on others; this is the teaching of the noble ones <j>for living creatures.

thag14.2:3 People who fall under the sway of time, the sway of this or that state of becoming, undergo suffering, and those young men grieve in this life.

thag14.2:4 Elated by things that bring happiness, downcast by things that bring suffering: this pair destroys the fool who doesn’t see things as they are.

thag14.2:5 But those who in suffering, and in happiness, and in the middle have overcome the weaver— they stand like a firm pillar, neither elated nor downcast.

thag14.2:6 Not to gain nor loss, not to fame nor reputation, not to criticism nor praise, not to suffering nor happiness—

thag14.2:7 the wise cling to nothing, like a droplet on a lotus-leaf. They are happy everywhere, and victorious everywhere.

thag14.2:8 There’s legitimate loss, and there’s illegitimate gain. Legitimate loss is better than illegitimate gain.

thag14.2:9 There’s the fame of the unintelligent, and there’s the disrepute of the discerning. The disrepute of the discerning is better than the fame of the unintelligent.

thag14.2:10 There’s praise by simpletons, and there’s criticism by the discerning. Criticism by the discerning is better than praise by fools.

thag14.2:11 There’s the happiness of sensual pleasures, and there’s the suffering of seclusion. The suffering of seclusion is better than the happiness of sensual pleasures.

thag14.2:12 There’s life without principles, and there’s death with principles. Death with principles is better than life without principles.

thag14.2:13 Those who’ve given up desire and anger, their minds at peace <j>regarding this or that state of becoming, wander in the world unattached, for them nothing is beloved or unloved.

thag14.2:14 Having developed the awakening factors, the faculties and the powers, having arrived at ultimate peace, the undefiled become fully quenched.